Fast Glass

Classic Lines, a Schmick Interior and That Unmistakeable Wraparound Rear ’screen, All Combined With Streetable Grunt – There’s Nothing Fishy About This Home-built Barracuda!

- Simon Major

I LOVE stories about people building cars who manage to just duck and weave the challenges and take it all in their stride. This willingness to get out and have a crack impresses the shit out of me, especially when they employ homespun ingenuity and any means at their disposal. Case in point is Glenn Rewell and the build of his 1966 Plymouth Barracuda.

Check the pics – is the paint of the quality you’d expect from a backyard spray booth? How about the interior; would you have thought that YouTube was instrumental in Glenn completing the trim? I think not.

Okay, this may not be Glenn’s first skid around the block – he has an impressive fleet to his credit that includes a chopped Dodge hot rod, a blown ’69 Camaro and a new HQ project on the go – but his tough-arsed Barracuda employed a healthy dose of the ways and means act to see it built to an impressive standard and affordable budget.

For starters, as a classy two-door option the first generation Barracuda makes a great choice. The distinctive wraparound rear glass of these early Yankee A-bodies is iconic, and both the first incarnation (think our AP-series Valiants) and its subsequent facelift (in line with our home-turf VCs) were used as foundation platforms for the legendary and appropriately named Hemi Under Glass wheelstander.

“I was looking for a cheap two-door car to use as a driver and spotted this ’66 in South Australia,” Glenn says. “I thought it was a cool-looking car and loved its shape and their history; did you know that rear ’screen was the largest piece of glass ever made for a production car? It hadn’t been in the country long and was advertised for the right price, so I struck a deal and it was on its way home.