Yahoo Autos NHRA-Winning 1968 Barracuda Is Worth A Million In Prizes
Mecum's Indianapolis auction later this month, the home of American motorsport, holds your chance to snap up a purpose-built, period-correct, factory-stock, drag-racing Hemi 'Cuda-fiberglass bodywork, acid-dipped doors, big ol' 426, lightweight seats out of a Dodge A100 van-without spending 3.5 million dollars.
Yes, it's the post-1970 'Cudas that were all the rage for a while, apostrophes and everything, but this patriotic example above is exactly two years off the mark of the multi-million-dollar Hemi 'Cuda one-of-eight convertibles with matching build sheets so beloved by the denizens of Scottsdale, Arizona. (Town motto: "No Lowballers.")
This one is far more special. It was behind the wheel of this Super Stock Barracuda that racer Don Grotheer stormed the 1969 NHRA Winternationals and won the SS/BA class.
In 1968 Plymouth took just 70 Barracudas off the factory line and ripped out their 383 engines, then sent them to Hurst Performance for full warrior conversion. "There," writes Hot Rod Magazine, "a fiberglass hood and fenders were installed, the bumpers and doors were thrown in the acid vat to lighten them, and 1/8-inch-thick Chemcor side glass was installed. Window lift mechanisms were replaced with a hunk of seatbelt, lightweight buckets from the A100 vans were bolted to hole-sawed aluminum seat risers, and the back seat was replaced with a cardboard panel." The battery went from the front to the back, and drum brakes were mounted to all four corners. The race-spec 426 received a Cross Ram intake, dual Holley carburetors, Hooker headers, and an A833 4-speed transmission with reverse lockout paired to a Dana 60 rear end with 4.89 gears.
After qualifying for the field, the Cuda beat noted factory Fords in order on Sunday, and winning with a record-setting 10.73.
They were known as "A-Bombs," for many good reasons. Grotheer like all customers picked his example up in primer and promptly gave it a splashy red, white and blue livery, whose original paint still gleams. After he won in 1969, the car kept racing well into the Nineties, and then went to Tennessee for restoration. Somewhere along the line, the engine went missing; a new Hemi went in with forged internals. Grotheer helped out himself. He offered up some rare Mopar parts from his own secret stash. Even donor doors were re-acid-dipped.
"In 2004," owner Chuck Smith told Hot Rod, "I heard of a 1968 Super Stock Barracuda body that could be bought for $9,000." There was a time when tired old race cars were just that. Today, Mecum's star of the show is estimated to go for at least $450,000-imagine how much more it'd be if it was Plum Crazy. No, wait. This one brims with much more authenticity. That is priceless.
