1967 Plymouth Barracuda

The Story of “Ruby” the ’67 Barracuda

By Chris Barbieri

barbieri 1967 plymouth barracuda
Meet “Ruby” and her new family, Laurel and Chris Barbieri

I must begin by admitting that I come from an extended MoPar family. My parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all drove Plymouths and Dodges. Those hand-me-down cars carried me through school and until I was on my own.

The first car I bought was a six month old 1964 Barracuda with 17,000 miles on the odometer! That’s another tale for another time. That Barracuda was the first of three series of Barracudas, basically a Valiant with a huge rear fastback window, modified grille, and 7 ft. of flat space if needed. Mine had the new 273 V8 and 4 speed Hurst shifter.

As my ’64 Cuda was pushing 100,000 miles it gave me an excuse to trade. The local Plymouth dealer had a special ordered ’67 coupe with the Commando V8 and console Torqueflite automatic transmission for a customer that never showed up. I couldn’t say no. Once again it was pretty and fast, but it wasn’t a convertible. It was a great car in many ways and I was hooked on Barracudas. It was hard to describe. Simple yet beautiful, devoid of chrome, and sleek at the same time. To me it was a Wow! And it came in three choices: a notchback coupe, a fastback, and a convertible. The second-generation Barracuda’s covered 1967 to 1969 models. The yearly styling changes were so minimal that it’s hard to tell a ’69 from a ’67. When the 1967 Barracudas were introduced in late 1966, I knew it was love at first sight. I was hooked on the ’67s, especially the Barracuda convertible which led to a decades-long on and off search.

1967 plymouth barracuda nose

Over the years lots of old cars have come and gone from our garage including three convertibles, none of which were a Barracuda. Finally, I decided to begin another casual search for a ’67 – ’69 convertible. I’m an original or as close to original nut when it comes to old cars. I like surfing the internet from time to time looking for 50s through 70s old original MoPars. My favorites are the 60s offerings. Plymouth produced a 1967 model year run of 62,534 Barracudas, of which 4,228 were convertibles. Well, try to find a 60s or 70s unmolested American car today. I knew that over the years the convertible inventory would be declining, and indeed, my on-and-off search produced mostly beat up, tired, modified, rodded examples. There were a few Barracuda soft tops but not many. Often, they had modified wedge or hemi engines. I wanted an original or restored as-original, period. Poking around on my laptop in the Fall of 2018, there suddenly appeared exactly what I was looking for. And it was in eastern Massachusetts not west of the Mississippi. A phone call to the seller revealed a major as-original restoration and the car was still available. Interested? Yes, but the price was well out of reach. The ad soon disappeared so I assumed the Barracuda had found a new owner.

Surprise! Surprise! as Gomer Pyle would say. In spring 2019 the ad returns with a lower price. After a visit to check out Ruby and intense dickering, a deal was made. Ruby has an interesting life before she became part of ours . It starts and ends as a family affair.

1967 plymouth barracuda golf course

In 1967 Ruby is purchased new from a now nameless Chrysler/Plymouth dealer in the Holyoke, Massachusetts area by a local couple about to retire. The original color is brown. They were moving to Florida and wanted a convertible to take with them. Some years later they pass on and Ruby, whose color is now yellow, moves on to a nephew who lives in Massachusetts. He appears to take good care of Ruby, occasionally attending old car shows and she is garaged when not on the road. As the years pass on the nephew is in need of new funds. He asks his newly retired brother, George, if he’s willing to buy Ruby and the answer is yes.

George is an engineer but not a car guy, especially not an ‘old car’ guy. Yet he decides to restore Ruby. He has limited automotive restoration skills, so everything is farmed out – to a body shop, machine shop, transmission shop, paint shop, and so on. Most of the MoPar suppliers were called upon. Everything on Ruby is new or restored or refinished.

Why the name Ruby you ask? When it came time for the restoration paint job, the plan was a ’67 Plymouth red but George’s wife preferred a ruby red color from the ’69 Mustang offerings. So, upon arrival home to Vermont she was christened “Ruby” to match her ruby red paint job.

As mentioned earlier George was an engineer. Thankfully, he kept every receipt for every purchase of every part or service that went into the restoration. He also kept every replaced part of Ruby, both body and mechanical. They all came with the car and now reside in our attic. As for Ruby, she resides with her other A-body siblings. Fortunately, they welcomed their cousin and are getting along fine together.

1967 plymouth barracuda tail

1976 Shay Model A

After 43 years of dreaming about Shay Automobiles, Paul Wagner finally has one… thanks to his persistence and his wife’s dickering abilities.

I first heard of the Shay Model A when a Ticonderoga, NY, dealer advertised one in 1979. Did I want one? YES! But we were raising a family on our dairy farm. We didn’t have $11,000.00 available for a toy. They were expensive by our standards.

In 1979, the first and last brand new car I bought was a Chevy Malibu wagon, so the whole family could be comfortable, for $6200.00

I have been watching sales of Shay Model A’s for 40 years, but available ones were primarily in Texas, Florida or other parts of the country, not in Vermont.

In September 2020, I finally found one for sale near Albany, NY. Not that far from home in Vermont. We had sold the farm, the kids were married and doing their own thing, so I finally could have my toy. I called on the ad only to find the fella had sold it the day before. Darn!!! So, I put a wanted ad on Shay’s website, and two hours later I got a call from the fella who bought the Albany car. After talking to him, I found he had purchased the car to help his friend and just
wanted to resell it.

1979 Shay Auto
Based on a 1928-9 Model A Ford

I was thinking the new owner had it for only three days, “What’s wrong with it?” I got directions, only 121 miles. My wife, Barbara, and I decided to go see the car. It was dove gray, super deluxe, with leather rumble seat, dual spare tires, and automatic transmission. I was excited! It did have a few flaws. The radiator leaked and the fella said there were no brakes. I could fix that. It still had the original tires and they were not road worthy. The car had 14,215 actual miles on the odometer. The previous owner had bought the car six years earlier at an estate auction in Florida for $10,500, plus the 10% auction fee for a total of $11,550, and the cost to get it home.

The original fella had been short of money and had to sell the Model A, plus five other classic cars. The gent selling it to me started at $14,500. Then my wife went back and forth with him and we ended up paying $11,500. You just have to know how to dicker!

I put on four new tires, re-cored the radiator and heater, added new ball joints, a fuel pump and plugs. We were ready to go. I have given many people a ride in my Shay Model A, including VAEer Ed Hilbert. I have only given my grandchildren rides in the rumble seat. They are the only ones who can get in, and even more importantly, can get out after!

I drove it 2500 miles last year and have had seven offers to buy it, but OH NO, I waited too long for this car. I will be back behind the wheel this summer, ahooga horn and All!!!

Shay Auto 1976-1982

For the 50th Anniversary of the Model A, the Ford Motor Company released the patents to Harry Shay with permission to reproduce the 1928/9 Model A Roadster. The cars were sold by Ford dealers who had orders for 10,000 cars, as well as 200, 1955 Thunderbird reproductions. In the end, only 5500 Model As were completed from 1979 to 1980, with a few more in 1981, in Detriot, Michigan, when the Shay Company went bankrupt.

The Shay Model A has a fiberglass body and weighs 1850 pounds. It has a ‘76 Mustang frame and suspension, with a Ford 88-HP, 4-cylinder Pinto engine. Buyers had a choice of automatic or manual transmission. It has rack and pinion steering with disc brakes on front and drum brakes on back.

Top speed is 83MPH with fuel economy at 25 MPG. Base price in 1979 was $7,000 to $9,000. The deluxe model was as high as $11,500 with air conditioning.