Original Hemi Cuda Info.......

[ss wannabee]

M68,

The black car in #79...(#1609-SS/A)...might be Centolanza..BUT it looks an
AWFUL lot like George Baptiste's car..out of the NY area....

Think he's had it a long time...and I saw it run just a few years back...is he still
running it?

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by ss wannabee

M68,

The black car in #79...(#1609-SS/A)...might be Centolanza..BUT it looks an
AWFUL lot like George Baptiste's car..out of the NY area....

Think he's had it a long time...and I saw it run just a few years back...is he still
running it?

It does look like George's car but it's not. Yes, he has had it a long time. I spoke with him circa 1991 at Mopars at Englistown show and he told me (and a buddy of mine) he was in the process of building a SS/A Barracuda. It's a damn shame he decided to modify an uncut original car. It was so original that Chrysler (Chrysler Historical Society?) wanted to buy it from him but he declined. Bad move, in my opinion, for Chrysler would'be paid top dollar for the car and with that money George could've built a clone and bought several Ray Barton Hemi engines for what he would have gotten money-wise from the sale. More important than that, an uncut original car, a rare piece of automotive history, would've been preserved.

Here's a photo I took of George in the pits at Raceway Park in the mid-1990s along with similar comments in a post I made in the Hemi Dart thread back in 2009:

http://www.classracer.com/classforum...4&postcount=89

Originally Posted by mopar68

George Baptiste bought an original UNCUT '68 Hurst Hemi Barracuda from some street racer-type who ran afoul of the law and (unfortunately) cut it up into a race car back in the very early 1990s.

The car was purchased from someone in the northern New Jersey area. It saw very limited strip action (and possibly street?) and sat for years until George found out about it and purchased it sometime in the 1980s. From what I was told, the 'Cuda was so original Chrysler Corp. offered to purchase the car back but George declined.

I am only relating what I was told about 18 years ago and cannot verify this story's accuracy.



Btw, is George still around? I'd like to hear the story from him!

M68

I haven't seen or spoke to George since the 1990s. I have no idea if he's still racing or not.

M68

[James Perrone]

Saw George at Shakedown at Etown 2 years ago said he still has the car and it is gonna be his nephews.Still a sharp guy .

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by James Perrone

Saw George at Shakedown at Etown 2 years ago said he still has the car and it is gonna be his nephews.Still a sharp guy .

Nice to know George is still around. Thanks for the update. Btw, his nephew is the guy in the turqoise t-shirt leaning over the engine compartment. This same nephew used to drive his uncle's similar black and 4-speed 1969 440 Six Barrel Road Runner that George bought brand new in 1969.

M68

[ss wannabee]

Wow...that's an interesting story on George and his car(s)! I last saw him run the
Cuda in SS maybe 6-8-10 yrs ago...I dunno?

Got a couple questions relating to BO29's...they were probably discussed some-
where on here...but I don't have time to dig them out...and these are probably
well-known by the MOPAR NATION.....

1.) If the original plan by Chrysler Corp. was 50 Cudas/ 50 Darts sent to Hurst...
just how many BO29's ended up being built by Hurst? Is the exact number
UNKNOWN?

I see your research...on the original owners...in that post a while back...could
the number of REAL Hurst-produced BO29's be possibly close to 80?


2.) Any guess on how many UNCUT Hurst BO29's exist TODAY?


3.) There was no other company involved in building BO29's...right?

[Liteweight]

ss wannabe
1) There were 2 runs made of the LO & BO cars. The first runs were 50 each to meet NHRA's mandate. Then Chrysler had a strike, but the orders kept coming in for them. Once Chrysler got back on line they closed the orders & completed the orders they had on hand. The general acceppted total numbers were 70 barracuda's & 80 darts

2) Uncut Barracuda's----very few. I know of only 2,but I'm sure there are a few more.

3) You are correct. Hurst was the only company that was commission by Chrysler to build these race cars.

liteweight

[Paul Ceasrine]

Daryl and SS Wannabe,

I think I posted the Original Chrysler Press Release, where the
original plan was to build a few more LO23 Dart's than BO29 Barracuda's.

I believe it was 60 Darts and 50 Barracuda's.

The NHRA originally accepted that number to qualify for
Super Stock, providing that all the cars were in the hands of Drag Racers, and not sitting at Hurst.

Once the Magazine's hit the stands in April 1968 with
photo's of the Test Mule {Barracuda}, and next Sox & Martin, and
followed by Dick Landy -

All hell broke loose........

[bigcam]

I believe there is an uncut car in South Central Pa. Possibly in the care and custody of the original owner.

[Paul Ceasrine]

Read Post #896 in the Original Hemi Dart thread

January 15, 1968 Chrysler Press Release

Plans to build '60' Hemi Darts. { '35' Automatic and '25' Manual }

And '50' Barracuda's { '30' Automatic and '20' Manual }

[john oliverio]

How about the Carpinett brothers car