Slide 1

Sometimes, a little procrastination pays off. After waiting 20 years to work on this car, Bill Watkins felt he couldn’t settle for the simple restoration he had originally planned. Instead his target was, “the essence of a 1968 Super Stock, but without being a clone.”

Slide 2

The hood and Super Stock hood scoop had to be specially modified to make room for the twin carb and cross-ram intake setup atop the engine. Bill extracted a factory 440 from another Barracuda and turned it over to his friend Rod Kuchenbecker for a thorough rebuild. Rod had Portage Performance turn it into a 496 stroker, complete with an Eagle 4.150" stroker crankshaft, and then he built it up with parts like Ross forged aluminum pistons, a Lunati Voodoo hydraulic cam, an MSD Pro Billet distributor, a Mopar Performance 6AL CD Ignition Box and voltage regulator, and more. Bill dropped it in himself and added a Milodon oiling system.

Slide 3

Before it went into hibernation, the body of the Barracuda was carefully repaired by Bill. He also restored the original grille inserts and the trunk trim panel. After rebooting the project, Bill had Jim Palosi apply that Prowler Orange paint. “I wanted a stock color, but better,” he says. “I originally had a whole graphics scheme worked out, but the paint just looked so good by itself we let it be.”

Slide 4

Bill wanted to make the interior look factory-fresh, but with a few custom touches. JW’s Upholstery recovered the front buckets and floors with period-appropriate vinyl and loop pile carpet. There’s also an aluminum dash insert sporting Auto Meter Pro-Comp and Sport-Comp instruments, and the factory console has been modified to fit the TCI Outlaw shifter. The most radical change to the interior is one you can’t see: the storage panels on the back bench seat were trimmed to fit over the mini-tubs, concealing them from inside.

Slide 5

“Agent Orange” gets around on Billet Specialties Street Lite wheels, wrapped in BFGoodrich rubber. Bill can vividly recount the horrors of standing on the ineffective stock drums to little effect, so he upgraded to the big stopping power of Wilwood Dynalite discs.

Slide 6

Let’s face it: resto cars just ride like old cars. That’s why Bill went with a thoroughly modern suspension instead. In fact, it was his discovery of the Reilly MotorSports AlterKtion front end kit that inspired him to renew this project! Out back, the stance is maintained by Chrysler Super Stock biased semi-elliptical springs and QA1 adjustable aluminum shocks.