Long before the invention of cement, medieval architects and builders of castles were required to clear and level boulders, trees, and earth from mountain sides and bogs to provide a solid foundation. Many of these massive fortifications remain in place today as a testament to their engineers' genius and efforts. The foundation is the basis on which everything is based and supported.
When it comes to David Brown's exceptional '67 Barracuda fastback, his foundation wasn't a platform forged from hewn stone or iron scaffolding, but a '66 cast-iron Hemi block pried from the hands of a close friend and fellow Mopar enthusiast, Albert Bembe. With the engine block, though bare, David was able to begin blueprinting plans for a Super Stock clone. A dyed-in-the-wool fan of the factory '68 SS/A Darts and Barracudas, David laid out a strategy of attack.
The Edgewater, Maryland, native found a '67 fastback A-Body in Virginia in pitiful shape, but the $500 purchase price included all the factory glass, interior and exterior trim. Due to its rotted floors and cancerous panels, it was an easy decision to opt to make this stocker a Pro Street ride. Tube chassis components were ordered, as well as all the suspension kits from Chassis Engineering. Both quarter-panels were replaced with Year One sheetmetal.
David devoted hours to relieving the Barracuda's body of its contaminated floors, firewall, and trunk, and fabricating custom floorpans and wheeltubs. The conversion from a unibody platform to a complete tube chassis is extensive; new engine plates were bolted to the forward chassis to harness the stout powerplant that David had in mind. After all the sheetmetal work was squared away, he tackled the drivetrain.
The goal was to build a rolling combination of excessive performance and super-clean aesthetics. The Barracuda's Hemi was going to be both hard-core and streetable with a 7.5:1 compressioned pump-gas street engine, topped with an 8.71 BDS Air Loc Rotor blower. The 426 block was bored .010-inch over, line honed, deburred, and ground for pushrod clearance. A Donovan geardrive and a Milodon pan with dual oil pickup lines from a swinging internal pickup were added, while a Crane hydraulic roller cam would control the valves. Those valves are Ferrera SS with Crane Cams springs on cast MP heads that have been port-matched with bronze guides and a competition three-angle valve job. The whole package was built by the pros at Mancini Machine in Baltimore, Maryland. David, a professional welder, designed and fabricated his own headers, and had them jet-coated for the final look. The exhaust was plumbed with 211/44-inch tubes through dual Flowmaster series 40 mufflers.