Kevin Hart is a popular American actor and stand-up comedian who has amassed a fortune worth anything between $150 and $200 million. This ranks him among some of the wealthiest celebrities in Hollywood. In July 2019, he decided to treat himself for his 40th birthday, and with wealth like that, he could afford to splurge.

Hart acquired a one-off 1970 Plymouth Barracuda restomod nicknamed the ‘Menace.’ Barely 2 months later, the Menace was involved in a horrible crash somewhere in the Malibu hills of California. Some of the occupants had to be cut out from the wreckage and Hart himself would later have back surgeries after fracturing his spinal column. The Menace was a total write-off, but given how special the car was, don’t bet against seeing it or at least something really similar, in the near future.

10 Menace Was At SEMA

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The SEMA Show, held annually at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is one of the most popular automobile events in the United States. Every year (2020 Edition was canceled due to COVID-19), it attracts people from all sectors of the automotive space and beyond. There are car manufacturers, after-market specialists, tuners, and car enthusiasts, all coming together to check out the latest car builds and catch up on the latest happenings in the automobile sector.

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The 2016 SEMA attracted almost 158,000 people and it was at that event that SpeedKore Performance, builder of Kevin Hart’s ‘Menace’ debuted the Plymouth Barracuda restomod as proof of their ingenuity when it comes to classic muscle cars.

9 The Heart Of A Demon

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A stock 1970 Barracuda is equipped with a 7.0-liter V8 engine that produces 425hp. However, when SpeedKore originally built the Menace restomod, that powerplant was replaced with a 6.4-liter HEMI V8 that, with the help of a 2.9-liter Whipple Supercharger, could churn out all of 720hp at 5,800rpm. That borders on the boundary of insanity but even that was not enough for Kevin Hart.

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He reportedly had that 720hp set-up swapped out in favor of a formidable 6.2-liter HEMI V8. It’s the same powerplant found in the scary Dodge Challenger Demon. That engine can produce a hefty 804hp and 770 pound-feet of tire-bursting torque. What was he thinking?

8 Designed To Be Practical

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The Barracuda restomod might have 800 angry horses under the hood but it was still designed with practicability in mind. Kevin did not just want a car that would acquire dust in the garage.

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The original seats were stripped out and replaced by a much more comfortable set. They were Recaro bucket seats that had been covered with sumptuous black leather by a leading car interior designer based in California. The suspension set-up had also been redesigned and tweaked to offer a much more comfortable ride.

Related: Pontiac Trans Am And 9 Other Badass '70s Muscle Cars

7 Lots and Lots of Carbon Fiber

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SpeedKore Performance has a reputation when it comes to building carbon fiber-bodied cars and they stayed true to that path with the Plymouth Barracuda restomod. The designers descended on the car and ripped out most of the original sheet metal.

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The front and rear panels were taken off to be replaced by ones made from carbon fiber. Gone too were the fenders, bumpers, hood, and side mirrors. Even the engine bay sported carbon fiber additions. The car weighed in at about 3,400pounds after all the modifications; nothing that the HEMI V8 powerplant couldn’t handle with ease.

6 The Brains Behind The Menace

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The Menace was built by SpeedKore Performance Group, an American car performance company based in Wisconsin. They are not new to the game of building restomods. They are well-known for how they combine traditional craftsmanship with modern technology and of course, loads of carbon fiber. One of their inventions is the 1970 Dodge Charger Tantrum pictured above.

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Another of their creations, a 1970 Dodge Charger ‘Evolution’ build, won the prestigious Goodguy Golds award at the 2018 SEMA show. That car was built almost entirely from carbon fiber and is guaranteed to be a show stopper in any company.

5 Completely Redesigned Interior

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The bodywork of the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda was not the only part that received attention from the SpeedKore design team; the interior was also extensively modified. All the ‘old school’ vinyl, carpet, and plastic were stripped leaving a bare space for the team to work with.

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The interior was 3D scanned and redesigned with a new look dash, console, and door panels all wrapped in black leather-like the seats. The end result was a stunning masterpiece that Kevin Hart must have been proud of – such a pity then that he did not get to enjoy it for as long as he would have hoped.

Related: 5 European Cars That Are Perfectly Restomodded (5 American Restomods We'd Rather Own)

4 The Menace Was A Brisk Mover

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The original 1970 Barracuda had a 425hp powerplant and could hit 60mph in 5.8 seconds, a very impressive scorecard for cars from that era. Kevin’s Menace though was equipped with enough arsenal to take that performance to a whole new level.

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Even without the Dodge Demon-sourced 6.2-liter HEMI V8, the 720hp V8 engine originally designed for the car could propel it to 60mph in just over 3 seconds while a quarter-mile run of less than 13 seconds was very possible. It is not known if Kevin ever got the chance to really open her up on the highway considering the relatively short lifespan of the car.

3 The Plymouth Barracuda History

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There is a load of rich history behind the Plymouth Barracuda. It first debuted in 1964, at about the same time as the Ford Mustang, and would go on to have a 10-year production run. In that time, the now-extinct company made three generations of the car.

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The car was well known for its participation in several competitions that included the Trans Am road racing series and a host of drag racing events. Today, the Barracuda, especially the latter ones with the HEMI engines, are among the most valuable classic muscle cars with auction prices that regularly cross the million-dollar mark.

Related: These 10 Chargers And Challengers Are Restomodded To Perfection

2 More About That Crash

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In July 2019, Kevin Hart acquired the Menace from SpeedKore. It is common knowledge that by September, the car was gone, wrecked in a bad accident that the actor was lucky to escape with his life. Some aspects of that incident though may not be as widely known as the crash itself.

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For example, the Menace had only two seats (the rear seats had been taken out and replaced with storage compartments) but there were three adults in the car which is illegal. Also, Kevin was not the driver and had entrusted that task to a friend that reportedly had no prior experience with high-performance vehicles – the perfect recipe for a disaster.

1 After The Crash

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The story did not end with the crash of the Menace. Alcohol was ruled out as a cause of the crash but the California Highway Patrol continued its investigation by taking apart the car to determine the actual cause. It was speculated that the results of that investigation could even lead to changes in the Californian laws regarding restored classic cars.

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There were some reports that the car did not have proper restraints though that would have done little good considering the car held 3 adults in an interior designed for 2 at the time of the crash. Some people also claimed that the car was not fully equipped to handle the brute strength and sophistication of the Dodge Demon powerplant.

Next: 10 Mustang Prototypes That Were Never Produced