I
bought her in late January of 1992 in Lake Arrowhead California for $900.
This was quite a tidy sum considering her condition. The body was fairly straight
and it had only a few places where 26 years of use had eaten it away. The
rear quarter panels had holes large enough for squirrels to use them for
acorn repositories. It's silver paint was oxidized to the point where you
could not distinguish it from the primer gray patches. Most of the trim pieces
were either in the trunk or the back seat. It had no headliner or carpeting.
The upholstery had been replaced with factory correct black vinyl, which
helped cinch the deal.
Mechanically, the one barrel Holley carburetored
225 cubic inch slant six ran fairly smooth with sufficient power to get it
up to highway speed. It's "three on the tree" manual transmission seemed
to be in fair shape as well. The electrical system was another story. I
had a fuel gauge, speedometer and temperature gauge, but the vacuum and oil
pressure gauges were dead. Also, almost all of the lighting was shorted or
missing.
Over the past eight years I have made
several upgrades and modifications. The one barreled 225 was replaced with
a 2 barrel 225 super six out of a '78 Dodge Aspen wagon. The three speed column
shift transmission was replaced with a Hurst edition A833 4 speed overdrive
from a '76 Plymouth Duster. The hood scoop is a functional ram air system.
It has electronic ignition, cruise control and heavy duty drum brakes. The
body has been bumped out and fiberglassed in the bad spots. I painted
it myself with a custom mixed recreation of a Mopar factory color,
"Plum Crazy". The gold stripes are factory correct for this model year.
She is undergoing the third generation
overhaul now. I have been building it in my mind for over a year now. It
was a 225/A833 overdrive. As some of you know it was badly damaged on April
Fools Day 2000, when I gave my daughter a driving lesson . It ended up in
someone's yard straddling 2 3' round lava rocks. The damage was a broken K
member, flat tire, shattered steering box, ruptured gas tank, twisted front
bumper and an idler arm that moves as freely up and down as side to side.
(Good April Fools Day prank, isn't it?)
That very week I had bought a
Thermoquad 365/A904 (360+ .030 over=365 cu. in.) powered Dodge Driplomat.
When I bought it I was told it was a 318! The engine was recently rebuilt
and seemed the perfect heart donor. So I started stockpiling parts. A complete
k member and gas tank from a 66 Dart, slap stick shifter, a V8 bell
housing and other periphery.
The
365
Yes, it is red!
Who would be intimidated by a blue engine?
... Other than a Smurf?!!!
I have stripped down
the 365 to just an alternator, crank and water pump belt system. Gone are
the air conditioning, power steering and air pump. The air injection system
fell apart in my hands when I went to remove the hose and since Idaho does
not require smog inspections I have decided to forgo the smog system. The
engine is out of the Driplomat. It went on the engine stand for gasket replacement,
detailing and painting (Mopar red of course, the blue is way too F*rd!)The
pulleys, brackets and plug in stuff are gloss black. The transmission will
receive the same treatment. The 225 and A833 have been pulled and the engine
bay has been cleaned and painted flat black.
UPDATE!!!
7-12-02
I am reinstalling the A833 OD. I had installed the the A999 lockup
automatic, but I was gravely disappointed with it's sluggish performance.
Mercifully it blew it's torque converter.
I have since procured an A-833 Overdrive compatible bellhousing
and a 318 flywheel that went into the machine shop for balancing for a 360.
Holly "Sno" and I have recently purchased
a 65 Barracuda for her..... This is the concept for it's paint. She hates
flames so we went with an "anti flame" theme with her passion SNOW...
Hence...
This will be a year long project.
Other improvements not evident in the concept drawing will be later model bucket seats done in a dusty rose floral pattern, as will be the door panels. The headliner and carpet will be a complimentary dusty rose tone. Although the paint pattern appears to be the milky way in the drawing. It will start with a sparse, random pattern of small powder blue dots over midnight blue metallic 1/16 to 1/8" in diameter which increase in size and form to resemble snoflakes, much like the gifs to either side of the name above. By the time they reach the door panel some of them will reach 3/4 to 1" in diameter and approx 3" to 5" on the rear quarter. After which the same blue will be fogged and spattered though the center of the pattern to emulate wind and blowing snow. The car will be then shot with a coat of deep transparent blue pearl to ghost the snowflakes. Snostorm will be done in gold leaf in approximately 5" letters across the rear 1/4 panels. Anoter cool (pun intended) feature will be frost etched into the bottom edge of all the windows save the windsheild of course.
At the moment we are fixing mechanical and electrical bugs. Soon we will be rebuilding the brakes, replacing the front seats and tires and
getting it on the road by late summer. Body work will be completed in the
following months, in preparation for painting in early spring.
Update!
The interior is a nightmare but will be completely replaced
with the exception of the rear seat which will be reupholstered.
Yep, it looks rough but there is plenty of solid metal!
What's next you ask....
A 79 Dodge Colt Pickup!
This strange little beast started it's career as a 2 door hatchback. It was old and weathered when I bought it from my brother. It lugged us around for over a year and a half before a missed tow hook tossed through the rear window turned into a less than desirable mode of transit. Replacing the window was cost prohibitive and the vehicle wasn't worth a nickel to me the way it was, so...
Out came the sawsall and my son-in-law (who owns Wild 1's customizing and restoration services) and I hacked, cut and sectioned in the rear window section of a 79 Toyota Pickup that had been moldering for years. I have been fabricating the inner bed and sealing the cab, (in dribs and drabs) since March.
It is now May and I am about a week from painting it! The bottom half of the body will be semi-gloss black and the upper portion metallic gold.
This is my first major fabrication job and I am quite pleased with the results...
I must admit it looks like it rolled off the assembly line in it's current form. I am most proud of the fact that it far beyond the normal "hillbilly pick-up".... I refer to the Ford Country Squire wagon's with the roof cut off and a piece of plywood inserted between the front seat and the rest of the car.
Improved!
A 1966 Plymouth Barracuda desktop theme for Windows 98, ME and XP!
Includes:
A gold '66 Barracuda Desktop rendering
4 custom icons
King Richard (Plymouth) Font Pack
Sounds including car noises and sound clips from Heart's "Barracuda" and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena"
Custom cursors (Including 3 animated ones)
1966cuda2.zip
2.2 mb
New link!
The 2003 Mopars on the Strip Show in Las Vegas
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