Alicia poses with her Barracuda...
Alicia poses with her Barracuda by the Pacific coast near her home in Ventura, California.
When Alicia Jones was only two years old, her father looked at her sitting in the crib and said, "she's going to like cars." Maybe she just exuded that car girl vibe? We don't know. All we know is that 18 years of work has resulted in this striking '68 Barracuda that Alicia affectionately calls "Priscilla Plum."
The true story to Priscilla starts back when Alicia was two. "My dad's car was getting worked on at his friend's shop and I pointed to this '68 Barracuda and said, 'Daddy, buy me that car,' and he did" she jokes. It arrived at the house in pieces on a trailer and her father worked on it slowly through the years with Alicia by his side. Eventually, Alicia was able to take a much larger role in the rebuild, and was elbow deep into the project. "I was there to help and learn, and I began to get a real interest in cars."
Eventually, the car began to take shape and was ready for Alicia to take the wheel. Under the hood rests a mild 360 backed by a 904 automatic built by Racer Brown. Behind that, an 83/4 rear with a Sure-Grip and a set of Auburn Pro 3.55 gears, and Moser axles handle the LA power. Power brakes with front discs and rear drums keep Alicia safe on the road. For the color choice, at five years of age Alicia was really into purple, so the car was sprayed in Plum Crazy. "It's a color choice I still stand by today, 15 years later," she explains. The engine wasn't painted the Mopar-correct orange, but rather a lime green, giving it some cool underhood contrast.
Her future plans for the A-Body consist of replacing the motor. "The 360 is nice for burnouts, but my dad has a 340 block in his garage that I would like to build up and get around 360 horsepower," she says. "I think that power level should come pretty easy, and I would really like to supercharge it like Mr. Norms' Darts. That would be crazy in a 2,800-pound car, and a gear change to 4.10s would about wrap up my performance plans." The ambition in her voice is pure gear head, and we like it!
Currently, Alicia isn't in any car clubs or into racing just yet. She was in her Auto ROP Program at her high school for two years where she learned a lot of mechanical traits. The car was quite popular at her high school and was featured in a benefit car show and also in the newspaper. For now, she's content with driving the car around and getting a lot of attention for the burnouts and purple paint. Keep it up, Alicia!
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