FAST GLASS
CLASSIC LINES, A SCHMICK INTERIOR AND THAT UNMISTAKEABLE WRAPAROUND REAR ’SCREEN, ALL COMBINED WITH STREETABLE GRUNT – THERE’S NOTHING FISHY ABOUT THIS HOME-BUILT BARRACUDA!
There’s nothing fishy about this killer home-built ’66 Barracuda
ILOVE stories about people building cars who manage to just duck and weave the challenges and take it all in their stride. This willingness to get out and have a crack impresses the shit out of me, especially when they employ homespun ingenuity and any means at their disposal. Case in point is Glenn Rewell and the build of his 1966 Plymouth Barracuda.
Check the pics – is the paint of the quality you’d expect from a backyard spray booth? How about the interior; would you have thought that Youtube was instrumental in Glenn completing the trim? I think not.
Okay, this may not be Glenn’s first skid around the block – he has an impressive fleet to his credit that includes a chopped Dodge hot rod, a blown ’69 Camaro and a new HQ project on the go – but his tough-arsed Barracuda employed a healthy dose of the ways and means act to see it built to an impressive standard and affordable budget.
For starters, as a classy two-door option the firstgeneration Barracuda makes a great choice. The distinctive wraparound rear glass of these early Yankee A-bodies is iconic, and both the first incarnation (think our Ap-series Valiants) and its subsequent facelift (in line with our home-turf VCS) were used as foundation platforms for the legendary and appropriately named Hemi Under Glass wheelstander.
“I was looking for a cheap two-door car to use as a driver and spotted this ’66 in South Australia,” Glenn says. “I thought it was a cool-looking car and loved its shape and their history; did you know that rear ’screen was the largest piece of glass ever made for a production car? It hadn’t been in the country long and was advertised for the right price, so I struck a deal and it was on its way home.
“It was pretty much as advertised, with no initial surprises; the interior was stuffed and the headlining was missing, but it drove well and the paint and panel looked okay.”
The clean-up started with the body, and within two weeks the ‘okay’ exterior had become a completely stripped shell sitting in Glenn’s garage. The paint was nicely hiding plenty of rust, so Glenn got to work making patch panels for the doors, lower front guards, rear quarter panels and boot lid, while any superfluous holes in the engine bay were filled.
With a four-inch reverse-cowl grafted on and the remaining bodywork sorted, Glenn cobbled together a plastic-drop-sheet spray booth and laid down the Glasurit grey hue dubbed Liquid Metal. The stripes were then masked and painted before the whole kit and caboodle was lathered in clear.
With the body and engine bay looking schmick, Glenn got busy with the mechanicals. As the owner of Rewell’s Mower Service in Castlemaine, he was probably relieved to work on more than one cylinder at a time, so he stripped the 273-cube small-block bare and reassembled it with fresh internals. A 273 is a grunty little number in stock form, and even more so when paired to a lightweight early A-body. However, Glenn was keen to add more punch to match the Barracuda’s visuals, so a Summit hydraulic cam was fitted along with home-ported heads, topped by a Holley Strip Dominator intake and 600cfm Holley carb.
Block-hugger headers were sourced simply enough via ebay, although fitting one of this pair was a different matter altogether, with Glenn having to wield his fab skills and scratch-build some new straws for the driver’s side. A reconditioned original radiator was deemed fit for cooling duties, while a full complement of MSD equipment was sourced for the ignition.
The original three-speed manual transmission refreshingly remains in situ, but the column shift has made way for a Mr Gasket floor shifter, and the factory diff was swapped out – twice – for a narrowed nine-inch filled with a 3.7-geared LSD centre and 31-spline axles. “I discovered the hard way that Mopars have the driveline offset by two inches,” Glenn chuckles ruefully. “The first housing was narrowed conventionally, which stuffed up the driveshaft angles, meaning I had to buy a second housing and have it narrowed off to one side to make it work.”
The rear end rides on relocated leaf springs, moved inboard and upwards for better right height and tyre clearance. The torsion bar front suspension was kept, albeit after a thorough overhaul.
CL Valiant discs and calipers update the front end; XD Falcon drums were retained for the Ford rear. Rolling stock is a mix of 10-spoke and salt flat designs from the Rocket Wheels catalogue, measuring in at 15x4in and 15x8.5in respectively and shod in 165/65 and 255/60 rubber.
The interior is just as impressive as the exterior, with Glenn choosing maximum bang for modest buck by compiling a full replacement trim kit through the offerings of Legendary Auto Interiors, OPGI and Classic Industries in the States, and mixing it with a healthy dose of instruction via Youtube.
“I purchased the interior when the Aussie dollar was strong,” Glenn says. “It saved heaps of time and money from trying to source it locally, especially being a less-than-common ride here on our shores. I’m a