Bringing Betsy Back
Hi. My name is Betsy. I am a stock 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. I earned my factory stripes October 20, 1964 in Hamtramck, Michigan. I was shipped to Hahn Chrysler-Plymouth in Vancouver, Washington and adopted when I was barely a month old. After seven years of faithful service, my original owner stupidly traded me away in 1971; the nerve! He immediately regretted letting me go and spent the next 31 years searching for me. Little did he realize I spent two years in Centralia, and the next 29 years in Rainier, Washington. I had given up hope we would ever see each other again when in 2002 I was listed on eBay, my original owner found and rescued me and, unbelievably, we were reunited! At that point I was in terrible shape and it took nine months of intensive restoration work before I again looked as spiffy as I did from 1964-1971. My owner is turning his 250 page journal and 1,300+ photographs detailing my restoration into a book (starring me!) entitled Bringing Betsy Back! It’s great to be home again!
Here I am in the fall of 1966 at the ranch near Rochester where I first resided. I still had my original thin whitewalls and Lewis County LBF785 Washington license plates:
This photo was taken in late 1969 just before we left for San Antonio to join the USAF:
I was under several inches of snow when reunited with my owner in 2002. That's my brother Bart parked next to me; we left Rainier together.
Charley the Classic Car Carrier delivered us to the restoration shop. Ten years worth of grime, moss, and blackberry vines camouflaged much of my water and body damage. Note my trailer hitch; oh, the shame of it all!
Total disassembly took quite awhile; I have a lot of parts!
Removal of original paint left me stark nekkid! Once my heavy metal fabrication repairs were completed, I underwent extensive finishing body work and mechanical repairs:
Just like the original factory paint job, my center section was painted red, the stripes were taped off, and the white paint was sprayed over the red:
It was very exciting when the tape was removed revealing my red racing stripes. After all I have been thru, I definitely earned them!
I was soon beginning to look like my old self again:
Here we are at the 2006 Greenwood Classic Car & Hot Rod Show in North Seattle. Life is good! (Olin Darling photo)
We attended a BBQ and car show Saturday, July 3, 2010 at Ed Camus' in Rochester, Washington. Ed was a high school classmate of my owner and does first class car restoration work. Several of the cars pictured below feature his skilled handiwork.
We caught this pair of 64-1/2 Mustang convertibles enjoying the bright sunshine. The burgundy, Rallye-Pack car features several clear coats with a metal flake mixture that makes the paint look two feet deep and absolutely "pop." These award-winning examples were two of the earliest cars produced when Ford introduced the Mustang in April, 1964.
This nice red-on-red '66 Mustang coupe is a 289, four barrel, four speed car.
Ed's beautiful '66 Chevy pickup is a classic. The back end has been lowered 4 inches.
We haven't seen a '65 Chevy Impala that was as clean as this tan beauty since, well, since 1965! This 283 car is for sale with an asking price of $19K.
Speaking of Chevys, this red and white '57 is a sweet ride.
Here's an eye-catching '65 Ford Galaxie four door hardtop with a 390.
This '77 Ford Thunderbird is a head-turner proving that red is a very popular car color!
We really liked this '53 Chevy pickup. It is a work-in-progress with an owner who has an eye for attention-to-detail. Note the center spokes on the mags match the body color.
This '55 Ford pickup is one of Ed's personal projects. He is currently restoring the pickup bed. Additional photos of the '38 Dodge and '37 Plymouth are posted below.
Found behind a Gray's Harbor barn, this '38 Dodge coupe probably isn't a car you'd want to race for pink slips. We peeked under the back end to discover huge slicks that help keep it on the ground when the 440 big block MOPAR engine is fired up. Nice car!
Originally purchased as a parts car for his '38 Dodge pictured above, the owner of this '37 Plymouth couldn't bear to part it out. It is now powered by a 413 MOPAR engine he salvaged out of a mid-60s motor home!
This '32 Ford five window coupe is all steel except for the front fenders. Originally an all yellow car, the owner wanted to change the car's appearance, so Ed masked off the flames and sprayed the purple over the yellow. What an eye-catcher!
We'll close this report with a photo of yours truly. It was fun to meet lots of new folks and hear them say nice things about me, and it is great to be back home in Thurston County again! This week Rochester Ronnie finally got around to restoring my valve covers from ugly black to the correct MOPAR red (before and after photos below).
July 11, 2010 was an overcast, cold, breezy day, so I wisely stayed home while Rochester Ronnie attended the A. F. E. & T. A. antique tractor and engine show (and tractor pull) at the Grays Harbor County fairgrounds in Elma, Washington. Nancy, Tommy, and Wendy joined him for breakfast at the Rusty Tractor Restaurant and then spent the afternoon trying to keep my aging owner from acting on a ridiculous urge to buy and restore an old tractor. Here are some of the photos he took at this fun event.
These aren't your average farm tractors. In addition to being restored, these two have been modified for tractor pulling events (note the stack of weights attached prior to a variety of pulling events). This Case "30" was particularly attractive and very powerful.
The afternoon began with a parade so attendees could enjoy seeing several displayed tractors under power. This owner was rightfully proud of his fully-restored Farmall.
This 1910 Rumely Oil Pull weighs 14,000 pounds and has a crankcase that holds 17 gallons (yes, gallons, not quarts!) of oil. The drive belt was powering a saw being used to demonstrate the cutting of wood shingles. This machine is a monster!
The distinctive "putt, putt, putt" of this beautifully restored, circa 1910, Foos steam engine could be heard all over the fairgrounds.
Here's the Case "30" pulling the sled (en route to winning several trophies).
My owner grew up utilizing Allis-Chalmers equipment. Here he is standing beside a beautifully-restored A-C WD 45 wishing a similar model was parked here in the shop next to me. Pffft! Note, those John Deere green weights were being used to help hold the front end down during a pulling event.
While Rochester Ronnie was drooling over tractors (the nerve!), I was surfing GreedyBay and spotted two very nice '65 Barracuda cousins. The white car with red stripes looks like my twin and is a genuine, unmolested Formula S. The medium blue car with black stripes was born a Slant Six car, and during restoration it was modified (cloned) to look like a Formula S. It drew 38 bids and $25,000 but didn't hit the sellers' reserve. Whew!
My complete life story will finally be told once Rochester Ronnie wraps up his other major writing projects and gets busy on Bringing Betsy Back. For now, my "auto-biography" continues to be on hold. Be watching for us at Thurston and Lewis County car shows this summer. Most likely my next appearances will be August 14th at the Lucky Eagle, August 22nd in Tenino, and maybe August 28th in Centralia. MOPAR or no car!