In radio DJ parlance, we’d call this feature article a two-fer.
But instead of a Led Zeppelin Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid album cut, we’re getting a pair of vintage Ford and Mopar Pony cars—a 1966 Mustang notchback and a 1974 ‘Cuda.
The duo were built for the “Ride of Your Life with Courtney Hansen” series on MotorTrend TV and feature a nice mix of custom touches and potent powerplants.
Our pals over at BluePrint Engines supported the builds, which mean that the BluePrint enignes booth was the perfect venue to pull the wraps off during the 2024 SEMA Show.
Better still, we were able to catch up with Courtney Hansen and the lead builder for the projects Bryan Fuller to get some insight behind each one.
The Mustang you may have seen before. It was revealed a few months ago during Monterey Car Week. The Ford now rides on a Roadster Shop chassis and is powered by a BluePrint Ford V8.
But the 1974 ‘Cuda was a brand new debut at the 2024 SEMA Show and from what we heard, there was the typical mad dash to get it finished in time for the reveal date.
“We had the builders, the camera crew—whoever we could get doing runs to the Summit Racing store for last minute things,” Courtney jokes.
But the frenetic work paid off, with a stunning Mopar E-body with a nice complement of custom touches and a rip snortin’ Mopar 426 Hemi, courtesy of the gang at BluePrint Engines.
“It’s a ’74 Cuda that was donated by AMD,” Courtney says. “It was in real rough shape.”
“It was basically just a VIN number,” Bryan laughs. “We saved, like, six parts.”
The quality of the finished ‘Cuda shown here belie the countless hours of work that went into smoothing the body and reassembling everything from the ground-up—not to mention the painstaking task of sourcing quality restoration parts.
“You’re looking at the aftermarket,” Bryan explains, alluding to all the individual pieces that helped the Mopar’s restoration get off the ground.
“We got a huge shipment of parts,” Courtney continues. “And in a matter of weeks, it was brought to this level.”
“We’re lucky, we live about an hour outside of Atlanta,” Bryan says. “We had people going to the Summit Racing Store almost twice a day to pick parts up.”
Both of them tell us that plenty of folks who saw the crusty E-body beforehand are now in disbelief that this is the same car.
At the heart of the build is a BluePrint Gen. III Hemi crate engine, and it looks right at home between the fenders that once housed its ancestors.
You can catch new episodes of “Ride of Your Life with Courtney Hansen” on MotorTrend TV.
New episodes debut Tuesdays at 10 pm ET.
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