"El Mongrel" '65 Formula S Restomod
Warning: this is going to be a long winded story and if you dont want to get sucked in leave now. You have been forewarned.
Part 1
The reason Im writing this story is two fold. First, document what is done to the car while it spends time in my hands and second, show to whomever has an interest what can be done to an old car, over time, with factory stuff either sourced through friends, junk yards, swap meets, internet or wherever. This will be the sixth A body (working on # 7 now) I will have had a hand in extensively modifying, either my own projects or friends, and the only one that has ever been documented. The decision to do this was made at a late date and much has already been completed without taking pictures of the process. Fortunately many others have posted excellent write ups documenting the how to. Just use the SEARCH function and spend some time reading.
Prior to the search for and purchase of my little Cuda I had owned a 72 Demon for over 10 years. It had a solid cammed 440, manual valve bodied 727 and 3000 stall. This thing was quite fun for a while but had slowly morphed from the all around driver I really wanted towards the drag strip which I was into for about 6-7 years. In the process of ownership I did mini-tubs, subframe connectors, roll cage, ladder bar rear suspension, fuel cell, tunnel ram, race mufflers, ect. Slowly it got less and less fun to take out for a cruise as my head was constantly on a swivel looking for Johnny Law. With that much power under my foot it was
WAY to tempting. Soon it just sat waiting for a day at the drags which was getting to be far and few between. After much sole searching I decided it needed a new home.
A couple months after the sale and being Moparless the bug bit me hard. Got to be an A body but what to get? No, done the Duster, Demon & Dart thing already. Need something more unusual and challenging, this is after all a hobby. So my interest started focusing on the early As and I found an add for a 65 Formula S Barracuda in Oregon that looked promising. I showed the pictures to my wife and got the response Its kind of ugly but in a cute sort of way. Gee thanks for the support dear. I brought the idea up at work the next day with my two A body buddies and was shot down in flames like a WWI blimp. Those things are fking ugly, theyre too small to get a REAL motor in where just a couple of the nicer remarks. That did it, the gauntlet had been thrown and I was determined to show them just how wrong they were.
A trip to Oregon and $1250.00 changed hands for a remarkably solid and complete Cuda. Only two things were missing, the original HP 273 and the A/C system. The story went that the car had broken down on the road and was towed into Yakima, WA. It had sat and wracked up impound fees and was eventually abandoned by the owner. The car was stored inside by the tow company for at least 9 years, in which time the motor and A/C were stripped, before being put up for sale. It was purchased by a well meaning young guy who realized how much work and money it would take to refurbish and just wanted to get his cost back out of. Now it was sitting in my shop and a plan slowly evolved after a long evaluation aided by more than a few barley pops.
