It’s January, and that means that the big auction houses have been hard at work selling the rarest and most powerful street machines of the muscle car era, and there’s bound to be a fair number of 1970 and 1971 Plymouth ‘Cudas crossing the block. In keeping with my one-step-off-the-path tastes, I’ve always preferred the 1967 to 1969 A-Body Barracuda, especially the fastback (make mine a ’67 Formula S with a 273 and a four speed, please). Even so, there’s nothing wrong with a hardtop, and this Kansas-based ’69 model on eBay is one of only 12,757 made, uncommon enough that you won’t see one parked in your neighbor’s driveway. The seller planned to turn it into a race car, but a glut of projects meant that some of them had to go. With a high bid of only $255 as of Thursday (the reserve has not been met), it could be an inexpensive project or parts car.
Let’s hope it’s not relegated to parts-donating status, even if much of the sheet metal looks clean, solid, and perfect for restoring one of the high-performance models (although there was some flagrant Bondo abuse levied by someone who either didn’t own a hammer and dolly or didn’t care to use them). According to the trim tag, the color was originally “Spanish Gold,” so it hasn’t had a major color change in its lifetime.
This is a Barracuda as many might have ordered one: 318, Torqueflite on the column, and a few options here and there. The seller says that the engine and transmission are still in the car, but their condition is unknown, which means you may as well start planning a driveline swap right now if you’re going to return the car to the road (or prepare it for the track).
The seller did mention that they were going to build a drag car out of the Barracuda, and that may not be a bad idea, or maybe a hot street machine with a 360 or a Gen III Hemi would be fun. The 1967 to 1969 models don’t bring the money their immediate successors do, but they are still Mopar A-Bodies, and even Darts, Valiants, and Dusters are selling for way more than anyone would have expected even ten years ago. Given the state of the interior, I’ll side with the seller and say that this would be an excellent dedicated drag car. Since it needs floors anyway, you could install wheel tubs and the driveline of your choice and have something that’s a lot of fun. How would you build this Barracuda, and what do you think is a fair price for a car with potential?
Drag Car? Yes, until suitable tires are installed, I imagine that you will have to drag this vehicle wherever it goes…
The only person that would build this into a drag car is someone that hasn’t spent any time at a track. Look at the Gremlin featured on this site yesterday, the seller is asking $19,000 and will probably need to negotiate down. Turn key competitive bracket cars can be found in the $12,000-15,000 range, grudge night bombers for less than $10,000. It makes no sense to start from scratch, the pricing dynamics for race cars is completely different than that of a street car. This car will need to stand on its merits as a restoration or street machine project.
Steve R
I would want to see the cross member where the torsion bars are mounted and the frame rails where the upper control arms mount before spending any money on this car. These cars can lose their floors and not lose the frames and vice versa – I never quite understood why these could rust in such disconnected ways.
Look at the pictures on Ebay… nothing but junk… hire a loader and a truck…
I bought a 67 notchback in 68… drove it 100k miles….
I knew a guy who had a black one of these with Cragars. Absolutely gorgeous!
too lazy to put tires that hold air on it
Perfect Pro Street candidate!
I don’t think that even the Vicegrip Garage guy could bring this one back.
Absolutely love the 69 Cudas. Especially the sedan, 340, 4sp cars. Very, very quick.
Yep…..it’s been on FB Market place for a good while now…..not much there.
Could be made into an around town cruiser or a Put Put.
55+ years old, rust should be expected.
There is no way I would make it a Racer.
Chrysler / Dodge didn’t put enough steel into their products. They were throw aways, AKA, fleet vehicles, so. To find a survivor is a good thing.
There are not that many left.
To make it pretty for a parade cruiser? You may have the only one in your county.
I wouldn’t call it junk, until, it crumbles under its’ own weight.