Early Plymouth Barracuda, 1964 - 1966

1966 Barracuda Restoration Part 2

The body work was completed in the following order: undercarriage, fenders, paint. The current coat is simply a protective flat black, as I wanted to insure that the body work was sound before I applied an expensive coat of paint. The undercarriage was sanded, rust treated, primed, repainted, and finally undercoated. The driver's side floor pan had to be replaced, using hand-formed sheet metal.

The front fenders were beyond repair and are patched with fiberglass until replacements can be located. The rear fenders had all rust cut away, and replacement panels were then hand-formed. A coat of Body filler was applied to even the finish. See above images for a before/after comparison. After finishing the fenders, I worked on the bumpers but found them unsalvageable.

After the body work was completed, the interior was cleaned up. All carpeting was removed, and replacement carpet was installed. The replacement carpet was ordered in gray, rather than the original Citron green color. The decision had already been made to change the color scheme, and the carpet was the first step. The carpeting had insulation pre-installed, but extra insulation was also added underneath. The seats were, and still are in terrible shape, and will remain as such until I get the finances to reupholster them. Currently they are hidden under seat covers.

The stock door panels were removed and stored. The hand-made replacement panels were made out of a very similar vinyl stock, of gray color. These panels were assembled by first cutting pieces of particle board into the form of the panels, affixing a foam layer, and finally, affixing the vinyl. The vinyl was pulled tight and sealed with adhesive. During this process, the interior of each door was cleaned up, painted, and weathersealed.

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