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The 4-door Barracuda at Mecum

I too admire his talent. But his taste? I was with you till what you said about Sublime. I love Sublime.

a colossal waste of time and energy that could have been spent building something else....... anything else
It was his time to waste or to spend wisely.
I don't have that level of talent but I respect that he had skills and a goal.
 
It was his time to waste or to spend wisely.
I don't have that level of talent but I respect that he had skills and a goal.

don't get me wrong..... I respect the effort and the workmanship

and yes, it was his time to waste
 
I still contend there's some ponzi scheme at Mecum, this car was sold last year as well !
You might be onto something there. Generate enough hype with false sales going under the hammer in the hopes that more big-dollar players will actually spend their money and a real sale will take place. Plausible theory.
 
You might be onto something there. Generate enough hype with false sales going under the hammer in the hopes that more big-dollar players will actually spend their money and a real sale will take place. Plausible theory.

it's become a TV show....... and I am skeptical of everything I see on TV
 
don't get me wrong..... I respect the effort and the workmanship

and yes, it was his time to waste

The car is one thing, but the story of a friend of a friend whose cousin's uncle's mail clerk brother supposedly briefly saw it on a loading dock was complete bull twinkies.
 
it's become a TV show....... and I am skeptical of everything I see on TV
A reality TV show......just like all the others there will be a large percentage of fakery around the production.

We had one of those Real Estate shows busted open for fraud this week here in NZ. The couple were supposed to choose from three houses to buy. The first house they looked through was the one they currently owned and were moving out of. The second was the one they had already bought before the show even got filmed, and the third was just to make up the numbers.
Local residents in the hometown got onto the newspapers about it and complained. :lol:
 
Dave Walden certainly had bucket loads of talent, and the financial where-with-all to carry out such a project.

They way I see it was that he chose this as a project because if he restored another high-dollar HEMI whatever, the car would just melt into the ether as another ho-hum HEMI restoration car, and there would be no notoriety or plaudits for the efforts. Who talks about Julius on a regular basis these days????

This way by building something bogus like a car that had never left the factory, there would be curiosity from all corners of the car world. In that action, Dave definitely succeeded. The car might not be to everyone's taste, but the talent to build parts by hand or resurrect parts from the dead is truly worthy of applause.

Putting the Barracuda on at Mecum now is a way of keeping the story alive a bit longer.

(Just my opinion of course)
 
The car is one thing, but the story of a friend of a friend whose cousin's uncle's mail clerk brother supposedly briefly saw it on a loading dock was complete bull twinkies.

Ha I added that one to the list!

th-3397956510RC.jpg
 
Dave Walden certainly had bucket loads of talent, and the financial where-with-all to carry out such a project.

They way I see it was that he chose this as a project because if he restored another high-dollar HEMI whatever, the car would just melt into the ether as another ho-hum HEMI restoration car, and there would be no notoriety or plaudits for the efforts. Who talks about Julius on a regular basis these days????

This way by building something bogus like a car that had never left the factory, there would be curiosity from all corners of the car world. In that action, Dave definitely succeeded. The car might not be to everyone's taste, but the talent to build parts by hand or resurrect parts from the dead is truly worthy of applause.

Putting the Barracuda on at Mecum now is a way of keeping the story alive a bit longer.

(Just my opinion of course)

fair enough......

my next question would be...... are there actually 2 or more people willing to bid against each other to own it?

and on the reality TV auction point...... "the internet" sure wins a lot of the bids :rolleyes:
 
I too admire his talent. But his taste? I was with you till what you said about Sublime. I love Sublime.
Yeah, Greg needs to check his color bias.... Gonna start thinking he's not really a Mopar guy.... :poke: :poke:

Oh well, I don't really like red... Even though I own two red cars...:lol:
 
red is hard for me to look at; but it exists in the world, so I must adapt
 
Well I'm about as anti 4-door as they come when it comes to classic-year cars, and I wouldn't want that car but I like that he did something that I'm sure he knew would send the Mopar-guy world into fits...when unlimited talent (and I'm sure unlimited funds/a.k.a. fukyou money) get together sometimes the results are strange, wonderful or both.


red is hard for me to look at; but it exists in the world, so I must adapt
You can do it!
55da63d9f75df07c32277fd021088abd-2704138078.jpg
 
Well I'm about as anti 4-door as they come when it comes to classic-year cars, and I wouldn't want that car but I like that he did something that I'm sure he knew would send the Mopar-guy world into fits...when unlimited talent (and I'm sure unlimited funds/a.k.a. fukyou money) get together sometimes the results are strange, wonderful or both.



You can do it!
View attachment 1590736

looks pink to me :D
 
I was displaying in the T-building at Carlisle, when it was there. I only remember 3 cars in that building, and I walked directly to that car to see the astounding workmanship, and talk with Dave. Did I like the car?....Yes, for reasons other than it's visual appearance. I love people with imagination, and not followers of fads.
 
the extremely controversial guy, banned &/or left from here
The employee (not Dave) or paid labor, body man
who did most of the work on the car
was a great fabricator with serious talent
that I don't think, that has ever been denied, gave him props too

Imagination no it's an "allegedly"outright fake/lie
perpetuated on the MoPar community
some are more easily duped/conned or outright fooled than others
total dishonesty at a min.
The "alleged" story was or still is BS, a tall tale or even fraud
by many in the know, said it's total BS
on multiple forums

He did/built it to promote his parts business, ECS restoration parts
$$
to him, he did it to sell parts, get exposure
Marketing 101, star a controversy get everyone talking about it...

Dave 'the check writer' yes, he had a vision only a **** tone of money could buy
"allegedly" did it to sell his restoration parts, exposure for his parts business

you be the judge, opinions will vary

fake vins & fake fender tags
& Chrysler went for it :realcrazy:
for posterity
Smiley ECS BS VIN & Fender tag.png


the real rendering of the 'never actually built' -Not the Mailroom-
4 dr Barracuda, by Chyrsler/Plymouth
nothing like the final product 'Dave paid for'
Smiley ECS Chrysler 70 cuda 4dr rendering  never built - not even the mail boys version.jpeg


the one built
no matter how much talent the guy who built the car had
it's fugly as hell, imagination my ***
he did it for business, get his name in every forum & every show it was entered in
no press is bad press for advertisement dollars

the "alleged" story was & still is total BS
 
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This is America, the guy can(and did) do what he wants.
I like 4 doors, but that car is not good.
The actual 4 doors Chrysler made in the 70's look a lot tougher:
1705268079273.png



The redlines and magnum 500's also look silly on the car.

but then....
Everyone remembers who built it don't they? And that was the point all along I'd wager.
 
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