The final redesign came along for 1970 and the car shed its Valiant connection along with its fastback styling and was offered in coupe and convertible form only. You could pick from a pair of sixes and six V-8s ranging up to a 440-cubic-inch (7.2-litre) monster.
A minor redesign for 1972 was the last the Barracuda would receive before production was ended in April, 1974, exactly 10 years after it began. A new version was in the works but the project was cancelled as it was realized it was time to put the last of the pony cars out to pasture.
Sanders 'Cuda is equipped as it came from the factory with a 340-cubic-inch (5.6-litre) V-8 , that's been bored .30 thou over, fitted with a hot cam dual-plane intake, X-heads and high-performance exhaust system. Behind that is a three-speed automatic with a shift kit. Front discs and rear drums provide the stopping power and the steel rally wheels are optional 15-inchers.
"When we started, we were just going to do a quick job. But one thing led to another and it was stripped to the bare shell. And everything in it [all the parts] is new old-stock. I went overboard with it," says Sanders of his efforts to keep things original.
The restoration, which was finished two years ago, was financed with part-time jobs and buying and selling parts, which led to the realization he had a knack for business that matched his fascination with cars.
And that led him to explore three university business programs, all of which he was accepted for, but in the end choosing the Canadian Automotive Institute, where he's now in the third year of its degree program.
Sanders and three fellow students were responsible for staging the school's annual outdoor auto show recently. "It's a great program," he says, with a tight-knit student body that works well together, and opportunities to get hands-on experience in the industry. Which is what he was doing at AJAC's TestFest.
The exposure has provided Sanders with plenty of auto industry career options, but ultimately he says he may just end up making his own opportunities through a business of his own creation.
And the 'Cuda? "It's a keeper. It's not going anywhere," he says of the project supported so strongly by both his parents, and which has driven his choice of careers.
