Kingston Cuda's

[RW71]

Guy, Mark etc may be interested in this thread;
http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/histor ... das-190434

[Guy]

Still miss mine

[DaveBishop]

I miss mine as well

[Cannonball]

i miss mine as well,

[Carl]

I find it interesting that the history of these and other Mopars are so well known throughout the Mopar/American car world

[Cannonball]

I find it interesting that the history of these and other Mopars are so well known throughout the Mopar/American car world

Hey carl
i have heard severall stories,
one of them is that a dealership abroad had ordered the cars and while they were on the water the dealership went bust, the cars arrived and were quickley hidden in storage and forgotten about, they surfaced around 77 or so and the kingston car company bought them all and sold them new although they were obv 73-4 models,,,,,,,,

they were all cuda,s or nicely optioned 340 barracuda,s rallye dashes yet lots had column shift which to me is weird column shift n muscle car is just wrong,

[Carl]

Yes very interesting makes these a group of cars with their own unique bit of history, stories like these separate Mopars from rest I feel.

[Motorama]

The one we had, the one pictured on the Rods n Sods post, was on an X reg so I assume not first egistered until the early eighties when almost 10 years

[drewcrane]

I am pretty ignorant like most yanks , I have never heard of these Kingston cudas,I will have to ask around to more knowledgeable folks over here.

I really should get out more

[Guy]

I am pretty ignorant like most yanks , I have never heard of these Kingston cudas,I will have to ask around to more knowledgeable folks over here.

I really should get out more

They might not be that well know that side of the pond heres a little bit about them

. For one particular Plymouth its rarity lies in the fact that it was one of eight Barracudas built for export in 1973, and known in Mopar legend as the “Kingston Eight”. The group consisted of 7 ‘Cudas and one Barracuda which were ordered from the factory by a dealer in Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. All the cars were all built on the same day, the 4th April 1973 at the Hamtramck plant. For some unknown reason the cars were never actually sold after they had been delivered, but just sat in a lock-up till by chance one day a dealer from Kingston American Car Centre found them in 1978. He immediately shipped them back to the UK and sold them off one by one over the next 4 years. Due to the fact they were unused for so long meant they have very low mileage. The whereabouts of 5 cars are known but the others seem to have disappeared, despite many enquires from enthusiasts.

[drewcrane]

I am pretty ignorant like most yanks , I have never heard of these Kingston cudas,I will have to ask around to more knowledgeable folks over here.

I really should get out more

They might not be that well know that side of the pond heres a little bit about them

. For one particular Plymouth its rarity lies in the fact that it was one of eight Barracudas built for export in 1973, and known in Mopar legend as the “Kingston Eight”. The group consisted of 7 ‘Cudas and one Barracuda which were ordered from the factory by a dealer in Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. All the cars were all built on the same day, the 4th April 1973 at the Hamtramck plant. For some unknown reason the cars were never actually sold after they had been delivered, but just sat in a lock-up till by chance one day a dealer from Kingston American Car Centre found them in 1978. He immediately shipped them back to the UK and sold them off one by one over the next 4 years. Due to the fact they were unused for so long meant they have very low mileage. The whereabouts of 5 cars are known but the others seem to have disappeared, despite many enquires from enthusiasts.

Ahh I do remember this story , over here it was thought of as a myth, or urban legend ,this is really cool info, thanks

[Guy]

The one we had, the one pictured on the Rods n Sods post, was on an X reg so I assume not first egistered until the early eighties when almost 10 years

I know that when Stuart Keen bought it it had about 17000 mile on it and it was meant to have been the last one that was sold by Kingston cars they were not registered until they were sold in this country hence some had earlier plates than others. The only sure fire way of telling if it was a Kingston car was the build date 04/04/73 and KPH speedometers built for export on the fender tag. I did have the list of sequence numbers but that went with all the paper work when I sold the car..

[Guy]

Other cars that could have been Kingston cars were Turnips Greenfish Cuda and Chris Orthodoxou' Cuda but both are race cars and have lost there Vin tags etc

[Motorama]

The one we had, the one pictured on the Rods n Sods post, was on an X reg so I assume not first egistered until the early eighties when almost 10 years

I know that when Stuart Keen bought it it had about 17000 mile on it and it was meant to have been the last one that was sold by Kingston cars they were not registered until they were sold in this country hence some had earlier plates than others. The only sure fire way of telling if it was a Kingston car was the build date 04/04/73 and KPH speedometers built for export on the fender tag. I did have the list of sequence numbers but that went with all the paper work when I sold the car..

I think it was 17,000kms, it was very low milage and a very original un molested car, nowadays a survivor type car like that would command big bucks in the USA I would think

[Guy]

Yes sorry I meant KM I know when I bought mine it only had 32000KM on it