CUDA GRACE

PACKING 611CI OF BONE-RATTLING, NITROUS-SNORTING HEMI, THIS EYE-POPPING BARRACUDA IS ONE BAD FISH

- IAIN KELLY

THE 1960s was undoubtedly the golden era of American muscle cars, a time when manufacturers created numerous low-volume special editions that could run way quicker than the regular models prowling Main Street, USA at the time. Today, the COPO Camaros, Ram Air V Pontiacs and Stage 1 Buicks from that decade are well known, but only the most diehard Mopar fans have heard of B029 Barracudas.

Packing fibreglass body panels, stripped interior, and a solid lifter-equipped 426 Hemi with 12.5:1 comp, the 1968 B029 Barracuda possessed all the heat needed to run 10-second quarter-mile times off the showroom floor. It's thought only 50 of them were built, which makes them as rare as honest politicians, so they're highly prized by collectors today.

It was definitely a model that Victorian Rodney Neindorf had on his ultimate hot-car wishlist, but being so rare, he knew he was never likely to come across one in the wild. "They don't really come up unless someone builds a replica," he says. Knowing this, Rodney decided to build his own take on Mopar's biggest fish, envisioning an epic, Hemi-powered Barracuda that would run hard at the drags and put the frighteners on Ford and GM fans at the local cruise night.

That said, the 611ci monster Hemi that now powers this 'Cuda was originally intended for another of Rodney's Mopars. "I took my '72 Challenger to Calder and loved it, so we decided to build the Hemi and put it in that car," he explains. "But then these things take time, and in that time, things changed because I saw the Barracuda."