'68 Barracuda Formula S Fastback Restoration Background
Part Nine--Finishing the Car
The car is almost done. We got the seats in and found that the tracks were worn. I had '73 Dart Sport seats in the car since about 1975. The tracks starting that year had nylon runners holding the rollers and balls in place. They disintegrated and fell apart when we put the seats in. Had to get new tracks and that is about it. Alignment next, then it can come home!
The dash bezel was replaced with a PG Classics reproduction unit. This presented assembly problems as the groove that accepts the upper support plate for the bezel was not deep or wide enough to work with the plate. A Dremel tool cutoff wheel of about 1/16th inch width was used to carefully open the groove to accept the plate. This was a nerve-wracking task with a brand new $600 dash bezel. But they all apparently are this way. Cheap Chinese products. But the end product looks good.
Way back in 1972, I put a Stewart-Warner Stage III tach in the dash in the stock tach location. This looked and functioned perfectly for 50 years. But when going through my collection of Barracuda parts collected of that time, I found a factory tach that still worked perfectly. I replaced the SW tach with that unit as it looks more correct. Even if the SW tach was also great.
Dave Bond polished all the trim and front grill to perfection. Nothing was really bad, but years of tiny sand and stone chips needed to be polished out.
Figure 40 Body assembled awaiting windows.
Figure 41 All windows and trim installed.
Figure 42 Rear view of 'Cuda with restored trunk trim and new taillight. Added red strpe to trunk.
Part Nine--Finishing the Car
The car is almost done. We got the seats in and found that the tracks were worn. I had '73 Dart Sport seats in the car since about 1975. The tracks starting that year had nylon runners holding the rollers and balls in place. They disintegrated and fell apart when we put the seats in. Had to get new tracks and that is about it. Alignment next, then it can come home!
Finishing the Car
Assembly went well as most trim was in excellent condition requiring minimal work to make presentable. Seats were the ’73 Dart Sport versions which I acquired in 1976 or so when my original bench seat began to tare due to sliding across the ribs for almost 10 years. Legendary Interiors provided the foam cushions and seat covers which were installed by Auto Weave Auto Upholstery in Wheatridge, COThe dash bezel was replaced with a PG Classics reproduction unit. This presented assembly problems as the groove that accepts the upper support plate for the bezel was not deep or wide enough to work with the plate. A Dremel tool cutoff wheel of about 1/16th inch width was used to carefully open the groove to accept the plate. This was a nerve-wracking task with a brand new $600 dash bezel. But they all apparently are this way. Cheap Chinese products. But the end product looks good.
Way back in 1972, I put a Stewart-Warner Stage III tach in the dash in the stock tach location. This looked and functioned perfectly for 50 years. But when going through my collection of Barracuda parts collected of that time, I found a factory tach that still worked perfectly. I replaced the SW tach with that unit as it looks more correct. Even if the SW tach was also great.
Dave Bond polished all the trim and front grill to perfection. Nothing was really bad, but years of tiny sand and stone chips needed to be polished out.
Figure 40 Body assembled awaiting windows.
Figure 41 All windows and trim installed.
Figure 42 Rear view of 'Cuda with restored trunk trim and new taillight. Added red strpe to trunk.
