This 1200HP Barracuda Is A Hell(fish) Of A First Build

February 23, 2018

Your first restomod is always special. Whether you’ve scrapped together a rat rod from automotive offcuts or put together a polished Bel Air, it’ll always be important. Not many people have first builds as objectively impressive as Larry Nguyen, however. Larry, a successful businessman, has previously driven Ferraris, a Ford GT, and a Lamborghini, but eventually got bored with these exotics. He wanted to get into a car’s guts and meld modern performance with classic looks. Then he found this Barracuda, and his objectives were simple. Well, kind of. He wanted 1000+ horsepower and twin turbos. The resultant car is frankly ridiculous.

Called the Hellfish, the 1973 Cuda packs a 426 ci Gen III Hemi small-block engine and a Roadster Shop twin turbo system, mounted in the rear of the car. The result is 1200 horsepower at 6500 rpm, and 1027 ft-lbs of torque at 6200 rpm. Pretty much every component has been replaced, with the Hellfish featuring custom pistons, camshaft, valvetrain, exhaust, and oiling setup. There’s also disc brakes on all four wheels and a whole new suspension setup with Hypercoil springs. This is performance taken to the next level.

The body and interior have been given a new lick of (figurative and literal) paint. The engine’s color scheme of black and red has obviously influened the car’s exterior, with a beautiful matte gray paintjob contrasting brilliantly with the vermillion wheels. Inside, there’s a solid, clean interior, with a distractionless center console, new gauges, and improved carpets and panelling. It’s hard to believe that a car like this could be anybody’s first restomod. You can check out more pictures of the car and a video of its build below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my2HSQMzZlE

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