started my 1965 Barracuda today....

[MoparPhil]

Nice!

I vote for the Hurst wheels. With the paint job people will scratch their heads wondering if it was an actual Hurst package offered back then.

 

[Ooh barracuda]

Neat stuff! My favorite year GTO. What's the gizmo below the glovebox on the Cuda?

It is a tissue dispenser.

 

[65cudalover]

Beautiful 65! Mine is a Formula S waiting for the finish work body and paint! It runs like a rabbit though as it has been mechanically totally restored to be driven. It was on a rotisserie and upgraded to modern disc brakes, as well as modern drive shaft, 8.25 rear, 14 inch rally wheels plus a few other goodies. It was a Formula S but not numbers matching so we went modern to make it a driver. I am in Chicago now and it too is sitting in the garage waiting for the snow and cold to go bye bye! I do start it from time to time and it takes a couple pumps of the pedal then starts right up. I love to drive it on weekends to shows and saving up for the final work. Mine will be the original blue and maybe the formula S stripes, not original on this car but they are so cool!! By the way my first Barracuda was a 66 with a 318 that ran high 12's in the 1/4 mile!! Mopar or No Car!

65cudalover

 

[ValiantRacing]

Very nice car, I am building a 65 now and going to run the same fender emblems

 

[396 Signet]

you seem to know your cars
Yes the Barracuda is a 273 HP car and a non Formula S it is an incredible car that I purchased this past July from a 75 year old guy that owned a body shop. he repainted the car and it is super straight and in great shape all around including the undercarriage.
the "lid collection" has been there for 25+ years. I bought most of them NOS at swap meets to hang in my garage.
The GTO is a one owner all original unrestored tri power 4-speed convertible in unbelievable condition.
The T/A challenger is my wifes car, she has owned it 20+ years now.
we do have a few others, some we have owned 40+ years.

Since you have various old cars, how do you rate the Barracuda as a driver relative to the others? I also have a few other oldies but haven't put enough miles on the newly finished 65 Signet to make any good comparison. Thx.

 

[Ooh barracuda]

Since you have various old cars, how do you rate the Barracuda as a driver relative to the others? I also have a few other oldies but haven't put enough miles on the newly finished 65 Signet to make any good comparison. Thx.

Well honestly the 1965 barracuda is really a great driver. It is comfortable, rides great, handles very good, brakes horribly LOL. The best part is it gets as much or more compliments then any other car I own. I think the reason is that you seldom see a really nicely restored early barracuda. I bought the car this past July for 10,000 I am sure the previous owner put a lot more then that into the car but it seems that is about the going price. Now the 1965 GTO rag top is worth at least ten times the Barracuda and most people like the barracuda better. Although, driving the GTO tri power 4- speed convertible is very impressive.

 

[396 Signet]

Well honestly the 1965 barracuda is really a great driver. It is comfortable, rides great, handles very good, brakes horribly LOL. The best part is it gets as much or more compliments then any other car I own. I think the reason is that you seldom see a really nicely restored early barracuda. I bought the car this past July for 10,000 I am sure the previous owner put a lot more then that into the car but it seems that is about the going price. Now the 1965 GTO rag top is worth at least ten times the Barracuda and most people like the barracuda better. Although, driving the GTO tri power 4- speed convertible is very impressive.

That's actually one heck of a deal at $10k, really nice car! GTO sounds really sweet & rare too. Wouldn't have thunk such vehicles would be found in taxachusetts, aren't they outlawed yet?:-D No offense meant, we call PA land of taxes (& potholes). I imported all my cars from CA as PA cars are as a general rule scrap due to the massive quantities of road salt they use.

 

[Ooh barracuda]

That's actually one heck of a deal at $10k, really nice car! GTO sounds really sweet & rare too. Wouldn't have thunk such vehicles would be found in taxachusetts, aren't they outlawed yet?:-D No offense meant, we call PA land of taxes (& potholes). I imported all my cars from CA as PA cars are as a general rule scrap due to the massive quantities of road salt they use.

Actually both cars are California cars.

 

[396 Signet]

Well honestly the 1965 barracuda is really a great driver... brakes horribly LOL.

Wonder if you have the infamous 9" drums. V8 cars are supposed to have 10" drums per literature but some came through with 9"- like my 65. The 10" drums are actually not bad & far superior to the 9" which are best suited for a golf cart.

 

[Ooh barracuda]

Wonder if you have the infamous 9" drums. V8 cars are supposed to have 10" drums per literature but some came through with 9"- like my 65. The 10" drums are actually not bad & far superior to the 9" which are best suited for a golf cart.

I honestly do not know.... I will have to look at the car.

 

[396 Signet]

I honestly do not know.... I will have to look at the car.

There's a really quick & easy way to tell without even taking a wheel off. Look at the attachment point of the knuckle (spindle) to the upper ball joint. If it's perpendicular to the drum, you have 10". Parallel to the drum & you have 9". The 9" also looks quite a bit wimpier. Here's a 10" drum spindle (using Wilwood disc).

 

[gtrdave]

Wow, that looks an awful lot like my old '65 Barracuda.
It, too, was Ivory w/ Gold stripe, gold interior and it was a Commando-equipped non-Formula S car and was an original California car. It came with an option group called the Rallye Pack which was basically the 273/4bbl and the S13 suspension package (front anti-sway bar, hd torsion bars, hd rear leaf springs, hd shocks).
Here's a picture taken in 1990 just before I sold it:

It had a few unique oddities I've not seen on too many other '65s: factory bumper guards front and rear, remote driver's mirror and it had the exhaust tip cut-out in the rear valance, but never came w/ the exhaust resonator tip according to the original owner. I added the gold stripe, added a factory tach and factory am/fm radio (RARE!) and I added the exhaust tip resonator because it just looked dumb with that rectangular cut-out and a turned-down exhaust pipe.
I still miss that car and my wife and I would love to track it down. Last I heard it was in upstate NY.
When I saw yours I did a double-take.

 

[gtrdave]

Wonder if you have the infamous 9" drums. V8 cars are supposed to have 10" drums per literature but some came through with 9"- like my 65. The 10" drums are actually not bad & far superior to the 9" which are best suited for a golf cart.

My '65 and '66 Commando 273-equipped cars both had factory 10" drums. Non-power assist, too, but they did stop pretty well since the cars were relatively lightweight.

 

[65cudalover]

Sweet 65 Formula S I am jealous mine has nothing close to yours! I have a road car, non original anymore so I drive it and enjoy the ride! Here in Chicago to its been a tough winter and I have started mine a few times on nicer days just waiting for spring to get her out for a ride! Soon it will be our time for cruising and shows! Mopar or No Car is our theme! SO enjoy your ride and keep it going!

65 Cudalover

 

[Ooh barracuda]

Wow, that looks an awful lot like my old '65 Barracuda.
It, too, was Ivory w/ Gold stripe, gold interior and it was a Commando-equipped non-Formula S car and was an original California car. It came with an option group called the Rallye Pack which was basically the 273/4bbl and the S13 suspension package (front anti-sway bar, hd torsion bars, hd rear leaf springs, hd shocks).
Here's a picture taken in 1990 just before I sold it:

It had a few unique oddities I've not seen on too many other '65s: factory bumper guards front and rear, remote driver's mirror and it had the exhaust tip cut-out in the rear valance, but never came w/ the exhaust resonator tip according to the original owner. I added the gold stripe, added a factory tach and factory am/fm radio (RARE!) and I added the exhaust tip resonator because it just looked dumb with that rectangular cut-out and a turned-down exhaust pipe.
I still miss that car and my wife and I would love to track it down. Last I heard it was in upstate NY.
When I saw yours I did a double-take.

The car might just be for sale.... I have several cars and l am selling a few properties that I own thus no space for the cars.

 

[moper]

Well honestly the 1965 barracuda is really a great driver. It is comfortable, rides great, handles very good, brakes horribly LOL. The best part is it gets as much or more compliments then any other car I own. I think the reason is that you seldom see a really nicely restored early barracuda.

Can't agree more. I've had a 70 Cuda six pac, a 71 340 Cuda convertible, and the '65 barracuda gets more compliments. It's why mine's all apart and I'm fixing the previous "repairs" on the body, and going to a V8 (slanty car).
Yours is beautiful and I love the color combinations.

 

[1972DusterPaul]

x2 on the Hurst wheels!

Paul

Nice!

I vote for the Hurst wheels. With the paint job people will scratch their heads wondering if it was an actual Hurst package offered back then.

 

[gtrdave]

Ooh barracuda, I have a question.
Of the two front end shots of your car (one w/ the MA state license plate, the other w/ the Plymouth plate) the gold stripe is different; in one shot it goes the length of the front of the hood and in the other shots it ends at the "plymouth" emblem/hood release.
Was the stripe modified or was the hood repainted?

On my car when I had the stripe painted on I neglected to tell the painter to stop the stripe at the emblem, which is how they originally appeared from the factory. So, he painted to the edge of the hood. That was one of the key indicators of my old '65 and one of the few things I got wrong during the restoration process.

 

[Ooh barracuda]

Ooh barracuda, I have a question.
Of the two front end shots of your car (one w/ the MA state license plate, the other w/ the Plymouth plate) the gold stripe is different; in one shot it goes the length of the front of the hood and in the other shots it ends at the "plymouth" emblem/hood release.
Was the stripe modified or was the hood repainted?

On my car when I had the stripe painted on I neglected to tell the painter to stop the stripe at the emblem, which is how they originally appeared from the factory. So, he painted to the edge of the hood. That was one of the key indicators of my old '65 and one of the few things I got wrong during the restoration process.

when I bought the car this past July, the stripe ended at the Plymouth emblem. I did not like it that way so I added the stripe below the emblem.


the stripe is not painted, it is vinyl and could be removed if wanted.

 

[gtrdave]

That's interesting.
When I restored my car (1989/1990) there were no reproduction stripes available, so I had to go w/ paint. That's why I had a cow when the guy painted it to the edge; to redo it meant that the entire hood would have had to have been reshot and that wasn't going to happen on the limited budget I had at the time, so I left it as is and took the penalty at some of the more strict judging shows I attended.

Anyway, whenever I see an Ivory and gold '65, I immediately think it's my old car. That and the bumper guards, which I rarely see.
Here's another shot of mine, pre-sale...

 

[Ooh barracuda]

The stripes on my car where actually made by a sign company copied from the originals.

 

[Hemioutlaw]

Wonderful looking ride ya have there. Cast my vote w/the Hurst's on your wheel dilemma. I too am in the same boat but will soon be upgrading to an 8 1/4" axle and Spindle pkg. to get the 4 1/2" bolt pattern. Just bought this car a few weeks ago and it still has the 13" wheels. Can't believe they actually used wheels that small back then. And yup another Cali car.