About Trickyfish

Even before landing in my life, this 1964 Plymouth Barracuda earned the moniker "tricky". Sporting the 273 V8 option, extra chrome accents (as seen on the rear quarter panels), rear-window defogger, and a padded dash, the original purchaser of this car had an eye for function and performance.

Other than the Rallye wheels, I know Trickyfish looks stock from the outside, but... She's full of not-very-stock upgrades, too many to list, so I'll just hit the high-points:

• 340 Small Block V8 (pulled from a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger)
• 11 inch front disc brakes
• 8 3/4 Sure Grip rear end
• Rebuilt front end, with beefy anti-sway bar
• All electronic ignition
• Rebuilt and beefed up (original) 904 automatic transmission (still running push-button shift!)

The glass is all in great shape, and the tires are new. And yes, the wheels are not correct for the car, but I'm keeping them anyway! (They're Rallye wheels from a 1972 Road Runner) So, with all that loveliness going on, what could possibly need to be done? Well, let's see...

• New carburetor (a lovely 4-bbl carb with a stuck-open butterfly only running on secondaries) Demon carb rebuilt!
• New steering wheel (the stock grandpa wheel is cracked and shaky) New Grant steering wheel installed!
• A gas pedal (floor pan work was done and holes weren't drilled for the pedal) Lokar chrome spoon gas pedal installed!
• Tighten the steering (there's no power steering, and what's there is a bit sloppy)
• A real air cleaner (9-inch air cleaner? puh-leeze) Low-profile 14" air cleaner installed
• Install a proper thermostat - and likely an electric fan (she never heats up to nominal now, but with the thermostat, she'll overheat with stock cooling) All set!
• Fix the speedometer All gauges replaced with quality, high-contrast Autometer gauges!
• Some sort of radio/stereo solution (stock radio is there, but dead) Old skool cassette deck installed!
• Rechrome the bumpers Front bumper straightened and rechromed!
• New rear deck carpeting All new carpeting installed!
• New headliner (torn, sagging, bad seams - at speed, it snows insulating fluff!) New headliner installed!
• Repair/replace dash pad (some cracks... but for being over 40, it's not that bad)
• Re-upholster the seats Brand new front seats and back seat reupholstered in tan and gold!
• New door panels Factory reproduction panels installed!
• Paint and bodywork (paint is stock color, but is sad)
• Fix the glovebox All set!
• Install new gas tank (she came with a new, uninstalled tank, to replace the sadly dented one)

...and I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but you get the idea. As you can tell by some of the upgrades already done, and by my intended upgrades, I'm not going for a stock restoration here; Custom-Resto is a more appropriate term. At any rate, sure she runs great and looks good from 30 feet away, but she's far from done yet!

Here are some photos of the beastie. Feel free to drool - hey, it's your keyboard.

June, 2007

Sept, 2007

As the Trickyfish gets work done, updates (and pics) will be posted!

Oh, and Trickyfish has her own MySpace page. Go ahead and check it out.

This website is not affiliated with nor is it sponsored by Chrysler LLC, MoPar, Mopar Performance, Barry Grant Inc., Holley Performance Products, or any other company, corporation, or manufacturer. Any reference to any company, product, or service herein does not imply endorsement by said entity nor should it be inferred.

(c) 2007 Lone Mantis Creations - All rights reserved.