Paint Chip

The most famous muscle car that never existed.

- Al Rogers

Tim Wellborn has been hooked on the Mopar brands for decades. He recalls accompanying his father during a trip to the local Dodge dealership in Talladega, Alabama, to trade in a used 1967 Charger for a new 1970 model. A salesperson told Doug Wellborn about the totally new design coming for the 1971 Charger, and he opted to wait it out.

Tim was 12 at the time. While at the Dodge dealership, he came across a copy of the Rapid Transit System brochure his father had picked up. Plymouth had put out the brochure to target the high performance end of the muscle car community, and it drew attention to Plymouth’s hottest models as well as accessories to make them even hotter. “Anybody can offer a car,” teased the brochure. “Only Plymouth offers a system.”

A particular picture in the brochure threw young Tim for a loop. Before his eyes was a ’Cuda striped with 25 colors of paint, plus a wheelie bar, zoomie headers, a roll bar, and drag racing slicks. It was unlike any car he’d ever seen. Little did he know just how much of an impression that ’Cuda had made on him.

Four decades later, Tim and his wife Pam opened the Wellborn Muscle Car Museum in Alexander City, Alabama. His collection of muscle car information, specifically Chrysler/Plymouth/ Dodge literature and brochures, had grown during the years, only to be rivaled by his collection of Mopar muscle cars.

While going through a stack of brochures for inclusion in the museum archives, he came across an original copy of that Rapid Transit System brochure that caught his eye all those years ago. He turned to page 11 and was again entranced by the 1970 Hemi ’Cuda and the one-of-kind striped paint scheme. While experiencing a vivid sense of déjà vu, he wondered, had it ever been built?