Steve-Oh-no!
International lurker
Hi,
Just thought I would share some pics of my 99.999% completed "resto".
My car is an LA born and bred, black plated 65 Barracuda that came with a 2 barrel 273, auto trans, power steering and AC as well as the radio pack and external mirror. I found it on Craigslist and had it inspected, bought it and shipped it over to Australia in July 2011.
I'm the third owner; the original owner drove it until she could no longer drive, as was evidenced by the dents on just about every panel. It was parked outside for a long time, to the point where anything vinyl or plastic was baked brittle.
The second owners got it running and mechanically sound so I was pretty happy to pick up an unmolested car to fix up in my early retirement.
The first job was to make it roadworthy and get it registered so I could have some fun. It needed new shocks and rear springs, some seals and while I was at it I upgraded to front disc brakes, 15" chrome Rallye wheels and an aftermarket wood rim steering wheel.
I drove it like that for a few months until it started leaking oil from the rear axle seals. I swapped out the original diff/axle unit for a local Valiant part, found that the axle flanges were different so I ended up with 9" rear drums as per the local Mopars.
A bit more driving time later, I bit the bullet and took the car to a friend of my Dad's who is a retired panel beater. The plan was to knock out the dents and give it a quick blow over in original white....11 months later the car is laser straight and has been painted inside/outside/underneath and engine bay!
With the car back at home, we fitted a complete new Legendary interior replacing everything except the door cards, seat backs and dash pad which I had re skinned locally. I refurbed the dash and fitted a Retro Sound Stereo into the original radio bezel. I like some tunes and this baby is iPhone compatible.
On the outside, all the original trim was polished and put back with new clips and other bits like door handles were replaced with repops from Laysons, including the wheel arch moldings.
In the midst of all this, I decided a better breathing exhaust was in order so that got done, all new from the manifolds back.
Now its almost complete save re-chroming the bumpers and fixing some wiring mistakes.
We got it ready for the first Chrysler show of the coming summer season and was entered in the same class as my Dad's "survivor" 1965 Dodge Phoenix 4 door. And Dad's car won!
Anyway, I've got a passion for A body cars as that was pretty much the bulk of the Mopar sales here in Australia between 1961 and 1970 so I kinda relate to them.
Here are some before and after pics, And a couple of how it looks now.
Just thought I would share some pics of my 99.999% completed "resto".
My car is an LA born and bred, black plated 65 Barracuda that came with a 2 barrel 273, auto trans, power steering and AC as well as the radio pack and external mirror. I found it on Craigslist and had it inspected, bought it and shipped it over to Australia in July 2011.
I'm the third owner; the original owner drove it until she could no longer drive, as was evidenced by the dents on just about every panel. It was parked outside for a long time, to the point where anything vinyl or plastic was baked brittle.
The second owners got it running and mechanically sound so I was pretty happy to pick up an unmolested car to fix up in my early retirement.
The first job was to make it roadworthy and get it registered so I could have some fun. It needed new shocks and rear springs, some seals and while I was at it I upgraded to front disc brakes, 15" chrome Rallye wheels and an aftermarket wood rim steering wheel.
I drove it like that for a few months until it started leaking oil from the rear axle seals. I swapped out the original diff/axle unit for a local Valiant part, found that the axle flanges were different so I ended up with 9" rear drums as per the local Mopars.
A bit more driving time later, I bit the bullet and took the car to a friend of my Dad's who is a retired panel beater. The plan was to knock out the dents and give it a quick blow over in original white....11 months later the car is laser straight and has been painted inside/outside/underneath and engine bay!
With the car back at home, we fitted a complete new Legendary interior replacing everything except the door cards, seat backs and dash pad which I had re skinned locally. I refurbed the dash and fitted a Retro Sound Stereo into the original radio bezel. I like some tunes and this baby is iPhone compatible.
On the outside, all the original trim was polished and put back with new clips and other bits like door handles were replaced with repops from Laysons, including the wheel arch moldings.
In the midst of all this, I decided a better breathing exhaust was in order so that got done, all new from the manifolds back.
Now its almost complete save re-chroming the bumpers and fixing some wiring mistakes.
We got it ready for the first Chrysler show of the coming summer season and was entered in the same class as my Dad's "survivor" 1965 Dodge Phoenix 4 door. And Dad's car won!
Anyway, I've got a passion for A body cars as that was pretty much the bulk of the Mopar sales here in Australia between 1961 and 1970 so I kinda relate to them.
Here are some before and after pics, And a couple of how it looks now.
