Hello all this is my personal cars page. These are my currently owned mopars. The first being a 75 valiant and the newest addition is a 73 barracuda. The valiant is a 3 yr project mostly finished the cuda is just bought and hasn't started being worked on yet. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment and some facts about each car and the future plans of them.
First is the 3 yr project car. It's a 75 valiant starting life as a /6 car. It had 60k miles on it when I got it and was in pretty bad shape pretty much worthless except the motor ran perfect. I started doing bodywork on it almost imediately (not that I am a great body man or anything) but this was a great learning experience for me. The nose of the car was swapped for the 72 nose. Why they ever stopped useing that nose I have no idea. The engine was swapped for a 318 727 with an 8 1/4 rear with 245 gears yuk. I was able to convert the car to a floor shift with a center console buckets and the right steering column with a tuff wheel on it. That was a big improvement. After that I found out those gears couldn't be switched, so I bought another rear that had a sure grip 273 gear. Then changed the gears to 355's. Much improvement!!! Then the trans went out so I pulled it and rebuilt it. All new Stock high stall converter with a shift kit it worked beutiful. The motor however was another story. Classic bearings shot bad oil psi the whole 9 yds but she ran good. I then rebuilt a 360 from scratch, new crank, block, rods, pistons, rings the works. It is now about 8.8to1 compression 267/480 lift cam ported heads aluminum intake(ported). 750 dp holley. Very streetable and can be daily driven but she runs pretty good. The sidepipes are no longer on the car. I also added a front and rear swaybar(factory mopar stuff) heavyduty springs and shocks etc. It is not a race car but a very tight car and allot of fun to drive I do plan to take it to the track this year finally to see what she runs and I am also thinking of running at some road courses to see what she can do on a road course. Then I plan on selling the car to move on to my long awaited cuda project.
DRIVERS SIDE
I did sell the Dart the first guy who looked at it drove it down the road and handed me the money I am very sorry to see it go but the Cuda is a waiting.
Next comes the cuda clone project. It is a 73 Baracuda grand coupe. 318 2bl auto and it was an abortion when I got it. The interior was already switched to black. The paint started going on as plum crazy purple. I have the 440 motor for it and the 4spd that will go into it already. After making allot of money and finding hours of time magically somewhere I'm going to start this project. Now that I have a house with a garage it will be much easier to build this one. The trunk is pretty rotted the rest of the car is in good shape. It will not be a daily driver and I plan on keeping this one for a long time. I plan to do the bodywork first so I can drive it around a little next year the 318 runs fine. Maybe the following year I will get the 440 in it. Either way I have waited a long time for this car I will cherish every moment with it. Anyone who has allot of experience restoring Cuda's any info would be apreciated.
Below is a photo of the cuda in its current state. The interior is complete and in the car including new headliner from year one. The body is completely made of steel. The trunk has been completely welded in. It now has a 383 4bl 727 w323 sure grip rear. New leaf springs and an adco rear sway bar. 2 inch hooker headers with 3 in exhaust custom made w stainless mufflers. It will also get a large adco front sway bar. I have a complete new grill and lower valance for the front not in yet and I will get new bumpers also. I have to do some finishing touches with the body so it can be painted. 4 new BF Goodrich tires Mechanically it is ready to be driven but I am taking my time with the body. Hopefully it will be a complete and road ready car for 2003.
Just a small update. the car did get on the road in 2003 but still needing alot of work I only drove it very minimal then winter storage. I have now taken it back out for early spring it is getting the custom exhaust done now at Marotta's custom auto in Hopatcong NJ. The 4spd will hopefully be in this spring then body work and paint. The car will then be in a complete state. Not done I still want to recover the seats and buy new door panels and build the 440 for the final crowning, But at least it will be complete so I can drive it around and finaly enjoy it with some actual drive time. Plan to be completely done by 2006. Its only been 6 yrs to get it on the road whats another 2 yrs. I did get a ticket for overdue inspection the officer couldnt understand why the sticker was 16 yrs old. I was on the way to get the exhaust done so it could go to inspection. He was not buying it.
Ok well 2006 is gone and its still not done but I did get the 4spd in and funtional with pistol grip shifter. Welded in the floor tunnel bought all new clutch linkage and a Center Force clutch with Lakewood scattershield. Also bought the spring relocation kit for the rear to move the leafs inward for more tire clearance. Installed a slightly narrowed rear with a new set of Mopar Perf bigblock XHD leaf springs in the rear. I got to drive it around alot this year back and forth to work mostly which is 1 hour each way. The slots are gone and I installed some more modern looking 16 inch wheels unfortunaetly I couldnt decide if I ever liked them or not so in the end I bought the factory style mags from Whel Vintiques extra wide in the rear, which you can see in the photos. I also bought all new window weatherstrip which I am installing before I paint the car. Now the car sits in my friends shop whom is helping me with the body work and paint so in spring of 2007 we hit the road finally looking like a comlete car. This summer I am going to install the heavy front torsion bars, sway bar and most likely KYB shocks. Hopefully finances will get to the interior this summer. Did I mention that my friend who is helping me has the identical car to me how cool is that!
Here she is all painted and put back together. This is exactly the way I always dreamed this car to look since I was a kid and wanted one. Its finally here thanks to my freinds at WGM transportation and all their help. It has a brand new grille new lower valance all new lights. All new weatherstrip everywhere. we painted the body with the doors fenders hood trunk etc all off the veh. So it is all painted purple everywhere you look. We painted the back sides of the doors under the trunk and hood. Here are some photos of it near completion and finally one done.
Click here to see a larger photo of the finished one.
I have now also wrecked my truck in a hurricane. I hydroplaned off the road ran up a rock and launched it about 6 ft in the air. The truck is totalled. As lucky as I could be no one was hurt. I did replace it with another 86 dodge 150 but this one is 4wd. The above photo is the new truck