Plymouth HEMI Cuda de course

Battling it out on France's old, old Monthlery Oval track

Our friend and ASAVE Challenge promoter Alain Goupy sent us this great picture of the 1972 "Coupe du Salon" Group 1 starting grid. As you can see, Frederic Berges Ford Mustang has the pole, but the race was ultimately won by Marie Laurent on one of the two official Chrysler Hemicuda !

Chrysler Hemi Cuda at Belbeuf Hillclimb

Here is an interesting picture of one of the four Hemi Cudas at the Belbeuf hillclimb in Normandy. Judging by the paintscheme and licence plate, it could be Christian Avril in 1972 or 1973.

Photo: Le Tahitien

Plymouth Hemi Cuda in Chrysler France racing colors

Out of the 5 Cuda racecars that Chrysler France campaigned from 1970 to 1973, only one is currently in running order and in its original configuration. You can see it on the picture here, which was taken in September 2007 at Reims. It belongs to the Sarrazin family and, no, its is not for sale. While originally a 440+6 car, it was converted to a HEMI by Chrysler France.

Hemicuda at Mont de Ventoux hillclimb

Thanks to our fellow reader and Hemicuda owner Pascal Sarazin, we received these two great vintage pictures of the famous MOPAR at the Mont de Ventoux 21 km hillclimb. Pictured above is Gerard Sarazin in 1972 and below Henri Chemin in 1970. As you can see on the early picture, Chrysler France was not sure about its official paint scheme for the cars during its first year of racing!

Gerard Sarazin in HemiCuda at Hillclimb

Here are some great pictures from the glory days of Ecurie Chrysler France, when Gerard Sarazin and Christian Avril (on picture above) twisted the E-Body frame as hard as they could to get to the top quicker than any other thing on four wheels!

Pictures courtesy Pascal Sarazin

Chrysler France HEMICUDA in red and white

Here are a few pictures that I took in February 2004, when my good friend Pascal Sarrazin had his Chrysler France HEMI racecar on a chassis dyno.