hi 69 barracuda....
first, a big salute to a fellow "soldier" - i did 18 years in the Marines and 2 in the Army and can relate to probably many of your experiences.
now as to your barracuda, i restored my 68 here at my house by myself. i did all the body work myself but since you're having that done at a shop, i won't talk about that.
the MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do at the beginning of your restoration is to arrange your garage/shop first. take some time to clean up the work space and arrange your tools. i don't know how extensive of a garage you have but you will find restoration so much easier and "fun" if you don't have to hunt around for tools or fall over stuff all the time. naturally, the more tools you have the better like a good vice; grinders; lots of hand tools, especially ones for small parts work; a Dremel tool kit with lots of accessories; some basic spray paint (gloss and flat black); a good air compressor; a collection of small wire brushes; shop rags; several cleaners, including some laquer thinner; a good drill and bits; a pop rivet gun; a good auto electrical connector kit. like i said, i don't know how extensive your shop is.
when starting on any part or set of parts, set small goals so you won't get frustrated or impatient. you will also find that just concentrating on small tasks then completing them will give you a needed psychological boost which is very important in doing a complete car. it is easy to get over whelmed if you don't see continuing progress.
i don't know how much you are going to take off your car prior to taking it to the body shop, but if it's "disassembled" there will be a lot of stuff you could work on. on my 68, i took apart both front grill sections and restored each piece. your 69 has different grill assemblies but there's a lot you could restore. you could work cleaning up/painting the bumpers/brackets. you could restore the wiper and heater motors. the dash assembly has a lot you can do on a work bench. it you take your time, you can take this item completely apart and clean the faces of each gauge and the gauge lenses. you can order some new bulbs for the dash lights and replace all of them. if you are using the stock radio, bench check it for operation and check the illumination light bulb behind the dial lenses. the tail light assemblies can be taken apart and cleaned as can the parking lights in the front grills.
like i said, doing a whole car by yourself can be a daunting task. it might also help you if you make a list of items "to do" for each section of the car. that way you can see the progress you're making as you go along.
hope this helps. oh one other thing ... time. don't get up-set over the "time" it's taking. i put in 2600 hours on my barracuda restoration.
