African Muscle Cars - Forum

68barracuda wrote:Hee hee - contacts
Buddy of mine is busy setting up this Museum in Lady Smith in the little Karoo

Wish it was mine..... oh well - this chap is ULTRA knowledgeable about Mopars

have a look http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... =664207590

I think I know who said buddy is....he didnt by any chance race a Barracuda at Killarney at some stage! If its the guy I am thinking about he is extremely knowledgeable on Mopars so I hear.

Must say I am enjoying these Valiant thread immensely, something very differant, one wonders where the rest of the Polara is...it was a apparently powered by a NASCAR motor....though at the time the story was Chrysler SA sent the whole car back to the States after the record attempt....

69 Cuda Racing number 43


Himself looking like this?


Dunno Might be

Fanie, where did you get that racing Barracuda?

Hi-Fi wrote:Fanie, where did you get that racing Barracuda?

It raced at Killarney a few years ago......

I thought so. In fact I'm sure I worked with the guy who originally owned it. I t is so long ago, I can't remember his name, but I think that car was automatic.

It is still owned by the same guy this is at his place in Lady Smith

68barracuda wrote:

sixpak wrote:Willing to bet that the manifold came off a 413/426 Max-Wedge.........where's the rest of the car???

Duno - what you up to - will you be joining us at Cars in the park?

There was rumors that it was one of the Nascar Hemi's it is a Hemi manifold at first glance

Max wedge 426 correction

First of all, thank you very much for posting the pics. My dad has been nagging me for ages to try and find ANY pictures of Pardini's cars on the net and these are remarkable.

You will notice that I say "cars". The person who claims that the pictures are of "the same car" is in fact mistaken. The car pictured on Verneukpan is a 1963 model. The body shell of the model launched in 1963 was to continue in production until 1966. However, there are numerous detail differences between the models.

The 1963 was the only model with the trapezoidal grille and separate head lights. From 1964 (the model year of the nr 20 car, which is not a 1965) onward they all had full width grilles with the head lights incorporated in them.

My dad owns a 1965 and the differences between this and the 1964 are, among others that the 1965 has a raised centre section to the grille whereas the 1964's grille is completely flat. Also, the angle of the swage line running down the side of the car and deflecting from the leading edge of the front wing is smaller on the 1965 than on the previous years' cars.

There were also differences to the tail lamps, trim, etc. but the abovementioned cues are the easiest with which to distinguish the cars.

I only traced this topic back to its beginning after I posted the "model identification guide" and ironically it started with my dad's car! He raced the red 1969 Barracuda in the Classic Car Championship at Killarney during the late 1990s. The car had huge white "43" numerals on the sides, which were done in the exact same style as Richard Petty's Nascars.

The car was completely stripped out inside and it had a roll cage fitted. Outside the bumpers were removed and my dad also had a glass fibre bonnet made which, for some strange reason he painted white.

Under the skin, the Barracuda had a 383 V8, a three speed Torqueflite transmission and, if I'm not mistaking, a 8 3/4 differential. It had ventilated disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear, all from a C-body Chrysler.

A few years ago my dad took the old 383 out to fit a newly rebuilt engine, but his priorities have since shifted to a Valiant Charger, which he purpose built for racing. I seem to think he also did a rear disc brake conversion on both these cars but the Barracuda hasn't been out of the garage in years.

Very interesting stuff man! Not everyday we get to hear about racing Mopar exploits around these parts... What was done to the 383?