There was a short article in today’s Hot Rod mail on a barn-find ‘69 Barracuda that was an early pilot car for the factory manual. Serial number was 26. If you’re an early ‘Cuda fan you might want to take a look.
1969 Barracuda Pilot Car
- Thread starter azaustin
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Krooser
Building Chinese Free Engines since 1959...
You mean "prototype"?
Where's the Article?
The article is on the Hot Rod News Network for today. By “Pilot Car” I think they mean a very early production model that was often used for various purposes such as illustrations for parts and service manuals. The serial number was 100026, which, according to the article, means it was probably a first day of production car. It was found in Indiana by a guy from New York. I think you can go to HotRod.com and find the article.
How about @68original 's Barracuda. Less than 10 miles on it. Yes, less than 10. 1968 Plymouth Barracuda
I tried numerous times to post the link, but it just wouldn’t work, so I attached a photo. That’s the best I can do.
I tried numerous times to post the link, but it just wouldn’t work, so I attached a photo. That’s the best I can do.
Bet there’s a story there!
Very cool, I believe current owner is a member here. He reached out to me(I think) asking about my 69 vert. If that engine block in article is the orig one, why is cast date in 67?
Yes, there is. Car has never been registered or licensed, basically still in original dealership's name.
Wow. Hope it ends up in a museum or public collection. Cars like that belong to the ages/public and you can only hope that the owners/caretakers will see it that way. Great cars. A bodies are so overlooked, in my opinion.
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
That is one of the sexiest things i've ever seen in my life!
It is possible that pilot cars were built in a special facility away from the assembly line Which had stockpiles of parts from previous pilot car builds . And maybe they didnt plan on releasing it to a dealer .
dibbons
Well-Known Member
I read the article but I must have missed something, how did they determine it was the same vehicle pictured in the Chrysler literature/book?
Yeah but you would think a 69 340 would be cast 68 at the earliest?
There is a difference between a prototype car and a pilot car...
Prototype cars are used by design engineering to develop and test the components for the new models coming up... Each design group makes modifications to their "prototype" cars to develop and test the different components and systems to get them ready for production... Many of the parts on these cars are special machined using general machine shop tools - hand built... Protype or development cars are not to be sold to the public, but get destroyed/scrapped at the end of the year...
Pilot cars are early builds on the production manufacturing line with production parts.... There is usually a pilot run of the new model cars done at the manufacturing plants in May, about 6 weeks before production launch... Most if not all of the pilot cars get sent to design engineering for testing... Each design group gets some to validate their designs and production tooling are ready for the public... Then they send some to the proving grounds to get driven and put as many miles on them as possible to catch any problems...
A pilot car is basically the first production models... Same as they sell to the public...
It is possible that a pilot car can be sold to the public... A prototype car - hell no... There is too much liability in selling a prototype car to the public... If any of the modifications make the structure of the car weaker and a citizen gets in an accident and injured, the manufacturer can be held liable - that is why they all get scrapped at the end of the year....
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Maybe the just pulled a block they had lying around??
The article also states the car has a "Performance Meter" which is a vacuum gauge in the dash and was a new option for 1969. 1966 Barracudas had them.
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