Who owns the 68 Plymouth Barracuda Super Stock mule car ?

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A56 said:
curious why it has front marker lights
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I'm thinking because the "mule car" was the proto-type built by Chrysler engineers, likely from a "off the line / production " car w/ steel fenders. The Hurst built super stock cars were purpose built from shells with fiberglass fenders and never had steel fenders or other steel components (hood, doors, etc) / production parts on them

JMHO....yours may vary
 
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HemiDenny said:
I'm thinking because the "mule car" was the proto-type built by Chrysler engineers, likely from a "off the line / production " car w/ steel fenders. The Hurst built super stock cars were purpose built from shells with fiberglass fenders and never had steel fenders or other steel components (hood, doors, etc) / production parts on them

JMHO....yours may vary
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Makes sense, I'm aware of the fiberglass front end, but I always thought that the doors on the Hurst built cars were metal but acid dipped.
 
One story that make sense, is this car was like a test car Chrysler had way back to test the 1967 model. Than car was updated for the ´68 model. Suppose this was done maybe summer of ´67 for the ´68 production cars. This car was now just sitting and available for the Hemi A-Body program team to start working on. The Mule had fiberglass fenders, but the side markers were later deleted to save money and time.
As for the fenders, body was shipped to Hurst with steel fenders on. Car was a roller at this stage, and in order to get the grill and stuff with the car, this is how they were delivered.
 
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Wasn't the guy that had and still has that car a member here? Seems I remember a guy joining who had the car. He shared pictures and all. Am I imagining that? I don't think I am.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Wasn't the guy that had and still has that car a member here? Seems I remember a guy joining who had the car. He shared pictures and all. Am I imagining that? I don't think I am.
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In addition to the wires I have, I have some factory original photos of the car, taken by Chrysler Photographic. Owner may be interested... ???
 
440outlawdart said:
mule

View attachment 1715308868
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The Suppa cuda was the mule car!! Tony Suppa bought the car from Arlene Vankee and raced the car for 10 years. Family caught up and he parked it! He got a call from a collector in 85 and sold the car to the collector for whatever he had in it. At the time he was very happy with the sale but today big regrets. The car went back to Woodward garage and returned to the condition it was when they had it originally. A doner car was supplied and the whole chassis was cut out and replaced. The car went to Arizona for a while and then sold to another collector in Michigan. Tony drove to Michigan years ago to verify and confirm that it was his old car. I painted another 68 barracuda for Tony 20 years ago and he told me the complete story. He was going to recreate his original car but changed his mind and painted it blue, Hope that helps!!! I saw the car at Quaker city raceway 10 years ago for Jim Krammer big Hemi reunion. The car looks exactly the way it was in 68 and I have a couple pics.
 
One thing has always confused me is the colors. I know it's easy for pictures to get colored different, but some of these are real different. And Beige, who picked that combination?
Mule Barracuda.jpg
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TheMule.jpg
 
Hyper_pak said:
One thing has always confused me is the colors. I know it's easy for pictures to get colored different, but some of these are real different. And Beige, who picked that combination?
View attachment 1715428804 View attachment 1715428805 View attachment 1715428806
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Bob Tarozzi picked the color combination and hand drew the paint scheme over a 1968 Barracuda dealer brochure.

The two colors are Chrysler colors and Bob lists the colors codes right on his hand drawing.
 
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SSing said:
One story that make sense, is this car was like a test car Chrysler had way back to test the 1967 model. Than car was updated for the ´68 model. Suppose this was done maybe summer of ´67 for the ´68 production cars. This car was now just sitting and available for the Hemi A-Body program team to start working on. The Mule had fiberglass fenders, but the side markers were later deleted to save money and time.
As for the fenders, body was shipped to Hurst with steel fenders on. Car was a roller at this stage, and in order to get the grill and stuff with the car, this is how they were delivered.
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Not really. Cars back then were designed 2-3 years in advance.

The Abody Super Stock project didn’t get rolling until Fall/Winter 1967. That’s well into the 1968 production year. No reason for 1967 Barracudas to be laying around.

Also you can tell from the pictures it’s not a 67.

But the real deal is the Super Stock project notes say it’s a 1968. Even lists the lot/tracking number for it.....

Car #139
1968 340 4 Speed Barracuda

So... the documentation says it’s a 68. There you have it.
 
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Definitely change the font for the words Plymouth and went from black to gold leaf.
 
autoxcuda said:
Not really. Cars back then were designed 2-3 years in advance.
The Abody Super Stock project didn’t get rolling until Fall/Winter 1967. That well into the 1968 production year. No reason for 1967 Barracudas to be laying around.

But the real deal is the Super Stock project notes say it’s a 1968. Even lists the lot/tracking number for it.
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Absolutely correct about early designs. The 70 Barracuda design was started somewhere during '67/'68 if I remember correctly.
 
A56 said:
Definitely change the font for the words Plymouth and went from black to gold leaf.
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There where at least a couple of paint schemes. But the first was the beige with black letters.
 
4spdragtop said:
Bob is a member here.
Bob 'Turk' Tarozzi
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Yes. I own/bought all Bob’s career work note binders. Including the 68 Hemi Super Stock binders.

He has contributed significantly to motor sports over a 40-50 year span. An incredible body of work.

Bob’s also a fantastic woodworker, BTW.
 
Sorting some old magazines and spotted this picture from October 1969 Motorcade magazine previewing of all 1970 models. ALL the pictures are manufacturers supplied shots from early pre-production promo cars. Same issue reports on a July 1969 race.

Notice the battery and brake booster are labeled “Car # 065” on this pre-production 1970 E-body picture shown below.

Same naming convention as Bob Tarozzi notes the mule car as: “Car # 139”

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This is a red 340 4 speed barracuda used in the December 1967 Sportscar Graphic magazine article. Car is pictured with black deluxe interior, rallye decor group with wood grain dash, 68 headrests, 67 partial horn ring steering wheel, looks like map light switch with under dash lights showing on (but no fender turn signals)

You can see white paint marking on battery. But I can not make out number

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FWIW, the Motor Trend Jan 1968 test a red 340 Barracuda fastback that is auto, AC, white deluxe interior.

Car Life Dec 1967 seems to test the same car.

Car Life and Motor Trend were Southern California based magazines.

The August 1968 issue of High Performance Cars magazine tested a 340 4 speed fastback and 340 4 speed coupe. There’s a color picture of the coupe showing it’s red. The black and white pictures seems to show both cars in same color. The 340 4 speed fastback is white deluxe interior, rallye wood dash fascia, wood grain steering wheel, light group, bumper guards.
 
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I worked on Press Preview cars at Highland Park Engineering in the 80s.
All the lab supplied parts had numbers. Most were etched on.
We'd track them. Same goes for durability testing.
 
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