Super Cuda

While Johan Lubbe was growing up in PE, his dad used to have a Valiant Station wagon and so, like many South Africans at that time, the Chrysler Valiant was ingrained into his DNA.

Fast forward a couple of years and Johan came across this 1969 Valiant Barracuda. The car belonged to a guy named Wayne from Mooinooi, who was the second owner. The first was Wayne’s dad who got the car straight off the showroom floor.

When the chance came to own the Sport version of his dad’s old Valiant, he jumped at it. He had always had a love for the Barracuda – the shapes and lines were different from other cars produced at that time. Johan did the deal which also included some old car parts and the body from an old Waggoneer. Once he got the car home, Johan started stripping it. It already had a 350 Chevy engine installed and the body looked like it would need some extra attention. Once they started to take off the paint, he started to run into problems. Chunks of body putty were coming off the car and due to this, he decided to send the car to a professional.

Johan made contact with Drikus from All American Muscle, based in Alberton. They have made a name for themselves by building some American Muscle cars with serious horsepower. For what Johan had planned for the car, All American was the perfect choice. He wanted to build a once-off supercharged monster! The car was sent to Sandblasting Boys

in Centurion where all the body putty and paint was removed. The car had rust in all the normal places however, the inner fenders had been cut at some stage.

New panels were imported from the USA. The new panels were installed along with a new floor being fabricated. Next on the list was the suspension.