ChrisPflug

The MPC 'cudas are pretty much what you'd expect from a promo based annual kit of the era- a very nicely done body, simple but detailed tub interior, so-so engine, and simple chassis with fenderwells and exhaust detail molded in and designed to use screws to attach the rear. A metal axle covered by a separate rear end/ leaf spring is used in the back with separate plastic pins mounting the front wheels (at least we're spared an axle through the engine block). The interior is made up of a tub with molded in door panel, console, and back seat for stock original issues with separate bucket seats, shifter handle, dash, and steering wheel/column. The engine provided has been a 426 Hemi with separate automatic trans- even after the 1:1 hemicuda was no longer available from Chrysler. The body has always been the strong point of these kits- even if certain details and dimensions were a bit off the model just seemed "right". Part of this comes from the 1:1 using lots of design tricks to make the outside look smaller and sportier. These cars were designed to share much of the engine bay, cowl, floor pan, suspension, and mechanical components with the upcoming 1971 B bodies but compete and have the pony car style of the Mustang and Camaro which had started out as reskinned Falcon and Nova compacts. Many of the styling "tricks" didn't translate directly to scale visually so some liberties taken to make the promo look how Chrysler thought it should. The Annuals The 1970 kit was molded in lime green and features a shaker hood with separate scoop, chrome bumpers with a one piece plated front grille shell and bumper piece and dual exhaust tips molded into the rear valance. The interior is upscale featuring the optional leather and vinyl upholstery, Rallye dash, console, and three spoke steering wheel with partial horn ring. Wheels included are a set of stock Rallyes and some nice Keystone Klassics with four shortfalls and a pair of vinyl slicks. Building options included a "High Rise" suspension with a leaf sprung straight axle for the front and exaggerated extensions for the rear spring mounts, traction bars, and coil assist shocks (all rather crudely done). A "Barris custom" version offered custom grille inserts, a strange triple hood scoop, and spoiler. Interior options were limited to a simple roll bar. Decals included some generic drag striping, sponsorship stickers and Plymouth Rapid Transit System logos. A Candies and Hughes funny car kit was also offered featuring funny car chassis and firewall but a stock promo style body with the hood and shaker molded in. For 1971 the body was updated with the new cars styling and the grille shell now molded to the body. White plastic was now used. The interior was unchanged other than the disappearance of the horn ring, the dash emblem changed on the real car but was left alone on the model. A new high rise intake option was offered featuring long criss crossing tubes that came up through the hood to high dual scoops. Decals were provided for a Don Grotheer drag version. The Schumacher Stardust funny car kit was offered featuring a photo of a real funny car on the box but stock promo style body inside. The 72 was again restyled with the kit reflecting the changes. The shaker hood was now gone replaced in the kit with a flat base Barracuda piece (and new flat air cleaner to fit under it for "stock" version. The interior was revised with the new upholstery pattern and two spoke steering wheel. The Hemi was unchanged although the largest factory engine in the 1:1 was now a 340. Chrysler also changed the design of Rallye wheel center cap for 1972 but this change didn't come to the MPC annuals till the '74s. Decals were included for a Sox and Martin version as well as black factory style side stripes like th ones provided with the promos. 1972 was the last year for a factory Barracuda promo. Styling for 1973 was mostly unchanged, most noticeable on the kit was the addition of the huge "crash" bumper guards. "Barracuda" scripts were added to the quarter panels and the "cuda" disappeared from the taillight panel. Stock whitewall tires were replaced with Blackwell Polyglas. The biggest change in the kit had nothing to do with the 1:1 car but rather custom parts. The "High Rise" and drag options were replaced with the "Gasser" version. Injection stacks and a barrel fuel tank were provided for the Hemi, an optional dash, race seats and a "tinwork" cover to hide the back seat was added for th interior. A whole new front end setup requiring the front of the chassis and fenderwells be cut off and replaced with new stub frame and straight axle setup. The rear was less radical than the earlier versions and now had wheelie bars. Custom wheels were now dragster mags and a panel was provided to cover the headlights and grille For 1974 the "Barracuda" scripts disappeared from the quarters and the "cuda" was back on the tail. The big front bumper guards found on the 1:1 went away and th factory Rallye wheels were updated. A pointy extended custom front end was added as well as a spoiler, sidepipes, and a blower for th Hemi.

The ladies of the manor watched me climb into my car And I was going round the track about a hundred and five They had the stopwatch rolling I had my headlights blazing I was really alive Yet my mind was blowing I drank a bottle of tequila really felt real good Had to take it rolling But on the twenty fifth lap at the canal turn I went off exploring Knew I wouldn't make it The car just couldn't take it I was turning Tires burning The ground was in my sky I was laughing......

After 23 years of owning it with no budget the two oldest kids are over halfway through college and I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel and starting to accumulate parts and pieces- hope to get some serious work done in the next few years Car is a 1970 Challenger R/T, the original drivetrain long gone but was a 383 automatic car, came with a 68 440 but I'm leaning towards building a 470 inch low deck stroker from a good running low mileage 400 pulled from a rusted out 74 Monaco. Plans are to keep it looking pretty much stock, it sits up a bit with Super Stock leaves in the back but plan on running 15 inch radials on Rallye wheels or Cragars Looking at staying with one of the 18 available original colors but still trying to decide Top choices for me now are: Deep burnt orange with burnt orange cloth upholstery, the combo the car was originally built with. Originally hated the color but it's grown on me Black with burnt orange interior- love the look but worried about getting and keeping the bodywork flawless enough for black Go mango. Always loved orange, especially with hood blackout Plum crazy was the plan for years but now seems a bit overdone on these cars White especially after watching vanishing point Lime, yellow, blue, or red never excited me on these cars Your opinions?

Hmm, going back to the tire sizes...... Since the advertised widths of real tires are listed based on a specific wheel width maybe the tires are all ok and all the wheels in the kits just need retooling lol Most of the kits with the "L 60s" seem to supply stock 7 inch wide factory wheels when in real life this size tire was usually mounted on a 10 inch mag

The original issues have a little smaller door handles, the 73 annual even has "Barracuda" emblems on the rear quarters

Actually the door handles on the original MPC cudas don't seem to look too bad (I'm currently away from home and am going by photos of my stash rather than "in person" They did "grow" quite a bit when the body was restored from the modified stocker for the ' 80 release The '80 and up bodies all lack the indentations for the headlights, the front turn signal/ parking lights, and the detail doesn't seem quite as nice. The original annuals are far from perfect but nicer than the later rereleases

Any plans for a 71-75 interior?

Going home late last night Suddenly I got a fright Yeah I looked through a window and surprise what I saw...

Dio- The Last in Line (remember buying it on cassette when it was new)

It would normally be in the 1:1 Maybe something custom in the works for the model

I remember the Rolls kit for the bug from all the 70s JC Whitney catalogs- it was the same block right next to the 40 Ford front

The 79-81 MPC Z28 has a solid roof and separate spoilers and can be found relatively inexpensively used- pretty much just need to smooth the fender vents for a stock Camaro body '79 annual is green and labeled "Street Savage", the '80 is the black "Super Z", and the '81 the blue "Turbo Z". The "Night Prowler" issue has lots of big flares and spoilers but these are all separate pieces so you can use the stock body and the "Camaro Pro Street" isn't really a pro streeter at all.

Car is looking great- I'd probably go with the lighter color headliner- the 1:1 headliners all seemed to be a pretty close match shade wise to the door panel color but the lighter seems like it would look better and tend to "brighten up" your detail work with the model assembled At the risk of sounding overly nit-picky technically by 73-74 the option list for the E bodies had shrunk dramatically with only one trim style for the interior and only four colors available- blue, green, black, or white (with black dash, carpet, console,and package tray)- gold was also available in '72 but the last year for a tan/brown would be '71. On the 73-74 seats the vinyl inserts had a "woven" texture with a smoother vinyl for the "skirts"- I like to flatten the finish on the inserts so that the "smooth" vinyl is glossier- either with a quick shot of dullcote or painting the seat overall with gloss then doing the inserts in matte acrylic craft paint- just gives a subtle bit of extra contrast Great thing about modeling is you can come up with color combos that look better than what the factory offered Heres a pic of the '72 "gold" interior- more of a yellowish-beige on the seats and interior panels than what you'd think of as "golden"

Looking good

I've got a few MPC 'cuda projects both original and snap planned or in the works- fortunately have enough original interiors to cover the white and gold ones I want to build and can save the yellow ones for black or dark green interiors

On the 1:1 the twin scoop hood was standard on the 'cuda with either of the available engines, it also came standard on the Barracuda if the 360 was chosen plus was available in an A51 "Sport Décor" package that also included the tape stripes and moldings that could be ordered for Barracudas with either the 318 or 360 So- the flat hood would only have been "correct" for a 318 powered Barracuda (without the Sport Décor) - which in turn would not have the dual exhaust Not correct but all the originals have the flat hood and dual exhaust valance. Its interesting that even though the last cuda factory promo was the '72 the '73 annual was updated with the big bumper guards and "Barracuda" scripts on the quarters (although the bumper guards disappeared on the '74 cuda and Challenger annuals and the "cuda script reappered on the tail panel. Seems to suggest the '73 cuda promo was planned but cancelled last minute

GE7 Burnished Red for a '74- only year a dark red/ maroon was offered on the E bodies Maybe some full wheel covers from missing link and whitewalls

Well got called back to work a little early so it will be a while before finishing up- still have about half the foil, some trim and details, and the engine to do Did put it together for a mockup

The Lindberg kits are probably the most economical/ available source for the leaning tower of power and pretty nice. The '64 Plymouth kit has a manual trans, the Dodge an automatic I used a stick version in a 71 Duster Twister and am planning on going with the auto trans when I build my '80 Volare Road Runner

Still working on it between other stuff- working on some detail paint

Worked on a few details, drilled the steering wheel spokes and added a turn signal stalk, shortened the shifter handle, added some paint to the wheels and just a little paint on the chassis- nothing much going on here- didn't even take the rear axle back off. Starting on some foil

Base interior

I was going to test fit the R/T bumblebee stripe from the Revell 69 Charger on an MPC Coronet

Looks like a Mopar Carter carb, just has the fuel line plumbed to the PCV vacuum port

Its been a while but dug this one back out- added some "real" decals from Firebird Design