Verm.. considering we had the car in running, working order at the start of the project, as opposed to buying one in similar condition, that's at least $10-15k less what the initial price would be (severe over-value markups on cars as rare as this one currently). The body-shop work has totaled in at around 20-30 grand (of course, this is a bit higher than any normal body shop because we wanted some top-notch work done). We've easily put down another $10-15 k on parts. Overall, I'd say this will end up being somewhere around a $50k project. The only reason we were willing to go that far with the costs (besides the sentimental value of the car) is because when done it could easily sell for a couple hundred thousand on the low end (though there's no plan to ever sell it).
Cool, thanks for the info. I knew it would cost a lot, but that's more than I'd have expected.
How much would you expect it to cost if you had the same car and were simply trying to get it in top-notch performance shape? Nothing exotic, just meaning what it would take to restore original high-end 1970s street race capability without regard to looks?
Let's see... Motor could be anywhere from a few grand (used, good condition) to upwards of 25+K for a full ready to run supercharged crate motor (keep in mind I'm going off current Chrysler prices, may vary greatly on your engine brand / source). Disc brake upgrade kits are generally around 1-3K, and front suspension / steering upgrades are a few grand as well. I'd say with a budget of 10K you could have a pretty sweet setup; low-balling it would be around 5K, but if you're doing performance, I wouldn't want to low-ball it if you value your safety (speaking of which, a good safety harness / roll cage if you're going really crazy with the horsepower would probably be a few grand, and a little more than that on a less common car).
Thanks again, very interesting. My dad had a 69 Cutlass Supreme when I was growing up (vanilla, not the 442, but still awesome) and I've always had it in the back of my mind to see about getting one. Never wanted a show car, but something I could have fun driving...
Yeah, like Flaagan was saying, prices will vary greatly depending on what you're buying. I know for a long time Chevy Small Block 350s were dirty cheap basically. I believe they still are. The more obscure the engine, the more expensive it gets to rebuilt. For me, I have a Chevy Big Block 427 and it was a bit harder to find parts unless it was a generic big block piece, so parts tended to be more expensive.
I've been out of the loop for a long time now though. My car's slowly turning to shit because family life has taken away my cash and time. Actually, if you're interested in a 79 Firebird with a 427, let me know I got it to the point it 'ran' but never got the vehicle finished. There's no driveshaft and still has stock axle, which would never hold up to the power, so I've never even driven it . It's sitting in Michigan looking for a new home.
Flaagan: So you're going with more of a cruiser styel then I assume. I don't have a lot of knowledge on Chrysler's stuff, but I see the 904 has overdrive in it. I was mainly curious if you were going for automatic or manual, but I had some curiousity on the model too
notman.. guess you could say that. The car was an automatic to begin with and we weren't going to hack up the body for any reason such as switching to a manual ('sides, the old "SlapStik" shifter's too much fun to get rid of). The fact it's a 904 and not the bigger 727 actually panned out well for us, as the 3" exhaust system we ordered wouldn't fit with a 727. We did swap out the rear dif gears for a positraction setup, so no dogleg burnouts for this ride.
Oh man, yeah, the Torqueflite is a must-have for the 'Cuda. I don't think I've ever met anyone who could manually outshift one of those things in a straight line race.
Did you pick the 904 before you knew the 727 wouldn't fit?
This Barracuda was kind of a 'low man on the totem pole' model except for the convertible option. It was originally a 318 2 barrel with a single exhaust.
Oh this is looking sweet. Love Cudas. Did a run from Palo Alto to Reno in 3 and a half hours (and only ont ticket) the car had a 440 with a 6 barrel Holley in it, and we had to stop for gas twice (and got the second ticket while fueling by a cop in a Monaco who we passed, accellerating up hill on I-80 (above 300 ft. Altitude that he couldn't manage, and ticketed up for going above 60 But couldn't get us for more. the suspension was tight, for that heavy front end, but it was an impressive ride.
P.S. thrn there was the 20 minute from San Francisco to Palo Alto on I-280 in a 1972 Plymouth Road Runner...
yup, doubles back at the muffler then hooks around and points down towards the rear wheels (like so). Plan is to get the system hooked up this weekend and then off to the powdercoating shop on monday to get it ceramic-coated.
Got a good bit done this past weekend. Headlights installed and plug in. Got the driveshaft installed, so from the engine to the rear wheels we've got a full drivetrain. Started putting some interior framework in. Almost completely assembled the heater system, if I hadn't misplaced some clips it'd be together and I could have installed the dash and steering column as well. Got the larger radiator installed along with the dual-electric fan setup. Dad got a bunch of interior pieces cleaned up, fixed up, and painted. Overall a very productive weekend, and the ball should really get rolling over the next few weeks.
Dash and heating system / ducting is in (woohoo!), dad's handling cleaning / painting / repairing interior pieces, so the dash may be near complete by next weekend if work isn't hectic.
And another fun lil shot of the engine bay.~
Kind of amusing, didn't think the first "Barracuda" tag to go on the car would be on the interior.
Another interior shot, instrument cluster installed (still needs to be wired up), steering column and other interior bits coming soon...
aaaand a teaser shot of the AAR exhaust... we still need to finish making a custom hanging setup for the mufflers and tips, but it's all bolted together regardless. AAR cudas aren't exactly commonplace amongst this already-rare breed, and there's absolutely no coverage of how the mufflers / tips are hung from the car in the shop manual (we have the reproduction hangers, but they don't really work as intended when the 'stock' AAR stuff isn't on the car).
Notman.. I figured we'd make some balloons when we fired the car off... or at least a really large version of blowing the wrapper off your straw. The instrument cluster is the original, we sent it off for reconditioning a while back.
Damn, I didn't know you could have them restored like that. Either they do a damn excellent job, it just looks good in the image, or it wasn't bad from the start
It looks better than it does in the pict, and they did an excellent job of it. Before we sent it in the pointers were faded almost to white (instead of the bright orange), and all the white text was grey and dirty. The odometer looks brand-spankin' new. Kinda wish we'd also had the little lights / roof control panel done up as well, but that's relatively easy to remove if we want to do that in the future.
We could go through the process of getting it to fire up now, but there's plenty of other things to get hooked up / installed. Granted, my dad wants it up and running first, I'd rather not skip over other details that will be a bigger pain in the ass to install if everything else is slapped on.
The caddy in the background is my dad's 95 seville sts. It's parking outside now since my 'vert vette gets the only garage space left.
I figured the drivetrain wasn't complete yet since you have the blocks on the rears. That or the brakes weren't complete. Then again, you may just be more cautious than I am
Either way, you've got to be getting excited now that it's near completion. Are the rest of the interior pieces ready?
notman.. (drum) brakes are in (and the lines to 'em), but they don't have brake fluid or the parking brake lines in yet. Definitely 'being more safe' seeing as my dad has personally known a few people killed or seriously injured by cars rolling. Heck, even though it wasted an entire weekend's potential progress a few weeks back, he refused to let me go under the car to hook stuff up since I was going to be the only one at home.
Yeah, my dad's the same way... he hated when I worked on my car with no one else around. Actually, my uncle has a nice sized scar on his face from a car that fell off the stands and the metal under the rocker panel caught his face. He was lucky that was all that happened. His buddy was under the car too, but I don't recall what happened to him.
Some more updates... been a lot of 'behind the scenes' stuff lately... shift linkage, wiring, lights, etc. Getting everything done up correctly behind the dash has and still is a long a tedious thing, with little to no reference to go off of (I didn't take any photos of that whole setup when disassembling it... mistake on my part.)
Amusing note, the car's only got a mirror on the driver side (and of course the rear view mirror).
Still gotta fabricate a mounting bracket for the 8-track stereo so I can fill the gap on the right.
Man, I've been in love with Cuda's since I picked out a purple hemi-cuda model when I was like 10. I made that the best model ever, got in there with toothpicks for the small details and everything!
All I can say is you have one hell of a baby on your hands there! I really hope to someday have some heavy metal of my own. Can't wait to see it finished!
Putting in an 8-track... well, back in.
The guy my dad bought the car from put in an 8-track stereo, and it works. I've even got an 8-track to tape converter (big cartridge you put the cassette in). For the short week or two I had the car together and running a decade ago, I would cruise around with the 8-track to tape converter in, with a cassette-to-stereo jack hooked into that, with that hooked up to a portable cd player, with that getting power from the cigarette lighter.
Seems like it would just be easier to hide a CD player somewhere... but that's just me :P
Actually, these days it's probably easier to integrate an iPod somehow. But having a 8-track to cassette convertor makes things a little better.
You think I'd put one of those shiny turds anywhere near the cuda?
Besides, our cell phones each have about 2 gigs of memory, so we can put music on there and wire in a line-in at the very least. Next level up beyond that would be to hide a newer stereo in the dash or center console (been talking about that). Uber-next-stage beyond that... the right most gauge on the console is supposed to have either a clock or a tachometer... was talking with my dad about the idea of getting a small lcd screen, mounting it in there, and putting a car-puter in the 'cuda. Would be a bit of work, but I could do it. Would have GPS nav in the car then.
haha, well, I meant iPod as more of a generic term. The car-puter would be cool though. I was researching doing the same thing about a year ago, but couldn't get a decent display option worked out. Thinking about it now, using a smaller screen, like you'd need, might be a decent option. I was looking for something 7" or larger. My company was tossing OLLLD laptops at the time and I was hoping to use the LCD from one of them. Unfortunately there is NOTHING standard about LCD hardware in laptops.
Most of the weekend work was dedicated to getting this lil guy fabricated.
That... is the holder for this...
That... is an 8 track tape player. Just about as retro as you can get without diggin up one of those in-car record players (yes, they exist). The stereo was originally held in place by a simple metal strip, and I wasn't going to have any of that kind of crap in this car. I made the support out of a piece of L-bar and some metal rods welded to it and then bent to shape.
At this point the instrusment cluster is complete and wired. The wiring needs a bit of cleanup and organization, but otherwise it's complete. The passenger side of the dash still doesn't have the ash tray and glove compartment installed, but that's relatively easy work. At this point, my dad and I are talking about possibly putting the carpeting and seats in next weekend. Here's hoping.
Kub... I was keeping up on the car-pc scene up 'til a few months ago (when paying for my new ride became more important ), but if the car-pc trend keeps up on the hardware end doing something like that would be a rather easy thing in the not-too-distant future.
Replies
How much would you expect it to cost if you had the same car and were simply trying to get it in top-notch performance shape? Nothing exotic, just meaning what it would take to restore original high-end 1970s street race capability without regard to looks?
You could always get lucky and find one in decent enough shape to drive around as-is. Don't have to spend a lot of money to enjoy a stock muscle car.
I've been out of the loop for a long time now though. My car's slowly turning to shit because family life has taken away my cash and time. Actually, if you're interested in a 79 Firebird with a 427, let me know
Flaagan: So you're going with more of a cruiser styel then I assume. I don't have a lot of knowledge on Chrysler's stuff, but I see the 904 has overdrive in it. I was mainly curious if you were going for automatic or manual, but I had some curiousity on the model too
Did you pick the 904 before you knew the 727 wouldn't fit?
This Barracuda was kind of a 'low man on the totem pole' model except for the convertible option. It was originally a 318 2 barrel with a single exhaust.
... we fixed that problem...
Engine and transmission are installed.
P.S. thrn there was the 20 minute from San Francisco to Palo Alto on I-280 in a 1972 Plymouth Road Runner...
Scott
Can you say 3" Exhaust~
I'll be the guy with the crowbar.
Love the color you painted it.
Does the exhaust exit in front of the axle?
Got a good bit done this past weekend. Headlights installed and plug in. Got the driveshaft installed, so from the engine to the rear wheels we've got a full drivetrain. Started putting some interior framework in. Almost completely assembled the heater system, if I hadn't misplaced some clips it'd be together and I could have installed the dash and steering column as well. Got the larger radiator installed along with the dual-electric fan setup. Dad got a bunch of interior pieces cleaned up, fixed up, and painted. Overall a very productive weekend, and the ball should really get rolling over the next few weeks.
And another fun lil shot of the engine bay.~
Kind of amusing, didn't think the first "Barracuda" tag to go on the car would be on the interior.
aaaand a teaser shot of the AAR exhaust... we still need to finish making a custom hanging setup for the mufflers and tips, but it's all bolted together regardless. AAR cudas aren't exactly commonplace amongst this already-rare breed, and there's absolutely no coverage of how the mufflers / tips are hung from the car in the shop manual (we have the reproduction hangers, but they don't really work as intended when the 'stock' AAR stuff isn't on the car).
Okay.. NOW I'm green with envy
Btw flooj have you seen Honda's endevour in to xB territory?
I even like that... and its sooo more bread-box than an xB.
It looks like it ran into a wall.. and that dash for some reason reminds me of a table at breakfast time.
Anyway you definitely need to give us a audio clip when it's runnin.
Flaagan, you know you're supposed to take off the plastic before installation, right?
BTW, who's caddy in the background?
We could go through the process of getting it to fire up now, but there's plenty of other things to get hooked up / installed. Granted, my dad wants it up and running first, I'd rather not skip over other details that will be a bigger pain in the ass to install if everything else is slapped on.
The caddy in the background is my dad's 95 seville sts. It's parking outside now since my 'vert vette gets the only garage space left.
Either way, you've got to be getting excited now that it's near completion. Are the rest of the interior pieces ready?
Amusing note, the car's only got a mirror on the driver side (and of course the rear view mirror).
Still gotta fabricate a mounting bracket for the 8-track stereo so I can fill the gap on the right.
Hey... shift happens.
Oh yah....
All I can say is you have one hell of a baby on your hands there! I really hope to someday have some heavy metal of my own. Can't wait to see it finished!
The guy my dad bought the car from put in an 8-track stereo, and it works. I've even got an 8-track to tape converter (big cartridge you put the cassette in). For the short week or two I had the car together and running a decade ago, I would cruise around with the 8-track to tape converter in, with a cassette-to-stereo jack hooked into that, with that hooked up to a portable cd player, with that getting power from the cigarette lighter.
Actually, these days it's probably easier to integrate an iPod somehow. But having a 8-track to cassette convertor makes things a little better.
Besides, our cell phones each have about 2 gigs of memory, so we can put music on there and wire in a line-in at the very least. Next level up beyond that would be to hide a newer stereo in the dash or center console (been talking about that). Uber-next-stage beyond that... the right most gauge on the console is supposed to have either a clock or a tachometer... was talking with my dad about the idea of getting a small lcd screen, mounting it in there, and putting a car-puter in the 'cuda. Would be a bit of work, but I could do it. Would have GPS nav in the car then.
That... is the holder for this...
That... is an 8 track tape player. Just about as retro as you can get without diggin up one of those in-car record players (yes, they exist). The stereo was originally held in place by a simple metal strip, and I wasn't going to have any of that kind of crap in this car. I made the support out of a piece of L-bar and some metal rods welded to it and then bent to shape.
At this point the instrusment cluster is complete and wired. The wiring needs a bit of cleanup and organization, but otherwise it's complete. The passenger side of the dash still doesn't have the ash tray and glove compartment installed, but that's relatively easy work. At this point, my dad and I are talking about possibly putting the carpeting and seats in next weekend. Here's hoping.
... and I wasn't going to have any of that kind of crap in this car.
[/ QUOTE ]hahaha nice.