Doppelganger

-

Cuda Al

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Messages
2,363
Reaction score
2,851
Location
Lompoc, CA
1994-2020

01-001.jpg

This is a car that belongs to Max (@mvh), I’ve known this car longer than Max. In 1994 I went to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance with another friend, like all the other cheapskates we parked out on the road, I find a spot and just across the street was this copper Barracuda. First thing I noticed was the Commando badges, something I did not know about at the time that you could have a Commando 273 and not a Formula-S. I took some pictures and headed into the show, car was gone when we got back.

02-001.jpg

Move along five or so years and I have joined an online forum with focus on the 67-69 Barracudas, The 67-69 Barracuda Owners Group on Yahoo affectionately known as the Bog. Not too long after joining a member posts a picture of his car and there was something familiar about it, it wasn’t just the copper paint. I dug through my pictures and find the ones from Pebble Beach and sure enough the plate matches.

03-004.JPG

Eventually I met Max and saw the car again at the 2002 Fall Fling Mopar show in Van Nuys, we would meet up at subsequent shows after that. It was at this show that the people of Johnny Lighting diecast cars approached Max about using his car in a new series of cars, pictures were taken and ultimately the model was produced.
04-001.jpg


2008-10-18_005.jpg

In 2008 I was finally able to finish the Barracuda and was planning and taking it to its first show, the only issue was the engine took a dive after a couple weeks on the road. I hatched a plan and swapped the engine out of the 67 Valiant that I had. The day before the show Max shows up to help button it up before hitting the road immediately after. Even though the color on Max’s car was a little different the cars got a lot of attention on the highway, heard the twin comment more once.

07-002.JPG

After I painted the Barracuda I mentioned to Max about the idea of repainting his car a more correct copper like mine. He was quick to point out the rust in the rear quarters might be more than a quick repaint, that idea ended there.

2010-06-06_001.jpg

Over the years we’d meet up at the Spring and Fall Fling along with another show in Fremont/Cupertino. The last time the two cars were together was probably 8-9 years go. A combination of things came into play on both sides. For me it was the used engine I had in my car was worn out and had no power keeping it local, for Max it was the accident seven years ago that put the car in a shop collecting dust almost the entire time.

09-002.jpg

In 2012 Max’s Barracuda was involved in an accident damaging the right rear, Max took the car to a shop and it was decided to take care of the rust and some previous damage up front as well. The shop made quick work of it replacing the full trunk floor rear valance and on full quarter. They got maybe 90% of the work on the rear and maybe 90% of the work on the front done and just stopped working on it. Max was under the impression that medical issues and having to move the shop (twice) kept him from working on the car, that was not the case but we’ll leave it there.

2017-11-24_002.jpg

In 2010 I took on the CHP restoration and in 2012 I took on help to do the body work and paint. Sometime after that when the delays on Max’s car started I mentioned having my guy finish it up. Last year Max mentioned taking me up on the offer so I checked and he said after the first of the so here we are...


Alan
 
February 20, 2021 - Pick Up...

I drove to Menlo Park last night and when I got there we loaded up the engine and transmission along with some other loose parts. In the morning we head out and proceed to the location where we're going to get the trailer. After hooking it up we test the lights and no taillights, not an issue they had a set of magnetic lights and we were good to go. We go the hour to where the car was and we load up the car, as I was strapping it down parts kept coming out the door, after loading up all the loose parts we did a cursory look around to see if there was anything we may have missed. On we went on the four and a half hour drive to Lompoc.
2021-02-20_001.jpg


February 21, 2021 - ...and Delivery

The day started off with going to my storage and unloading all the parts that the bodyshop didn't need, while there we got the call that he was at the shop so we head out and drop the car off and hit the road. Other than a stop for lunch the trip was uneventful. After we dropped the trailer off I took Max home and hit the road home.
2021-02-21_002.jpg


February 22-23, 2021 - Radiator Sourced

At the time we were loading the parts we had felt there was some stuff missing, one was the rear window trim, Max needed a better idea on how big they were to aid in his search. Another item was the radiator, I have one that will need to be checked out.
2021-02-22_002.jpg

2021-02-23_001.jpg


February 24, 2021 - Check-in

I dropped by the shop to double check for some parts and check in with the shop owner.
2021-02-24_001.jpg


February 27, 2021 - Screw It

We couldn't find the hardware for the car so I started going through my stash and was able to put together a set needed for the body shop.
2021-02-27_001.JPG


March 5, 2021 - We're Movin Forward Again

I dropped by the shop to check on progress and he had most of the metalwork done and had the car in primer.
2021-03-05_001.jpg


March 13, 2021 - Badged

I felt it would be easier to put the fender emblems on the car while the fenders were still off the car. I went through the parts and located them.
2021-03-13_001.jpg


March 19, 2021 - Check-in (2)

Once again I drop by the shop, the car was outside and they had the other fender on the car. Other than that not much that I could see.
2021-03-19_002.jpg


March 23, 2021 - Locating Parts

Max asked me about some parts so I went to storage and confirmed they were there.
2021-03-23_001.jpg



Alan
 
March 24, 2021 - Check-in (3)

Back at the shop, car was just primered again. I was told it is going to be painted tomorrow.
2021-03-24_001.jpg


March 26, 2021 - Almost There

The car wasn't painted yesterday and it wasn't ready, didn't matter, and was able to go over a few details.
2021-03-26_008.jpg


March 29, 2021 - Ok, Almost There..?

Car still not painted but looked ready, hope they mask off under the hood correctly.
2021-03-29_001.jpg


March 30, 2021 - Yay

Car was painted last night, overall I'm happy with it, there are some spots that could have more coverage. We had the car transported to my place for the assembly, he said he'd take care of the details at my place.
2021-03-30_001.jpg

To see this car in the correct copper was cool, a little odd at time to see it, have to keep reminding myself that mine is outside.
2021-03-30_006.jpg



Alan

2021-03-29_001.jpg
 
Last edited:
That was the color of my 65 when I bought it...even thought the fender tag said it was 'N' "Barracuda silver". Under the copper paint was an aqua blue color...primer? Its Sunburst silver now, as close to Barracuda Silver poly that I could get stocked at the paint shop. Your copper looks better!
 
A few images from this weekend’s activities. Progress is being made.

Picking up the motor, etc. at the storage locker. Forgot the driveshaft, but we didn't get to that point anyway.

8872A76C-E3DB-4CE8-B942-26D7BA1E1902.jpeg


Engine on the hoist. Alan & I are on opposite sides of the issue whether to install engine and trans together or separately, but in the end I conceded that we didn't have headroom to do both together.

5328C85A-8C90-4784-8F3C-2889985B987A.jpeg


Engine in (out of sequence).

8E2ED1B5-344D-4B94-8FA1-0B3910A62F43.jpeg


Transmission in (out of sequence).

9A3C5831-B529-46CF-8FB3-1DF5F8728D47.jpeg


"Mopar Parking Only"

AEEF24A8-3826-422D-9999-3AA818E7AA4D.jpeg


The two complete & functional fish.

E723B4A0-346E-4A84-A3BE-795762876FE6.jpeg


The long road home... Highway 25 near King City.

C796FAB8-C3A0-4F9A-8FD9-C9668BFD7924.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Alan I am glad you rescued Maxes car from paint shop jail. It has been way too long since he has been able to enjoy that car. I thought I was going to have to take my Johnny Lightning out of the box and strip it to match the car.
 
Alan I am glad you rescued Maxes car from paint shop jail. It has been way too long since he has been able to enjoy that car. I thought I was going to have to take my Johnny Lightning out of the box and strip it to match the car.

Ha ha... yeah, I have several of the models... I could have cut a few up and applied various amounts of primer to document the process.
 
A year later and the car is done but here is how we got there.

After the engine install the car went back to the shop to have the hood installed and the car wet sanded and buffed out.
2021-07-06_002.jpg


Back in the garage looking more like a car.
2021-07-07_002.jpg


Max came down with plans to get the car running. Fluids checked, timing set, fuel into the carb, crank. As soon as it trued to run the cab would overflow with gas, we tried tapping on the carb but we could not get the needle to free up. The plan is for Max to take the carb home and take care of it there.
2021-07-24_001.jpg


Closed out the weekend with getting the grill and bumpers installed.
2021-07-25_007.jpg


During the week I got the trunk weatherstripping done.
2021-08-07_008.jpg


Just because.
2021-08-08_002.jpg


Max returned with the cleaned up carb, fired right up but has a very unusual sound coming from the bottom end. We tried to figure it out but couldn't.
2021-08-29_003.jpg


I thought about it and had a few ideas, flex plate hitting the shield, pulled it and no scaring? While I had it open I looked into the crank area and could see the rear main seal all bubbled out, wrong seal. It was pushing the dust shield into the flex plate.

I got a long box knife and reached in and trimmed as much as I could off. With everything put back together I fired it up and it was much better, not perfect.

Knowing it was nothing major I felt good about taking it for a quick drive. The car performed great.

2021-09-04_001.jpg


2021-09-04_003.jpg


Arrangements were made to have the car transported home.
2021-09-09_002.jpg



Max can fill you in on the additional work to finish it up.


Alan
 
Last edited:
Here is the finished car with mine at Spring Fling in Van Nuys last April. People would just stop and look back and forth between them. Some commented on never seeing that color then to see two of them.
IMG_8312.JPG


And a couple months later at the Mopar Alley show in Cupertino with his convertible.
IMG_8547.JPG


IMG_8548.JPG



Alan
 
I just skimmed through this and realized that it wasn't clear, Max and I live 4 hours apart. The plan was to get the car to the point it could be driven home.
The car was largely together, interior was mostly in the car, dash, seats., so I did what I could to minimize the trips Max would need to make


Alan
 
-
Back
Top