Beautiful car! I love that 70 vibe.

damn shame he ruined it by putting it back to boring stock like that..

I've long thought this to be the single biggest travesty in the Mopar world, cracking paint and all.

Agreed.

That car was super cool in person.
What made it even better was what it is.

I loved that car. So awesome. When Steve owned it he offered to let me drive it once. I was too chicken as I would have died if anything happened to it.

I like those old school paint jobs, especially on old race cars. Must take a crazy amount of time to do those.

I wonder what a paint job like that would cost today?

Whatever extra time it takes to do all the masking work past a normal paint job. I don't think the flake paint itself is a huge thing as much as the labor?

Travis Hess has an Instagram page that he posts progress pictures of race cars being painted with insanely detailed retro flake paint jobs that go on for weeks.

https://youtu.be/5XBAr3PzK3w

https://youtu.be/QPht1Bc8USY

https://youtu.be/ZXJT0VHCA1E

Same car today i believe.

Im a bit of a purist...but i liked that car they way it was.

It was WAY cooler before, and the ugly wheels ruin the look of the car as well.

People are often too eager to restore cars that really oughtn't be.

I'm surprised that I'm not the only one that thinks it should have been left as it was with the vintage custom paint.

It spent most of it's life with it being a custom, now it just looks like any other purple Cuda convertible.

If it weren't a factory Hemi car, would it have been put back to factory?

If it were a 383 convertible Cuda or just a 318 Barracuda would it have been left as it was?

Car is likely worth more stock so that is important for guys in it for the $$$.

Guys with money don't mess around with 318 Barracudas so one of those lesser cars with a custom paint scheme would be more safe.

Obviously it' worth more restored to factory stock, but that doesn't necessarily make it a cooler car.

Investment value is what has made many cars un-affordable to most car guys.

It's a double edged sword. The cars need to have some value for most people to be willing to restore them, but people owning them just for hopeful value gains can be detrimental to people who just love the cars.

A lot of the same people who bash late model muscle cars thrive on the old ones becoming unattainable to most people.
Some people just love performance cars and aren't worried about "investment value".

I like it lot better restored
To each his own I guess.

Agreed x 100...Seen it in person many times over the years, granted it wasn't the best of the best as far as custom paint layouts, and the paint was "aged", however it's was very well presentable, and a sign of the times it was created in, now it's just another purple restored mopar with dog dishes/poverty caps....ho-hum

x2

Yep, I would have been more than glad to take some 80 grit to that mess. Set or Rallyes, as usual, would smarten that car right up.

Holy schitt are that guy's Youtube videos boring as hell. I couldn't make it through his first video on these cars, just too much boot-licking going on.

I agree completely.

I think it was way, way cooler with the period paint job.

The market of money says that I am way, way wrong.

Look at the Big Willie Daytona or countless other cars. The online gallery says " restore it as we remember it".

Then it goes to market and the restorer takes a bath.

I'm with most of you, there is no way I would've redone that paint. That period job was just killer!! I didn't care for the mags but would've swapped over to some Keystones or something and just rocked it.

fixed it for you.

If that custom paint job was on a 318 powered coupe, it would be cool but not THAT Cool. The fact that it was on such a rare, exclusive car, and that none of the other owners of such cars dare to deviate from stock is what made it ultra cool. Kind of like if you went to see a Willie Nelson concert at a mega stadium he'd be all right. But if he unexpectedly walked into your local pub and jammed out a few tunes, that would be ultra cool.

. I hate slots on all cars, terrible looking wheels. Keystones would make it pop with that paint. Even if you like slots they are too dull for the rest of the car.

I too liked it better with the custom paint job. Now it's a over restored poodle.

I agree Keystones would have been a much better choice than the slot mags.

I’ve wondered if there would be any controversy if this had been a custom painted 318 car that was repainted back to its stock color. My guess is no.

I don't think I'd do that to a 318 car either.

A friend of mine just bought a '71 Cutlass that was painted in the late 80's and had an LS7 dropped in it. It's blue with gold splash graphics and some silver stars on it too. It's not a rare car at all but we're all begging him to leave the paint alone, it's just period correct cool and he agrees. He's not touching the paint!

even if it were a 6cyl car i think it would look better in its custom paint.