In 1970, during the production of its newly redesigned Barracuda, Plymouth manufactured 2,724 All-American Racer (AAR) 'Cuda race cars. Some of these 'Cudas were to be the first Barracuda entries into the Trans-Am racing series. Dan Gurney was selected to be the primary driver of the 'Cudas in the series, and his team was called the All-American Racers, hence the car's name. During that '70 season, with Gurney and Swede Savage behind the wheel, the AAR team couldn't come up with a win, but did manage three pole positions in 11 races.
This Rallye Red AAR 'Cuda belongs to Carmen Saldana of Janesville, Wisconsin. When Carmen saw the 'Cuda, it was love at first sight, and he wasn't shy about expressing his desire for the car with the owner. Eventually, after six years of waiting, he was able to make a deal to get it.
"I first saw the car in 1990 at a car show in Jefferson, Wisconsin," Carmen says. "It had been freshly restored; the paint was still wet. The owner at the time, Bob Boness, was standing by the car, watching it like a hawk. I went over and looked at it and talked to Bob. I ended up selling him an AM/FM radio that he wanted. It wasn't the correct thumbwheel, but it was better than the stock AM [radio]. When I talked to him, I told him if he wanted to sell the car, to let me know."
Carmen kept in touch with Bob over the next six years, while taking his own '74 'Cuda to shows. On Father's Day 1995, Bob finally said he was ready to sell, but at that time, Carmen was building a new home and couldn't afford to buy it. He told Bob if he could wait until the following spring, he would be ready to buy it then. But Bob couldn't wait quite that long.
"He got an offer from another guy and sold it," Carmen says. After years of stalking the 'Cuda, bad timing had caused it to slip through his fingers, or so it seemed. But Bob was considerate enough to give the new owner Carmen's phone number when he sold it, just in case. "Three months after [Bob sold it], I got a call from the other guy," Carmen continued. "He wanted to know if I was still interested. I was, but I was still building my home. He said he would wait until spring, and then I bought the car."
Carmen enjoyed driving and showing the car for four years, but by 2000, the 'Cuda's vinyl top was starting to come up and was in need of replacing, so he decided to freshen the interior as well. He performed the inner restoration himself with the help of friends, and went about correcting an error. "Someone told me the interior color was not correct," Carmen says. "I knew the Gran Coupe door panels and the overhead console weren't right, but not the color."
Apparently, one previous owner had replaced the original interior with Gran Coupe skins, while another had misinterpreted the buildsheet (which Carmen now holds) and restored the vinyl improperly. Bob hadn't realized this, and left them alone when he did his resto. "It was hard to get [vinyl] close to the same color red," Carmen added.