After several months of hunting for the right project car for my son Max and I to work on as a Father/Son team and for his senior project, we found THE car – a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda Fastback 340 Formula S. We saw an ad on Facebook Marketplace and visited it in Hillsboro, Or. Many hours of research went into checking it out. We felt this was finally our car and made an offer a couple days later. The owners, a retired couple in their 80’s, had it covered in their garage for 20+ years, the last time it was registered was 1995. Picture above is us loading it on the rental trailer. While the motor has been rebuilt, it was not yet placed back in the car.

Rewind a little and looking back over our search for the right car we put a lot of miles in. We almost bought a friend’s 1981 Corvette that would have been a more minor project. However, we knew a Vette would not really be a good fit in our family as a two seat coupe. It would just be something we would have to flip it since we wanted something we would hold on to so we decided to pass. Not to mention what Jay Leno said is very true; “If you restore a car, and you’re making money, then you’re doing it wrong”. After an uneventful and disappointing trip to a smaller Auto Swap Meet in Centralia, Wa and upon scouring many classified channels and following inquires, we were coming up with few desirable candidates or reliable sellers. Since we were coming up empty handed here locally, in mid-October, I decided to make a trip down south with Max to visit my Dad in So Cal. While we were there we would “squeeze in” a visit to the famous and enormous long standing Pomona Auto Swap Meet where we could shop the sea of classic cars for sale. My ole gear head friends Eric and Curtis joined us down there to help us find the right project. We were so excited about the prospect of landing a car, we drove the truck all the way down so we could tow something back!

I’m glad we got quality time in with our friends because we came up empty handed on a car. Although we saw a handful of potential candidates, the offerings were mostly held by brokers that were inflating the prices to clear the overhead to profit on the flip. You need to be careful when shopping, as often many owners want/need to shed their cars, but have a very high opinion of the values in this current crazy market! Nothing we saw for the price was worth dragging a thousand miles back home. All in all a great experience though, and now that we have a car it has turned into a parts hunt, so we will be back there in March to shop the acres and acres of vendor booths! On the way home from So Cal, I took the 395 up the eastern edge of California. I made a long overdue visit to my Aunt and Uncle in a little town between Mojave and Mammoth Lakes . There I discovered some unique “barn finds” on their lot including a 1948 Chevrolet Delivery Sedan and my Grandfathers 1969 Chevy Pick Up that he bought brand new. My Grandfather passed away many years ago, and the truck has been stored there ever since. How cool would it be have Max and I bring to life his Great Grandfather’s truck?! I unfortunately could not persuade my Uncle to part ways with it for obvious sentimental reasons! I think it would have been a real special project and possibly simpler as parts for that generation of truck are much easier to come by then on this much rarer Mopar’s…. and Everyone knows Chevy’s! If that truck is still hibernating next time thru, I will make another attempt for sure! As for the Delivery Sedan, that is a higher level project…but we may be back someday for that one too!

Once I got home, the search continued. Katina came across a 1969 Barracuda on FB Marketplace. This was not a car on our radar, but as a guy who’s first car was a 1970 Dodge Challenger that I inherited from my Mom, I always have had a place in my heart for Mopars (details on that in a future post). This car was in Woodland, Wa – about 45 minutes from us. We gained a newfound interest for this Gen 2 era Barracuda, but something kept us from buying this one. It was a cool car for sure, just not a performance model like a Z28, GT, or RT/TA – so again, we decided to pass. This 67-69 generation does not grow on trees, but coincidentally a few days later we found almost the same exact car, just a lower production Formula S model with the performance small block 340. It had more character, better story, a little less rust and over all better condition, plus it being the desirable 340S model had us hooked on this particular “Fish”. This was finally it, the one we would ultimately bring home a couple days later!

So this is where the story really starts. The journey this car and it’s new rookie restoration family will take as we discover the pains, joys and realities of what it truly takes to reverse 50 years of aging on a car that was not designed to last more than 10 really. When all you thought at first is you would be repairing a little rust, putting in the motor and giving it a paint job – to a top to bottom…down to every bolt full restoration, it’s time to write a story! Some time I wonder what I have done to myself opening up this can of worms, but the big bonus and what makes it all worth while, is my Son and I have the project that will bring us memories for a lifetime, building camaraderie via a legitimate male bonding experience. We will be learning all about cars like never before, and in the end we hope to have a long lasting family treasure with this classic muscle car, reborn to her glory days and even finer than when she was new! We look forward to sharing with you from start to finish this challenge in front of us! I want to thank my friends Dave Webb, Eric Vogt, Curtis Dietzsch and Robert Kulp for their advise and mentoring along the way, especially Dave who has spent his personal time during our search and even turning some wrench on the car itself. And last but not least, the support, patience, and even funding from my incredible wife Katina….I can’t wait to take her out on a cruise date someday in our Classic Fish, and then on to some cruises and car shows with our fellow classic car owner friends!…stay tuned as I discuss more about the 1967-1969 Gen 2 Barracuda and what it has come to mean for us, plus details of the disassembly stage of this show!