Last year at one of the local Mopar car shows, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Alan Gallant from Alan Gallant Restoration Services (http://www.agar.homestead.com/) in Georgetown, Ontario. While photographing a 70 Cuda, he noticed my Cudaworld.com t-shirt and immediately struck up a conversation. It turns out Alan is a big fan of Cudaworld.com and was also really excited to tell me about his killer restoration project on his 1971 4 speed 340 Cuda. In order to save time I will fast forward about 9 months to January 2005. Alan was gracious enough to invite me to his home to see the completed product. With great honor, I have the chance to share this marvelous restoration with all of you.

Needless to say, as soon as you set your eyes on this car you immediately start reaching for your sunglasses. The snow white paint is simply stunning! The steel rims, painted grill, and razor straight body almost glows from the incredible paint and polishing. As your eyes devour the Cuda's sexy lines you immediately notice the "bright" orange interior spread out inside the car, what an odd color choice! Alan told me that the original owner Mr. John Stephenson walked into Merion Chrysler Plymouth in Bryn Mawr, PA. sat down and ordered one of the weirdest and coolest Cuda's.

What do you think? Would you be noticed in a car like this? Even back in the early 70's this car would have been a real attention getter! With the functional factory air conditioning I'm sure you could manage to stay cool even in this hot ride. Alan has spent the past 20 months restoring the car. Knowing first hand that Alan and his lovely wife had their second child during this resto, it is amazing he got the car done at all. I suppose that's what supportive wives are all about. :)

So how did Alan end up with the car? What was it like when he got it? Well, incredibly this car was with John; the original owner for the remainder of his life. Sadly, John died in 1999 and the car was sold in the estate sale to an unknown buyer. That person brought it to the Atlantic Mopar Nationals in Englishtown, NJ in 2000. Dave Tucker from Georgetown, ON. was one of many people who looked at the car throughout the weekend and even though it was painted winchester grey, he knew he had to have it. Ironically he ended up driving the car some 470 miles to his home in Georgetown, Ontario. With the odometer reading 59,000miles it was time for a complete restoration.

With dreams and good intentions of restoring the car he began to dismantle it bolt by bolt and put everything into boxes. Unfortunatley the car ended up sitting for a few months. The Cuda eventually made it's way to Keith Sim Metal Craft in Georgetown, Ontario (http://www.ksimmetal.com/) to get the steel work done. Keith is hands down one of the best metal guys in the business and he was responsible for putting on the full southern quarter panels in addition to other minor steel repairs. Of course the re-occuring trend for this Cuda was to sit, which it did for a few months because Dave was too busy to finish the project.

Just like the movie "When Harry met Sally", let's just say "When Dave met Alan" a special friendship began. After seeing the quality and high level of restoration work Alan has done in the past, Dave knew he was the only person who could restore this car for him. He hired Alan to build a Hemi Challenger clone before the 71 Cuda would be restored. Of course opportunity struck for Dave and he needed to liquidate his Cuda project in order to fund an unrelated endeavor. So in June 2003, Alan jumped at the opportunity and became the current and loving owner of this awesome Cuda!

As mentioned 20 months later, countless rare NOS parts, paint, plating, polishing, welding, assembly and sanding were all completed by Alan. As you can see from some of the images in this article, Alan wasn't playing around. He wanted a car that would stop anyone dead in their tracks. Every single nut and bolt was coated in the proper phosphate, zinc, cadium plating. The hoses were remade to be exact duplicates of the originals, the undercarriage was expertly painted with the original factory style overspray. Original 450 steel rims were put on this car with awesome looking polyglas tires. There is just something unexplainable about a Cuda sitting on a set of Polyglas tires. Even though they drive like crap, the visuals are definitely a bonus!

I hope that some of you out there get a chance to see this car in person to admire the skill and energy that was put into this restoration. Alan is definetly a craftsmen with an eye for detail. Building high quality correct restorations isn't only reserved for the big name shops in the hobby. Guys like Alan are few and far between, but they all share a similar core set of values, and that is... If your going to do the job, you may as well do it right! There are lot of cars out there, (not only Cuda's) that people have taken short cuts. Inclosing I would like to thank Alan for allowing me to share his pride and joy on Cudaworld.

Don't tell Alan, but I thought I would let you all know that he is getting ready to build one of the most famous of all E Bodies that's ever been on the net... Yep, that's right you've all seen it online on various websites probably nearly puked when the picture finished loading.... Heck some of you (including me) have probably tried to look up the name of the company on the side of the truck in the picture just to find this treasure... Is that enough hints??? Well keep guessing because Cudaworld.com will be following this amazing story in the months to come!

Thanks for reading,

Chris
Cudaworld.com
chris@cudaworld.com

P.S. If you like Alan's car or want him to build you one too, send him an email to alangallant@cogeco.ca be sure to tell him Cudaworld.com sent ya! :)