Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
I had successfully made each of the mods. Everything looked right. Nothing had the appearance of being a clunky add-on - square peg in a round hole. I was amazed at how well it drove. I could take 25 mph curves at 70. It handled like a dream.
I wanted to do further customizing. It was still recognizable as a Camaro. But disaster struck. The tired 350 began to hammer on one of my test runs. It didn't explode but I was sure I'd spun a rod bearing. I was out in the boonies and limped it home. I was fairly certain that the crank had to be badly scored by then. It wasn't the worst set back because I had played around with the notion of installing a big block Chrysler in it, but it meant that I wouldn't be able to move it around easily any more.
My Dad was not too keen on the idea of having an inoperable vehicle on the yard. - So I stored it at an acreage one of my friends lived on. There were several old cars already parked there and he let me park it along side the rest.
A few months later the real disaster struck. The farmer that owned the acreage decided he was going to clean up the yard with a tractor and loader. I never went back to view the damage but I was told it was extensive. I didn't really want to see it.
Before the car was destroyed I had made a lot of other plans. I was going to install a whale tail spoiler next.
If I truly wanted to disguise it's foundation I needed to do more. I decided to imitate some of the side fins that were appearing on Ferrari's.
As much as I felt the combination of mods were going to look good, the front of the car was going to still make it easy to identify. It would need to change radically.
I'd seen some people adapt rectangular headlights on these cars but I never felt they fit the body lines. They needed to stay round. I devised a plan to add a second set and run 4 headlights. It would entail modifying the front sheet metal and the hood (again). The bodywork around the original 2 headlights flowed back into the rest of the car so if I added 2 more lights they would need to mimic that look. I imagined it would have been a bit like the Jaguar sedans of that time period.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda... I never got to complete that car but I really wanted to. With a Chrysler 383 in it I looked forward to the reactions I might have gotten. Anyone that could still identify it as a Camaro would have been shocked when the hood was popped.
View attachment AF12_r523_01.jpg
View attachment AF12_r523_04.jpg
View attachment ferrari_testarossa_koenig-38.jpg
View attachment jaguar xj8 headlights.jpg
I had successfully made each of the mods. Everything looked right. Nothing had the appearance of being a clunky add-on - square peg in a round hole. I was amazed at how well it drove. I could take 25 mph curves at 70. It handled like a dream.
I wanted to do further customizing. It was still recognizable as a Camaro. But disaster struck. The tired 350 began to hammer on one of my test runs. It didn't explode but I was sure I'd spun a rod bearing. I was out in the boonies and limped it home. I was fairly certain that the crank had to be badly scored by then. It wasn't the worst set back because I had played around with the notion of installing a big block Chrysler in it, but it meant that I wouldn't be able to move it around easily any more.
My Dad was not too keen on the idea of having an inoperable vehicle on the yard. - So I stored it at an acreage one of my friends lived on. There were several old cars already parked there and he let me park it along side the rest.
A few months later the real disaster struck. The farmer that owned the acreage decided he was going to clean up the yard with a tractor and loader. I never went back to view the damage but I was told it was extensive. I didn't really want to see it.
Before the car was destroyed I had made a lot of other plans. I was going to install a whale tail spoiler next.
If I truly wanted to disguise it's foundation I needed to do more. I decided to imitate some of the side fins that were appearing on Ferrari's.
As much as I felt the combination of mods were going to look good, the front of the car was going to still make it easy to identify. It would need to change radically.
I'd seen some people adapt rectangular headlights on these cars but I never felt they fit the body lines. They needed to stay round. I devised a plan to add a second set and run 4 headlights. It would entail modifying the front sheet metal and the hood (again). The bodywork around the original 2 headlights flowed back into the rest of the car so if I added 2 more lights they would need to mimic that look. I imagined it would have been a bit like the Jaguar sedans of that time period.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda... I never got to complete that car but I really wanted to. With a Chrysler 383 in it I looked forward to the reactions I might have gotten. Anyone that could still identify it as a Camaro would have been shocked when the hood was popped.
View attachment AF12_r523_01.jpg
View attachment AF12_r523_04.jpg
View attachment ferrari_testarossa_koenig-38.jpg
View attachment jaguar xj8 headlights.jpg
