well one clue to a dealer install is the trim for the vinyl top is aluminum not stainless...
Ok, so the story goes like this. I have been driving around my town of Palmdale CA for 30 years there's only been a handful of dry desert rust free cars that have not been discovered.
Because in these parts there's been a lil strip called LACR in Littlerock CA. so any and every car that could be potentially a race car has been cut modified drag raced, tweaked on, stripped of original parts or wrecked has been done. well, long story short. I moved in with the women of my dreams in west Palmdale and have always kept an eye out. well one day my neighbor john with his 1966 original hemi charger((he purchased from his best friend of 40 years) drove by and said have I seen the 70 barracuda down the street in the barn with a hemi in it. Ha?
hmmmm!. this was 12 years ago. well I kept driving by month after month, year after year. then one day there was a barn slightly open at the house in question 7 years ago, I stopped on my way back and before I can ask the gentleman about the car peaking out of the barn, he says! "what do I want" well, I swallowed my nerve and asked is that a barracuda? he says yes! but "its not for sale!".
I said ok thank you and drove off. a few years later I noticed his home and yard were deteriorated along with the Barn kinda caving in. so one day I stopped by after about 5 years and asked the same man if he needed some help around the house as he was getting older and not in the best of health. he says no im fine. so I repeated the effort a couple more times and this time left a number. he says he may call me to help him trim some trees. he never called. so again... I went over and got the nerve up enough to ask about the car in the barn.
he says ya its his sisters old car and he bought it from her years ago for $500 dollars.
I said if he considered selling it he says its in pretty bad shape and he has no idea what its worth
. so I said can I take a look at it and he says "watch out for the wasp in the barn" and it might fall down on me!. as I approached the first thing I noticed is it did not have a blacked out tail panel. it had a flat hood and it said Barracuda not Cuda. I grabbed a couple pics realized it was no hemi but told him id be interested in buying it as is. for a undisclosed amount (pretty cheap) he says ya that would be ok.
we arranged a time and day and Walla! handed him cash he gave me the original Pink! slip. I literally lifted the barn lying on the car with jacks and pulled it out with my truck and dragged it home about 1/2 a mile before he changed his mind.
and that's the beginning of the End. thanks, Ed
PS: the broadcast sheet is in the back seat. the trim tag is still there on fender.
