Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
I ordered a pair of quarter panels, a right rocker panel, and a right trunk drop from AMD. - No sense in leaving damaged sheet metal underneath new paint.
Normally I try to do as much of the work I can by myself. But until I can get a decent shop with a paint booth, I'll have to farm out the final finish work. I know that it's hard to find a body shop that will agree to take on project work such as these old cars. It seems that the few that will charge fees that make it a certainty you'll have more money in your vehicle than you're ever likely to get back out of it.
I've been pretty fortunate. I found a guy in Garland, Nebraska that is great. His name is Larry Hoeft. I'd rank the quality of his work up there with the best of what I've seen turned out at any other shop. He mainly does restorations. He charges a flat rate of $30 per hour and doesn't gouge people. - Very honest. It's hard to go to any car shows in my area without seeing a few of the cars he's done. He's also a bit anal about how he does things. - He insists on very high quality materials and the majority of the cars that I've seen him do were stripped first. It's getting harder to get a vehicle in to his shop as his reputation grows.
So when he called and told me he had an opening for my Barracuda I didn't flinch. I told him I'd get the car down to him whenever he was ready for it. I hadn't gotten any of the replacement panels on yet, but I figured I'd rather make sure I could get the car in to him by letting him install them than risk missing the window of opportunity to get it into his shop.
View attachment 0.jpg
View attachment 1.jpg
View attachment 2.jpg
View attachment 3.jpg
I ordered a pair of quarter panels, a right rocker panel, and a right trunk drop from AMD. - No sense in leaving damaged sheet metal underneath new paint.
Normally I try to do as much of the work I can by myself. But until I can get a decent shop with a paint booth, I'll have to farm out the final finish work. I know that it's hard to find a body shop that will agree to take on project work such as these old cars. It seems that the few that will charge fees that make it a certainty you'll have more money in your vehicle than you're ever likely to get back out of it.
I've been pretty fortunate. I found a guy in Garland, Nebraska that is great. His name is Larry Hoeft. I'd rank the quality of his work up there with the best of what I've seen turned out at any other shop. He mainly does restorations. He charges a flat rate of $30 per hour and doesn't gouge people. - Very honest. It's hard to go to any car shows in my area without seeing a few of the cars he's done. He's also a bit anal about how he does things. - He insists on very high quality materials and the majority of the cars that I've seen him do were stripped first. It's getting harder to get a vehicle in to his shop as his reputation grows.
So when he called and told me he had an opening for my Barracuda I didn't flinch. I told him I'd get the car down to him whenever he was ready for it. I hadn't gotten any of the replacement panels on yet, but I figured I'd rather make sure I could get the car in to him by letting him install them than risk missing the window of opportunity to get it into his shop.
View attachment 0.jpg
View attachment 1.jpg
View attachment 2.jpg
View attachment 3.jpg
