Lynn’s Barrcuda rescue

[CudaJason]

My father in law Lynn bought this 1966 Barracuda in The early 80s and it was his pride and joy. At the time when he purchased it he was still in the Navy and my wife and her sisters were young, and had a ton of memories riding around in their Dads barracuda. Unfortunately back in 1985 while he was out on a ship while in the Navy his brother decided to take it for a ride while. It had a newly built 340 and 727 in it with just enough miles on it to start to break it in. Probably less than 100 miles. Well as you guessed it, his brother blew the new motor and he found it half taken apart with his brother attempting to fix it when he returned home. Disgusted but not giving in he started collecting pieces to rebuild it.

As it always happens, life gets in the way. And he never got to really start to fix it back up again. He never gave up on it and spent nearly 40 years collecting up parts so that he could restore it when he retired. Even after retirement and relocating to Alabama from Virgina he still had a tuff time trying to get things in line to start the restoration. Then his health started to decline and he knew he would never be able to get it done.

Last year my Wife was talking to him and he said he had decided to sell the Barracuda and all the parts he still had stored I. His house in Virgina. So we talked to him about us getting it to keep it in the family and preserve his dream for it. In April of 2024 my son and I removed it from the old shed he had stored it in since 1990 after towing it from Tennessee where it had been stored since 1985. He are the first pictures of it on the day we pulled it out.

 

[abdywgn]

Thanks for sharing your story and saving a family heirloom.

 

[ProjectBazza]

Nice! Please share the journey of this car with us!

@Scott_ 69HemiDart Sound somewhat familiar, Scott?

 

[4spdragtop]

Welcome, great story! Hopefully you get it safely running and driving so the FIL can take it for a rip.

 

[CudaJason]

I have tons more to share. Just drove it for the first time last Friday night. I’ll post more after dinner.

 

[CudaJason]

After getting it home I immediately gave it a good comet scrub to get as much of the funk off as possible. It actually worked really well. Once that was done and dry. I got it into the garage. When we recovered the car we also got two truck loads of parts that he had collected over the years.

 

[69FBCuda]

Any interior photos?

 

[ProjectBazza]

Looks like she cleaned-up pretty well, and hopefully it's as sound as it appears in the pictures.

And two thumbs-up for the OBS Fords in the background (I have "a few" at my place as well)!

 

[CudaJason]

Lynn had also found a parts car as well. Specifically to patch the inner fenders from when he put the hooker fender wells in it in the early 80s. Unbelievably the parts car he got was an original black on black Formula S 4 speed car! It’s over Al pretty solid still has most of the Formula S stuff in it including the sway bar and the 8 3/4 rear. Needless to say. This will not be cut up as it is too solid in mind to not restore.

 

[CudaJason]

Any interior photos?

Yeah sorry forgot to put the interior pictures in. But the inside is pretty solid, needs completely redone but for its age and neglect it’s decent. Even found the build sheet.

 

[CudaJason]

Looks like she cleaned-up pretty well, and hopefully it's as sound as it appears in the pictures.

And two thumbs-up for the OBS Fords in the background (I have "a few" at my place as well)!

Yeah my older son and I love them OBS Fords! We have an 88 crew cab a 97 7.3 power stroke F250 and a 96 Bronco.

 

[mygasser]

the bonus 'not for parts' car is a right result
neil.

 

[CudaJason]

the bonus 'not for parts' car is a right result
neil.

That one is gonna be a real good car. It was missing the 4 speed but in Lynn’s parts stash I found all the missing 4 speed parts and Formula S badges. Plus NOS grilles!

 

[ProjectBazza]

That one is gonna be a real good car. It was missing the 4 speed but in Lynn’s parts stash I found all the missing 4 speed parts and Formula S badges. Plus NOS grilles!

Wow! This just keeps getting better and better.

 

[CudaJason]

Wow! This just keeps getting better and better.

The amount of great stuff that Lynn collected is crazy. NOS 340 service replacement block still in crates. NOS W2 heads. cranks 4 speeds 8 3/4 early A rears. I still haven’t sorted all through the small parts.

 

[mygasser]

it's like you were handed the keys to alladin's cave
neil.

 

[ProjectBazza]

Yeah my older son and I love them OBS Fords! We have an 88 crew cab a 97 7.3 power stroke F250 and a 96 Bronco.

I'm currently parting out a '95 F150 (standard cab, grey interior), so if you need any interior pieces let me know (shoot me a PM), otherwise I'm tossing most of it.

 

[CudaJason]

After getting the car cleaned up and making a game plan I got it into the garage.

 

[CudaJason]

First order of business was to get the inside striped out to see how bad the floor damage is. When we loaded it on the trailer I saw some soft spots in the floor from the bottom side of the floor. I was very worried the it was gonna need a full floor. But I was pleasantly surprised to see it only needed some small patches.

 

[CudaJason]

Once the floor got cleaned up and the patches made and welded in, they got some Ospho put on the surface rust after wiring brushing, a coat of primer and a coat of white paint from tractor supply. I know it’s not the way the factory did it, but I didn’t have time for a full factory original restoration.

 

[Dartsun]

Awesome story thanks for sharing, great work on the floor. I like the jar of sweet tea on the floor boards.

 

[CudaJason]

With the floors wrapped up on the inside it was time to address the bottom side. I started by removing the front K member and rear suspension and 7 1/4 inch rear, and the fuel tank. Plus all the fuel and brake lines were removed. To make way for striping the bottom side of the floors.

 

[CudaJason]

Once all the two weeks of nights scrapping and wire brushing were done and I got the floor as clean as I could, it got another Ospho treatment some primer and a coat of tractor supply black tractor paint to seal up the bottom side.

 

[CudaJason]

The wheel wells and inside trunk still needed done but those can be handled at a later time.

 

[CudaJason]

With the top and bottom of the floor addressed it was time to move onto the engine compartment. Lynn had wanted to fill the holes left from the headers he put in back in the day so that was next. I was lucky enough to find a guy local to me on Marketplace that had a pass side inner fender from a 66 valiant for sale, so I picked that up. The. I was able to get the driver side patch from @halifaxhops from a barracuda he was parting out. Once I had the patches fit I was able to weld them in metal finish them and get a quickie coat of white paint to match the original paint.