pharoah Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I was just watching the movie,Fireball 500. Mostly because Annette was in it, and the cars. In the opening scenes he's driving the Fireball 500 car,which is basically a Barracuda, right? But it's towing a race car on a trailer behind it. Is that even possible? I know it wouldn't be recommended. Was the race car just a shell? I know,it's just a movie..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 The Fireball 500 is a 1966 Barracuda. The fantasy was that the car had some big powerful engine, but the actual car had a stock 273V8 automatic with drum brakes. I pulled a small teardrop trailer behind mine. It was scary. Took it out on one trip. That was enough. So no, I wouldn't be pulling a race car on trailer behind a real Barracuda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) The Barracuda the Barris Fireball 500 is based on is a 3000+ pound car. The Barracuda had higher-horsepower optional V8 engines to handle towing, and there was a factory towing package as an available option too. The race car and trailer combo probably exceed the recommended factory tow weight limit, but hey, you could get away with it if you're careful. Disc brakes and a limited slip diff were also available in '66...good for towing too. Edited March 22, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 And where did he keep the spare parts,luggage,etc? I know , I know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 And where did he keep the spare parts,luggage,etc? I know , I know... As you can see from the kit, the real car doesn't have a trunk lid but there is a carpeted area below that, pretty much like a lot of old Corvettes. The huge headrests are built into the body and not attached to the seats. Typical of a movie car, things that wouldn't be seen were left stock. The dashboard had a big visible top pad, but the instrument panel etc was stock Barracuda. The seats were also stock Barracuda and folded down to give access to the rear area. And as I said earlier, the drive train was stock base 273, auto trans with factory floor shifter. I am quite familiar with the car. It was used by a car dealer in New Jersey as a sales aid, sitting out front to bring people into the dealership. When it started to look shabby it was sent to the back of the lot, where it rotted for years. A NJ collector spotted it, managed to buy it and restored it in the early to mid 1980s. I've been inside and under the car. I crawled into that back area to prove it had the Barracuda body bracing, as someone was claiming it was built from a Valiant instead of a Barracuda. The NJ owner sold it to a car museum in Kansas where it was for many years. It was last sold at Barrett Jackson Scottsdale in 2015 for $137,500. Check out the photos in the link below. You can see the stock interior in one of them. http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Archive/Event/Item/1965-PLYMOUTH-BARRACUDA-CUSTOM-FIREBALL-500-181260 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 Thanks,Tom. nice to know it's still around. I had the model many years ago. Pretty basic kit,but not bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtx6970 Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) Anyone know the color of the red ? I am thinking candy apple red over a gold base I have one in the pile ,,,( later) Edited March 22, 2015 by gtx6970 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) There's two versions of the Fireball 500. The one shown above, and the redone version of the same vehicle after the movie version the original kit makes, (almost). Two different paint jobs.I had to chuckle at the observation in the original post. As hokey and so terribly phony as that movie is, the car pulling the trailer is one of the more believable issues. Edited March 22, 2015 by Scale-Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggon Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted March 22, 2015 Author Share Posted March 22, 2015 As hokey and so terribly phony as that movie is, the car pulling the trailer is one of the more believable issues. LOL True. I like the fade paine scheme better than the one that was restored. it looks like they just masked off the front clip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I prefer the restored version, more so for the "improved" graphics, but also the colors flow better to me. It looks less cheesy than the movie car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Wait, they were towing a B-Body on an open trailer with a hacked up A-Body?! That would be worse than towing my 200 with my Cherokee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Love the car. But nothing was realalisticly thought out in that movie. That's not the point. It a stupid, but full movie, with a cool looking car. Just sit back and enjoy. And when questions of reality creep in, just keep reminding your self it's just a movie. And that it's okay. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtx6970 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I am quite sure it could pull the trailer.....stopping it and controlling it at speed is entirely different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Love the car. But nothing was realalisticly thought out in that movie. That's not the point. It a stupid, but full movie, with a cool looking car. Just sit back and enjoy. And when questions of reality creep in, just keep reminding your self it's just a movie. And that it's okay. Scott That's true with a lot of movies. But I like them anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Rick Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'm still trying to figure out if the Dukes car could jump 200 feet in the air & do the perfect landing, after that I'll wonder if the Bob Hope Golf cart would beat the Batmobile in a drag race Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) I prefer the restored version, more so for the "improved" graphics, but also the colors flow better to me. It looks less cheesy than the movie car. Edited March 23, 2015 by Greg Myers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) Edited March 23, 2015 by Greg Myers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Honestly, I prefer the original movie paint, the later paint and that restoration paint looks more like somebody got lazy and painted the entire front clip separatley, then painted the doors off the car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 From those two photos and the movie clips it looks like there might have been three paint schemes?I have photos in my files I worked from to build my model that shows a tri-tone paint job with the graphics like the car in the top photo. More gold/orangeish between the white and red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Maybe they had to fix the body work after a towing mishap, that had to be one heck of a sketchy towing arrangment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 The model on the reissue box shows the white fading back farther with no gold. Either way,it looks better without 'Plymouth' plastered on there 4 times... Yes,we know what it is. Speaking of hokey, I love the movie posters. Annette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 From those two photos and the movie clips it looks like there might have been three paint schemes? I have photos in my files I worked from to build my model that shows a tri-tone paint job with the graphics like the car in the top photo. More gold/orangeish between the white and red. Quite possibly. There is the original paint scheme as seen in the photos here. And the other photos seem to be the car as it was sold at Barrett Jackson. The car was totally restored in NJ in the 1980s. Then it was sold to the museum in Kansas. I know someone who saw it there and said the restoration was aging badly. The guy who sold the car at BJ was a Canadian who was interviewed by George Barris in a YouTube clip. He said that he bought it from someone in Washington State and completely restored it. That would make for three paint jobs. I also noticed in a promo clip for the movie, the car had no windshield at all. And see the two different windshields in the photos here. I have photographs I took of the car back in the 1980s. Let me see if I can find them to compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk11 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 wonder what Petty charged for renting one of his cars... mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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