The best investments aren’t always the ones you expect them to be. Just look at the 1970 Plymouth Hemi Barracuda that Gary Dodane bought in 1983 for $500. Four decades later, he’s looking to sell it for more than 4,000 times that amount.
The barber from Fort Wayne, Indiana, has listed his precious Alpine White-over-black muscle car for sale for $2.2 million, according to the Drive. Why the high price tag? Because the vehicle was the first completed Hemi Cuda to roll off the production line.
Plymouth began building the Barracuda in 1964, but it wasn’t until 1970 that the car became the legendary muscle car it’s considered today. That year saw the debut of the third-generation Cuda, which featured the new E-Body and came with the option of a 7.0-liter Hemi V-8. This example, BS23ROB100003, was the third the automaker built, but the first two were scrapped during production. Plymouth built 652 Hemi Cudas during the first year of production, of which just 284, including this one, came with a four-speed manual transmission.
Dodane’s Hemi Cuda looks to be in decent shape based on the photos he has posted on firsthemicudaever.com and has just 17,729 miles on the odometer, much of which was put on before he bought it. The vehicle—which Plymouth’s parent company, Chrysler, recognizes as the first Barracuda that was sold with a Hemi V-8—has been on display at the National Automotive & Truck Museum for much of its time in his possession.
Dodane’s Hemi Cuda almost certainly represents the best $500 he has ever spent, even if he had some doubts initially. “I thought [at the time], ‘this is a lot of money for a used car,’ then again I didn’t know what I was buying,” Dodane told local news station WANE (via Jalopnik) earlier this month.
Will Dodane be able to get $2.2 million for his Hemi Cuda? That remains to be seen, as this isn’t the first time he’s tried to part with the coupe. He previously tried to sell it at auction for $3.2 million, but bidding stalled at $2 million, according to the Drive. The lower price hasn’t proven to be more enticing yet, either. The car’s been listed for sale through Motor Vault since the winter and has yet to find a taker.
Still, regardless of whether Dodane is forced to lower his asking price even more, he’s bound to get a pretty solid return on his initial investment.
