He also started running short on time, so he rolled his patched and primered dream project into the back of the garage. After three years of rust repairs and other body and suspension work, Bill found himself stumped by the paint. In 1982, Bill started to restore his treasured ’Cuda. After a month I taped it all together and took it to a welder, and he finished it.” Ever-humble, Bill figures, “I didn’t know it would never work, which is probably why it worked!” His original plans were too sophisticated for me to do, so I simplified them and hacked it together. “I got the idea from John Barker, who had built a 383 for me back in the ’70s. That is true love.īill tinkered with the car over the years, hand-fabricating an amazing aluminum cross-ram intake using a circular saw, a plumber’s drill, and a router. In spite of the rivalry, they married, and, when the time came for them to raise funds to buy a new car together, Barb allowed Bill to sell her Camaro and keep his ’Cuda.

“I always thought the 1967-69 Barracuda was the best-looking muscle car of that era, and I wanted to build a fitting tribute.”īill bought this Barracuda in 1971, right around the time he started dating a Camaro-driving young lady named Barb. He grew up reading all about the exploits of local legend “Akron Arlen” Vanke, the team of Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin, the wheel-standing Hurst “Hemi Under Glass,” and the LimeFire Barracuda funny car.

I’d look at it for a while, sigh, and then roll it back in.”īill had a life-long obsession with Mopars, especially fastback ’Cudas. About once a summer, I’d remove all the garage stuff I had stacked on it, evict the cats that were living in it, and roll it out. “I had to leave the car in the garage, partially restored. “With the kids in school, and then traveling all summer for baseball and other activities, I just didn’t have the time!” he says. His commitment to his family is so deep that he kept this project car-a fiery and fierce 1969 Plymouth Barracuda fastback-on hold for 20 years. Contractor Bill Watkins is a sentimental man who loves his wife and his kids.

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