67/68/69 cuda dilemma

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moparmat2000

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Hi y'all,

i know this is a lengthy post but here goes. I have recently bought a half stripped 69 barracuda notchback from Dartos up in Wichita Falls Tx on Fabo for some parts for my 67 cuda restification. i do have a Vin, and a bill of sale, and getting a title is no problem where i live, as i have done this countless times before.

my wife likes the fact that i love restoring old muscle cars. she calls me the ultimate recycler. anyway when we first met she didnt know what a barracuda was, or a road runner for that matter. she did know and like the 70 chevelle SS, and 69 camaro SS, but these are more well known. i told her when i am done with my 67 i would like to build up a nice car for her. i have been looking at 69 camaros, and 70/71 chevelles and since these are iconic in their own way they are pretty pricey even for a basket case, so i presented her with the idea of refurbishing the 69 cuda shell for her to drive once i am done with my 67.

Georga likes that idea, she likes the shape of the 67-69 notchback says it reminds her of a camaro in a way, plus i am only into a rolling shell minus interior, driveline, grilles, and fenders for only $300. its basically a clean slate, and can be built how she wants it to be. i told her we for drivability and cost we should probably install a 360 magnum and AOD from a wrecked late model dodge pickup, or ram van since i can get thes at my local police auction cheap and use a fast EFI on an edelbrock intake for drivability, mebbe use a ford 8.8 rear from a ranger pickup, since the bolt pattern is the same as a mopar, and the gears and a limited slip are easier to find, or use an 8.25 rear axle out of a chrysler fifth ave or jeep cherokee, and i have most of the pieces parts lying around to add stock power discs and power steering. aftermarket A/C with a Sanyo compressor will likely round it all out along with smoothing out the firewall.

so heres the dilemma. the 69 nose sheetmetal is missing and the tail lamps and housings are shot. the center trunk panel for the 69 is long gone. i will probably spring for a set of fiberglass fenders and upper header and lower valance from stinger fiberglass that solves this part of the dilemma. tho it would have been nicer to have the steel ones that were on the car, but this would have added to the price i payed for the car, so i really cant complain. i have a spare hood that is 67/68 vintage that came with the parts car minus its pot metal inserts. i can use this hood but will mean using a 67/68 header panel, and grilles. i also have a nice used set of 67 taillamps and housings, along with center tail panel trim, and a good used pair of 67 reverse lights and bezels. i have a set of bumpers that are straight but need rechroming, we may paint these body color. i have the trim pieces if she wants a vinyl top, and since the back window trim is already gone off the car, i can buy a new rear window gasket from steele rubber that has a black locking strip to go with a black vinyl top making the roofline a bit formal. plus i have a box of clip nuts and body bolts and hardware from the old 74 dart 4 door i stripped for parts on my project.

i like the idea of using the pieces we already have that are not going on my car, or are castoffs from my car but are in good condition for a driver. since this car is really nothing special like a big block car or formula S i dont think there is any point in trying to make it original. i figure we can keep the 69 side marker reflectors, use the 67 taillamps and trim, use a 67/68 hood, and since i have a spare set of grilles from a 67 we may be able to find another set of these to make a good set, or find a set of 68 grilles making the car a 67/68/69.

she wants to pick the body color, upholstery, i showed her speedhuts line of gages, and said we can make a custom sheetmetal panel, since all i have is an empty dash frame and she can design her own gages. i said we can look at rims, and steering wheels and floor shifters too. this was originally a console car, but the only thing left is the front bracket. Georga likes the idea of carpet and bucket seats and no console, so an aftermarket automatic floor shifter is in order. we will be looking at these as well.

this car was an ex race car, and has a spring relocation kit done to it, but has hacked in aluminum wheel tubs, and cut some sections of the trunk floor beyond where the stock inner fenders are supposed to be. those have to go. we may keep it narrowed in the back, but i will have to get some stock inner and outer wheel houses from an old duster as these are the same stampings as the cuda, and widen and install them. i will have to hang rear quarter skins on it as well. it already has sub frame connectors. these are 2x2 box steel, they look to be installed ok, i will look at them a bit more once the shell is on a rotisserie. this may be a few years as i got to finish my car first, but it allows us time to collect up parts for it.

i think we got a good plan for this car, tho when she saw the pix she was like OMG you spent $300 on that. my response was at first i laughed, and said it was much cheaper than $3000 on a basket case camaro or chevelle, and i have some of the pieces its missing, putting us ahead of the game, tho i am starting with something in worse shape than what i have seen some people on here part out.

below is the pix of our new addition. it looks rough from somebody sanding most of the paint offand it getting surface rust, but not bad once you DA it to bare metal, and primer it. also at this moment i am not looking to sell anything off it like the SBP rallyes, or manual steering box, when i start rebuilding it, i will reassess whats coming off, and probably list the parts here.

what do y'all think? should we keep the body as a 69 only and try to find those unique pieces to keep it looking as a 69, or use what we have to make the back as a 67, the sides as a 69, and the grilles as a 67 or 68 ?

Matt
 

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what do y'all think? should we keep the body as a 69 only and try to find those unique pieces to keep it looking as a 69, or use what we have to make the back as a 67, the sides as a 69, and the grilles as a 67 or 68 ?

Matt


I vote for putting it together with whatever is in easy reach and later as time goes on you can replace parts and pieces with either correct year or ones you prefer.

I have a dart that I am currently doing the same thing....you know you are over the edge when you can actually build a whole car with remnant parts you have on hand. This dart is being built strictly with what I have and that is almost the whole car LOL.

I cant say that I am a fan of fiberglass especially on the street.....but I know why you would do that. Surely some steel ones will pop up somewhere and probably be worth the money.

SO its all about doing what seems cool at the time. Everything you have in mind is reversible and you are not going to make the car any worse off.

You are really ambitious to do this but the reward will be sweetness. Why do something that is going to be easy....where is the fun.
 
hi Ranigirl,

if the 69 ,fenders pop up before or during this project, we may go that route depending on condition and cost. a fiberglass header , and valance are not too terribly expensive so this route isnt too bad. car came as an automatic so the floor is correct, and it has an automatic brake pedal. i had a nice 74 dart hood i sold that would have been correct for a 69 cuda but we think the 67/68 we got with the parts car looks better because its got the chrome inserts. plus we have it to use. ditto for a aet of 67 taillamps which are somewhat similar to a 69. i like the 69 side reflectors better than the 68 round side lights. These besels and reflectors were included in a box of parts along with front bumper brackets. i will have to get a set of rear bumper brackets. plus i have 2 good bumpers. i will be buying new chrome ones for my car. lots of possibilities, its a clean slate. the P.O. sold the V8 k frame to somebody, so i will have to remove it and get it back to him. no biggie. the K frame buyer has a slanty k frame i said i would like in return. i have a spool mount K for my car, and will cut the slanty mounts off the K i am getting, and i will fab up a set of spool mounts using my k frame as a blueprint, and mod the 68/69 slanty K for 73 up V8 mounts.
 
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well i guess this is no longer a dilemma for me based on what my wife posted on faceplant. it was a a pic of jackie chan with a bewildered look saying "say what," along with a caption above it saying

" the look you get on your face when the 1969 barracuda parts car your husband bought for parts, he wants you to drive.

well needless to say i hate facebook, and for her to post this to with her friends and whoever else might be tied into her account made me feel like a chump. i am probably just going to pull the doors off it that i wanted in the first place, strip whats left, and just scrap it.

Matt
 
so your going to let facebook kill the dream :wack:

sounds like you need to build the car for yourself and be happy and free.
 
well "dems da berries"

i already have a 67 barracuda i am building for myself. like i said i was going to originally use the 69 as a parts car for the doors and be done with it.

so how would you have taken that post to faceplant?
 
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yeah I guess you're right about that one. once it's gone it's gone. maybe I'll just keep it around and loaded up with leftover parts. my son might want it when he gets older. and if he does at least I know it'll be going to someone who would want it.

the post to faceplant still doesn't make me feel very good. but that's okay it is what it is. and I'm okay with that.

you still got that Barracuda split bench? I'm still toying with making mine a bench seat 4 speed car. goes along with that great pretender look I'm after.
 
the other thing i cant figure out is why would anyone want a belly button muscle car anyways
 
Should she change her mind, there is a later Dart hood that is the same as the 69 Barracuda hood. I am thinking it is 73 through 76.

If you were to buy the nose panel from Teeth & Tires, you could use the 67/68 grill set ups. The grilles shown in the picture have already been sold but he still may have the nose panel.

 
If she is into Chevelles, look in the 72 model year. They have the same body style as a 70/71 and the difference between the 71 and 72 is the front grill and the maker lights, thats it. 72 is also usually cheaper because of the way the power output went from gross to net so people think it was a massive drop off in power. I know this because I still own my very first car, 1972 Chevelle SS.
 
i got 2 67/68 hoods. was never fond of the 69 hood that was,eventually used on the 73/76 beak nosed dart. i can use the hoods i have. but cool idea.

as far as a chebelle goes, the 71/72 models are still pricey since the 70 model is getting harder to find.

i basically bought the doors and got the rest of the car for free with a bill of sale and the vin. i dont think it gets any cheaper than that.
 
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i got 2 67/68 hoods. was never fond of the 69 hood that was,eventually used on the 73/76 beak nosed dart. i can use the hoods i have. but cool idea.

as far as a chebelle goes, the 71/72 models are still pricey since the 70 model is getting harder to find.

i basically bought the doors and got the rest of the car for free with abill of sale and the vin. i dont think it gets any cheaper than that.
build a 69 out of it, send me all the 68 stuff!!----bob
 
Are you sure your wife isn't cool with you building it for her? Did you ask her? It sounds like she was cool with it at first, then she made a facebook post just in fun, and maybe you took it too seriously? That sounds like something my wife would say to have fun with her friends, then say nice things about it later (to both me and them). Or, maybe she really doesn't get it, I don't know your wife, but it sure does seem like a major turnaround.

At any rate, definitely agree with Rani, don't scrap the shell no matter what happens. It looks like a pretty solid starting point, and I'm sure there's lots of people who have pretty decent complete cars that are rusty, and it could be mated up to save a car. They haven't made a single one of those since 1969 you know.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I learned a long time ago, not to worry about what others think. I would build this car to your liking and sell it or give it to your son. Worse case spend the time and money to get a title in hand, spray bomb it into a primer shell and sell it off as it is. These cars are getting hard to find, I had to drive 800 miles one way for a reasonable shell to build.
Andy
 
well if beauty is in the eye of the beholder then I must be the beholder because all I see in the OP is beauty. If that were in my backyard........yea....I would hug it.
 
well if beauty is in the eye of the beholder then I must be the beholder because all I see in the OP is beauty. If that were in my backyard........yea....I would hug it.

Hug a car....never done that one before (hell I've never even thought of it ).
 
Are you sure your wife isn't cool with you building it for her? Did you ask her? It sounds like she was cool with it at first, then she made a facebook post just in fun, and maybe you took it too seriously? That sounds like something my wife would say to have fun with her friends, then say nice things about it later (to both me and them). Or, maybe she really doesn't get it, I don't know your wife, but it sure does seem like a major turnaround.

i talked to her this morning, asked her why would she post that, and in that context for the whole friggin world to see. i told her the way that was written makes me look like a schmuck wanting to give her a piece of ****. i am not on facebook. my coworker showed it to on his facebook. her facebook is tied to most of my family as well as common friends. when i told her how i felt about that post, and that it hurt because i thought it would be cool for my wife and i to have his n hers cudas, one of which she had a hand in designing and building. she said she was joking around, and didnt mean any harm, was sorry, and removed it from facebook. then said do what you want with the car, and that she didnt have any interest in any car for her!!! (insert 3 exclamation points) basically soured on it. so i dunno.

its ok, i prob wont junk whats left. fixing the body, stripping and priming it, and reselling it may be an option i will concider later, as well as possibly keeping it for my son should he decide he wants the car when he gets older. he will need to work on it with me, put in the sweat equity tho.
 
I wouldn't have considered putting all my extra parts in a pile and rolling them into the streets in the first place.
 
There is a fastback here in the area. A nice looking car but the 1st time I seen it thought oh 67, then walking around it it has 69 side reflectors on the era, has some 68 parts here and there, then some 67 parts. Really don't remember what was what, but had them all on one car.

For those that know the differences they will know. For those that don't, will think nice car.

My dart has 67, 68 and 69 parts on it and doesn't have a single emblem as it what the car make or model is. Not everyone knows what it is, but most people knows it is a Dart.
 
I don't think the latter part of this thread really is about what year the car is or will reflect as a finished product but more about the problems with getting hobby participation.

Really when you go to shows its the same ol same ol. What kind of future is that for a hobby. I am sure the mopar community don't want to end up like street rod community which has disappeared as the way we knew it even ten years ago.

It also shows how evil facebook can be if not kept in check. The tongue is as powerful as a sword and in this case a key stroke has equal power. Don't really matter what the car is or going to be its the pride and enthusiasm in our hobby that is at stake.

have you hugged your mopar today
 
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