BangShift Project Files: The Altered Wheelbase 1965 Plymouth Barracuda “Almost Funny Car”


BangShift Project Files: The Altered Wheelbase 1965 Plymouth Barracuda “Almost Funny Car”

The rear wheels were moved forward eight inches. The front wheels were moved six inches forward in the fender, and the fenders themselves were extended fifteen inches. That is a real-deal Hemi sitting underhood with an iron lung breathing down it’s neck, and that is one of the largest Moon-style fuel tanks I can recall ever seeing. Hell, for all I know, that tank was raided from a tow truck and repurposed to fuel this absolutely mental Plymouth. I’ve met Jim Forbes in person a couple of times. I’ve seen what the man is capable of putting together when he gets the urge to spin wrenches. His 1955 Chevrolet is still ingrained in memory not in it’s Drag Week version, with it’s red and cream color scheme, but it’s fat tired, slot mag stance, it’s peach-and-gray look. His Chevy II gasser, Plan II, is a Drag Week veteran as well, a nine-second riot to watch as it makes lap after lap.

One thing about Forbes: he doesn’t like to sit too long before trying out a new project. And it seems like he’s always got something new, interesting and more badass than before in the works. But even for Jim, the altered wheelbase 1965 Plymouth Barracuda that he took on the 2018 Drag Week was, pardon the pun, a bit of a stretch over his usual projects. Working the little A-body into a chosen shape like it was made out of Play-Doh isn’t easy work…it’s time consuming to get right and you need to have a technical eye to make it happen properly. But get it right and the finished product comes out like this. The goal of the Barracuda was to emulate early Funny Cars. Doing a real-deal street-driving flopper was about one step too far into the wild, but this “almost funny car” is still plenty of conversation starting material with a license plate affixed.

BangShift Project Files: 1965 Barracuda Funny Car


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8 thoughts on “BangShift Project Files: The Altered Wheelbase 1965 Plymouth Barracuda “Almost Funny Car”

  1. Turbo Regal

    I went on Drag Week and I thought this was Forbes’ car because it had the same gated homemade shifter like his Chevy II had. This is a well crafted car; even had a custom made glove box!

  2. ratty

    This is now my favorite Drag Week car. What a great build, everything is old school simple and fabricated really well, and looks awesome (and I’m a big fan of white race cars too). From the outside to the inside, no nonsense simplicity, no fluff or shiny look-at-me crap, just super clean. Just freakin’ great, what a hot rod should be. And it obviously has some launch and tuning issues, so deep into the 9’s is just a matter of time. Props to Jim Forbes!

  3. Rob

    it\’s NOT street legal… It has no windshield wipers. It would not pass safety standards in Canada or in most of the U.S. states.

    1. Chuck

      That\’s funny. I wonder what that thing on the driver\’s side at the bottom of the windshield is.

    2. Matt Cramer

      Safety inspections or not, he managed to get it through some pretty nasty rain storms on Drag Week. We didn’t actually get hit by Hurricane Florence, but there were some vicious storms leading up to it. I personally saw one entrant that had spun out into a guardrail from the slippery roads. On other occasions, the cars had to cross the sort of mountain passes that give brakes and suspension a real workout.

      Looks like he has a driver’s side wiper there but deleted the passenger side.

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