turbo225...
i'm an older guy with quite a bit of knowledge and experience with 67-69 barracudas. i have three (2 68's and a 69) and am taking delivery of a fourth (another 69) in a couple of weeks. i spent 2500 hours restoring one of the 68's last year. i also have an extensive library of literature and pictures of these cars and have followed the sales markets for at least 5 years.
the car you've posted is a very good car to restore. here are the positive aspects of this car:
1. the body is complete with all sheet metal, glass, and trim. given the condition of what can be seen, i would bet there are no major rust issues.
2. the interior is complete. this car has the optional deluxe interior, optional head rests, and optional "dress up" brake and gas pedal. the dash is intake and has not been cut out around the radio. that was done in many of these cars because chrysler was the only company that ever used roller wheels on a radio rather than knobs and shafts. you could not buy an after market "roller wheel" radio and if you did buy a better radio (with a "cassette" player) you had to cut the radio area out square. just the dash in this car is now worth around $300.00. you should ask the seller to take the sheering wheel wrap off to see if this is a blue plastic wheel or the more desirable and optional wood rally wheel. this car also has the original air conditioning vent under the dash.
3. the car has the original radiator and several other original OEM items including, optional power break booster (which may mean that it has the optional front disc brakes - if so, that's a pretty valuable option.). the car most likely also has power steering, which is a very desirable option. the air conditioner hoses look OEM as are (i believe) the windshield washer tank and radiator overflow tank. most of the rest of the engine bay looks stock.
4. this car looks like it might be a survivor - meaning that it still has original paint and original stripes. "survivor" cars are very popular currently and are bringing more money in some cases as restored cars. if it is a survivor and you buy this car, you SHOULD NOT do anything to the car until you talk to some people about whether or not to restore it or try and save the survivor looks. remember, "it is only original once."
5. all in all, this is a VERY good car to start on. cars as complete and as in as good as condition as this one are HARD to find.
the negative points of this car:
1. i would bet a 100 dollar bill that this car DOES NOT have its original engine. in fact, i would also bet the engine is not a 340. the majority of 69 mopar 340s were painted orange. there have been a few "chrysler turquoise" 69 340s found but i do not believe this is one of them. if i were to guess, i would say the original motor is long gone and it was replaced with a 318. that's what this motor looks like.
2. you need to find out what the condition of the under chassis is especially the front and rear frame rails. if any of the rails are bad, you have to have a shop replace them unless you are very good with a welder.
3. there probably is no fender tag in the engine bay. having the original fender tag increases the value of the car a great deal.
4. someone cut up the original "unsilenced" air cleaner - which was a crazy thing to do.
in summary, one of my 68s and one of the 69s were "drivers" in very good condition when they came off the shipping truck. i purchased those cars 7-8 years ago and paid i think 12k and 14k respectfully. the 68 is a 340 4sp and the 69 is a 383 4sp. based upon what i've seen in the market over the last few years, i don't think i could buy those cars now for less than $15k, probably around $18k.
without hearing this car run, i would pay $8k for the car with no worry at all assuming that there is no major rust damage under the car. if the car has a 318 running or not, the motor is a negative and has to be pulled out. if you kept this "a survivor" and just bought a 340, you could bring this car back as a decent driver for around $10k. if you're wanting to do a "museum" quality restoration like some guys want, you're looking at $30-50k depending upon how crazy you want to be.
if you are looking for a barracuda this car is a very good place to start.
jim coster
pittsburgh, pa
