Most loved Barracuda? a chronical of my project
A man walks into a Plymouth dealership in January 1969. He leaves that day in a brand new Barracuda which he would then drive for the next 37 years until his death in 2006. You have to really love a car to drive it for 37 years.
He would still be driving it today but he left it to his grandson who, by his own admission, is not much of a 'car' guy. The grandson mostly kept it in storage with intentions of "fixing it up" but, facing a military reassignment overseas, it was time to let it go.
In January of 2013, a workplace b-s session about cars reveals that this guy was selling his grandfather's 1969 Barracuda. Holy Cow! I used to have a 1969 Barracuda!! The guy describes it as basically a one-owner, Arizona car, with all the original sheetmetal, and no major bodywork save for a few door dings and a repaint. (more on that, lol) So I give up my digits and within a few days, contact is made.
Here we are at the storage unit:
So right off the bat, there's something fishy about the sheetmetal/bodywork story. '69 front end modded to accept '68 grilles or a '68 front end with a nose-job? Either way, it's all wrong up front and a sure sign of a frontal impact.
So what else do we have here? Basically, the car was originally Scorch Red with white side stripes, white interior, white vinyl top (did Plymouth do this?) factory air, performance indicator, 318 cubic inch V8, and 3-speed automatic with column shift. Oh yeah, and a fender tag that backs it all up.
Right about now, I google and find For A-Bodies Only. I post a thread seeking some info about what this car might be worth and it would be the last time I ever do that ;) Along the way I discover the "Slickback", the factory-installed vinyl roof treatment that was only offered on fastbacks in 1969. Hmmm, very cool!
It has been 21 years since the last time I looked at or even thought about 2nd gen Barracudas so time spent on FABO was time very well spent. I made a second trip back to the storage unit with a freshened eye for the details (this time). What I determine is that the car is all there and solid. The Arizona floor pans are for real but that Arizona sun has straight up murdered the interior. The owner says it won't start but since he said it was running before, I feel confident that there's no significant engine trouble. Basically, this car needs some minor mechanical work and a LOT of cleaning.
Bio-Hazard
So, what's this all about? The car stinks. Really stinks. This car reeks of mold as bad or worse as any junkyard car that's been sitting with the windows broken out and getting rained-on for 20 years. If you didn't already know, mold is bad for you. But mold is extremely bad for my wife who suffered an exposure to the stuff that left her hyper-sensitive to it. Owning this car means cleaning it - every square centimeter of it - because it will need to be absolutely sanitized.
Negotiating with the owner went like this: He thought his 44 year old, one-owner, never-been-smoked-in, complete and almost running muscle car with a cool name must really be worth something whereas I did my homework and discovered that this car was worth less than either one of us expected it to be. Although it has a nice list of original options, it just isn't a Formula-S nor a big-block car. But I have a strong emotional and nostalgic attraction to this particular car and, as I explained to the seller, that's what it's going to take to get this car sold. We also talked about his Grandfather and how he kept this car, unmolested, for so many years and that a certain respect should be paid to that.
Sold.
When I went to get the car I took a couple friends, my truck, and a tow strap. I also took some starter fluid and jumper cables...gotta at least try. On the second attempt, the motor fired up and proceeded to belch smoke for the next 20 minutes. We pulled it out of the storage unit and let it idle while hand-pumping air into the tires. In the end, I was able to drive the car home rather than drag it but the 3-year-old flat spots in the tires made the trip pretty interesting. Thank god it was a short ride.
The day I got her home:
Ugh...where to start.
A man walks into a Plymouth dealership in January 1969. He leaves that day in a brand new Barracuda which he would then drive for the next 37 years until his death in 2006. You have to really love a car to drive it for 37 years.
He would still be driving it today but he left it to his grandson who, by his own admission, is not much of a 'car' guy. The grandson mostly kept it in storage with intentions of "fixing it up" but, facing a military reassignment overseas, it was time to let it go.
In January of 2013, a workplace b-s session about cars reveals that this guy was selling his grandfather's 1969 Barracuda. Holy Cow! I used to have a 1969 Barracuda!! The guy describes it as basically a one-owner, Arizona car, with all the original sheetmetal, and no major bodywork save for a few door dings and a repaint. (more on that, lol) So I give up my digits and within a few days, contact is made.
Here we are at the storage unit:
So right off the bat, there's something fishy about the sheetmetal/bodywork story. '69 front end modded to accept '68 grilles or a '68 front end with a nose-job? Either way, it's all wrong up front and a sure sign of a frontal impact.
So what else do we have here? Basically, the car was originally Scorch Red with white side stripes, white interior, white vinyl top (did Plymouth do this?) factory air, performance indicator, 318 cubic inch V8, and 3-speed automatic with column shift. Oh yeah, and a fender tag that backs it all up.
Right about now, I google and find For A-Bodies Only. I post a thread seeking some info about what this car might be worth and it would be the last time I ever do that ;) Along the way I discover the "Slickback", the factory-installed vinyl roof treatment that was only offered on fastbacks in 1969. Hmmm, very cool!
It has been 21 years since the last time I looked at or even thought about 2nd gen Barracudas so time spent on FABO was time very well spent. I made a second trip back to the storage unit with a freshened eye for the details (this time). What I determine is that the car is all there and solid. The Arizona floor pans are for real but that Arizona sun has straight up murdered the interior. The owner says it won't start but since he said it was running before, I feel confident that there's no significant engine trouble. Basically, this car needs some minor mechanical work and a LOT of cleaning.
Bio-Hazard
So, what's this all about? The car stinks. Really stinks. This car reeks of mold as bad or worse as any junkyard car that's been sitting with the windows broken out and getting rained-on for 20 years. If you didn't already know, mold is bad for you. But mold is extremely bad for my wife who suffered an exposure to the stuff that left her hyper-sensitive to it. Owning this car means cleaning it - every square centimeter of it - because it will need to be absolutely sanitized.
Negotiating with the owner went like this: He thought his 44 year old, one-owner, never-been-smoked-in, complete and almost running muscle car with a cool name must really be worth something whereas I did my homework and discovered that this car was worth less than either one of us expected it to be. Although it has a nice list of original options, it just isn't a Formula-S nor a big-block car. But I have a strong emotional and nostalgic attraction to this particular car and, as I explained to the seller, that's what it's going to take to get this car sold. We also talked about his Grandfather and how he kept this car, unmolested, for so many years and that a certain respect should be paid to that.
Sold.
When I went to get the car I took a couple friends, my truck, and a tow strap. I also took some starter fluid and jumper cables...gotta at least try. On the second attempt, the motor fired up and proceeded to belch smoke for the next 20 minutes. We pulled it out of the storage unit and let it idle while hand-pumping air into the tires. In the end, I was able to drive the car home rather than drag it but the 3-year-old flat spots in the tires made the trip pretty interesting. Thank god it was a short ride.
The day I got her home:
Ugh...where to start.
