Kevin Hart’s 40th birthday gift to himself: SpeedKore’s ’70 Plymouth Cuda
Something tells us that Kevin Hart is secretly jonesing for a role in The Fast and Furious franchise. The actor/comedian/car collector just celebrated his 40th birthday on July 6 by purchasing the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda that appeared in 2018’s The Fate of the Furious, the eighth movie in the series.
[Of course, maybe he’s been raising his hand the whole time and we just can’t see him? “I’m a grown little man!”]
Hart’s latest collector car purchase is a 720-horsepower beast, known as “Menace,” that was built by SpeedKore Performance Group. He shared a photo of himself and the blue hardtop on Instagram (@kevinhart4real) and wrote, “I added some more muscle to the family for my 40th… welcome home “Menace” #MuscleCarLover
The ’Cuda debuted at the 2016 SEMA show. According to Hagerty senior editor Brandan Gillogly, then at Hot Rod magazine, “all of the bodywork ahead of the A-pillar is carbon fiber: hood, fenders, valence, header panel, and bumpers. It saved weight off the front tires so that even with a reinforced subframe, Dynamat soundproofing, and a supercharged iron-block Hemi, curb weight is a respectable 3400 pounds.”
Sean Smith, SpeedKore’s design director, told Gillogly he wanted to “preserve the styling of the vehicle that the fan base loves,” which meant keeping it clean and simple with a mean presence. The two-door ’Cuda features a lowered suspension, high performance wheels with foot-wide rear tires, and an updated interior. The muscle car is powered by a modern supercharged 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 tuned to produce 720 hp at 5800 rpm.
How much Hart paid for the car is unknown, but it certainly was a lot more than the average value of a stock 1970 Plymouth Barracuda in #1 (concours) condition: $74,300. For comparison, SpeedKore’s 966-hp 1970 Dodge Charger “Evolution,” which also appeared in The Fate of the Furious, was offered for sale last year for $699,000.
Last December, Hart purchased classic cars for his entire comedy team—eight cars total—after completing his Irresponsible Tour, a gesture he also shared on Instagram. [A Beetle, Joey? You got short-changed, man. Just sayin’.] Apparently Hart decided it was time to get himself a new old ride too—something fast and furious, of course.
