1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S custom at SEMA360

 

1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S custom at SEMA360

Garret Kitchen of Garret's Rod Shop in Columbus Ohio entered this 1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S owned by Byron Spade called the "Hemi-S Barracuda” in the SEMA360 Battle of the Builders contest, the 2020 virtual trade show for the Specialty Equipment Market Association. (SEMA).

The Barracuda rides on an Art Morrison Sport Frame with a RideTech Ride Pro suspension system and Wilwood brakes. The car painted with two shades of Axalta Tungsten Gray in two shades.

Power comes from a Gen-III Mopar  6.1L Hemi topped by a Magnuson TVS2300 supercharger backed by Tremec manual six-speed gearbox. The “Hemi-S” rolls on Billet Specialties wheels fitted with Falken Azenis tires.  

Recovery Room Interiors in Plattsmouth, Nebraska finished the eye-searing red interior and the dashboard with Custom Classic Instruments gauges.  This beauty was built using the Ron Francis Wiring ‘Express Wiring Kit.’  Check out the vendor website at  https://www.ronfrancis.com/

Photos provided by SEMA

The famous "HEMI UNDER GLASS"

"HEMI UNDER GLASS"

Wheelstander

The massive Shell/Pennzoil/Quaker State display at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas offered attendees a rare opportunity for an up-close look at the 1968 version of the famous “Hemi under Glass” exhibition wheel stander.

The supercharged Hemi powered Plymouth Barracuda was conceived in 1965 and according to legend sketched onto a cocktail napkin by Hot Rod magazine editor Ray Brock for George Hurst. Brock intended it to be a competitive racer, but testing uncovered a problem– the mid-engine placement of the supercharged Hemi engine caused the lightened front end of the car to jump into the air at the hit of the accelerator pedal.

Instead of a competitive race car, Hurst, a master promoter, put the wheel standing car on tour and it became a huge hit with spectators and spawned dozens of imitators.   

The “Hemi Under Glass” has only had three drivers through the years – Bob Shrewsberry, Bob Riggle and the current driver, Mike Mantel. 

Shrewsberry left  the "Hemi Under Glass" and Hurst after one season, and developed his own "LA Dart" wheel stander ( a later version featured the supercharged Hemi engine in the car's trunk) sponsored by LA area Dodge dealers.  Later in the late seventies Shrewsberry toured the "Berry Wagon" a fiberglass 1930 Ford Model delivery truck wheelstander sponsored by the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park.     

The original 1965 "Hemi Under Glass" power train was used for the construction of the 1968 Barracuda body style and the 1965 car no longer exists.  Multiple versions of the  second generation "Hemi Under Glass" toured the country for Hurst through 1970, then the company was sold and Hurst just sponsored the cars until Riggle was injured in a crash in 1975.

 

Bob Riggle reintroduced the "Hemi Under Glass" in 1992 and performed with the car until another crash in 2016, after which Mantel became the designated driver.  The author was assured by Shell officials that the car shown at SEMA 2019 was not the same car crashed on the famous episode of "Jay Leno's Garage." 

Mantel planned to introduce a new  modern "Hellephant" supercharged 1,000 hp and 950 lb-ft of torque Hemi powered LX- class Dodge "Hemi under Glass" Challenger for the 2020 season.  

All photos by the author 

A four-door Barracuda? YES!

Scan of 1970 Plymouth sales poster from author's collection

 

The third-generation Plymouth Barracuda built from 1970 to 1974 used the Chrysler Corporation two-door E-body platform shared with the Dodge Challenger.

 

 

For years, the internet contained stories of a red with black vinyl top four-door hardtop 1970 Plymouth Barracuda styling exercise seen in the center of Chrysler’s Highland Park, Michigan in the fall of 1969.  Dave Walden and Steve Been of ECS Automotive Concepts near St. Louis, Missouri decided to replicate the legend.

 

 

 

The starting point of the project was a cut-up and stripped four-door roof and pillars from a 1972 four-door Dodge Coronet. After the roof was chopped an inch, every piece of the car was hand-built as the crew massaged and modified both original and reproduction parts, a process that took six years and an estimated 10,000 hours of labor.

 

 

 

This running and driving “what if” four-door Barracuda shown at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show rides on a 118-inch wheelbase, weighs 3500 pounds, and is powered by a 275 horsepower Chrysler ‘LA’ 340 cubic inch V-8 fitted with a 4 -barrel carburetor 275 mated to a three-speed Torqueflite automatic transmission with a Chrysler 8-3/4 inch rear-end.  

 

Photos by the author