well... it was a great wednesday for me here in Pittsburgh, PA! i got a call at 7:30 a.m. from the trucker who had my M-Code Barracuda on his truck saying that he was only about 10 minutes away from my house. my day usually doesn't begin until around 9:30 a.m. so this was a "wake up call." i had to move several vehicles from the back of my house to the front street so i could get my new arrival into my house garage. after playing with four different vehicles, i stood in the street and here comes a new Ford F-350 Crew Cab duelly towing a tri-axle 35' long two car trailer. on the trailer was a very nice and original 75-76 GMC half-ton pickup (that the driver told me still had its "factory" 454 big block and on the end of the trailer was my Barracuda.
today was the FIRST time i ever saw this car since first buying it in mid-February of 2016. i purchased this car off of ebay from a guy who lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. i then had it shipped directly from his house to American Metal Direct's restoration shop in Cleveland, Georgia - where it has been for over a year! once we got it winched off the trailer, i walked around it and was not "surprised" by anything - which WAS a worry i had for some time. the only thing i did see that i did not know about was that the car once had fender well headers (which i should have assummed as it was a drag car). however, when the "drag race owner" built the car, he did not cut very big holes in the fender wells. i'm talking like maybe a 10" x 12" openings. that seems small to me for race headers - but i'm glad there's only two "small" holes to deal with. i can easily repair these panels.
i have to say again what a great job AMD did in putting this car together. ALL the panels they installed look absolute "factory original" and the fit and finish of the welding is just surperb. they even sent me a CD with (i'm told) like 100 pictures of the car as it was going through the restoration. pretty amazing stuff. this work was "pretty expensive" - about what you would pay for a regular 340 S decent "driver" 68-69 Barracuda that needed some body work or paint. but i did get this car at a reasonable price as a "cut up" drag car with no motor or trans so my investment right now is around $28k. i'm going to do the body work and paint myself and believe i can "put together" a decent "date correct" 440 for around $6k. so when this car is done, i should be in for around $35k - which will be "just fine" for a very nicely restored and "authentic" M-Code Cuda. yes, i know this car will never be worth what the other M-Codes are who were never cut up into drag cars, but i think my car will hold its value in the $35-$40k range for a number of years. and besides, i'm going to "drive this car like i stole it" when it's done. i doubt many of the "trailer queen" M-Codes out there see much of that.
here's some pics of the car arriving at my house in Pittsburgh today - and a video that i hope downloads here. yes, i do sound goofy on the video...
i'll post more pics as this "project" moves along...
OK... i guess you can't upload a video to FABO... if one of you guys know how to do that, let me know...
