We're at the 2022 Autorama show here in Detroit, Michigan. I'm standing here with my friend Tony
from Creations by Gemza and we are standing in front of their latest build. They started
out with a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda- Tony, why don't you tell me a little bit about the story
behind this build and what you've turned it in to. Absolutely so a customer had came to us,
he wanted a few builds done so this was one of them. And he said I want a 1970 Plymouth Cuda
he said but I want to customize. He said there's a few things I want with the car one of them was he
wanted a Gen 3 Hemi, he wanted air conditioning, a stereo system and he wanted it to be green.
And his words were he wanted to be bad ass. So we sat down at the drawing table and we came up
with a lot of cool stuff and there were never really any renderings done on the car but we
showed him a lot of kind of just some hand-drawn design work stuff and we just went for it. So
it's a very custom one-off car. That's a lot of trust from your customer. You're absolutely right.
I was shocked. And rightfully so, you guys have definitely earned it. Thank you. So why don't you
walk us through some of the cool stuff about the car- maybe start nose to tail?
Absolutely, so the front end, so let me start with the body real quick- we wanted to make the car
look like a 70 Cuda but when somebody looked at it they said boy what's different with that car?
So we we started with just a shell of a Barracuda and we actually cut the entire car in half,
we moved the rocker up an inch and three-eighths, we stretched the wheelbase, we had a custom
chassis built for the car so once that was all figured we knew we wanted the Gen 3 Hemi-
the goal was around 1000 horsepower, we wanted the engine to really stand proud in the car so
that's why it sits so high in the chassis. So then we custom built a one-off hood to showcase
the engine sitting so high in the car. And the air cleaners actually are fixed inside the hood.
The grille is a custom one-piece grille, the valance is custom, the fenders are custom
into the interior we actually love the way the 1970 Cuda interior looks so we actually just
enhanced the styling of it. Classic Instruments built the gauges for it um but again every panel
was handmade just to kind of enhance a 70 Cuda. We custom made the tunnel uh so many parts have
been CNCed- I can't even tell you how many parts were actually custom made for the car but there
are a lot. Then into the back of the car we go to a custom fuel cell, the trunk was custom-made
you know just the list goes on and on. Well it's so nice to see so much custom work from you guys
I know that most of the work you do is like an OE you know restoration Mopar and it's so cool
to see you guys just unleash your creativity on something like this. Thank you very much. You're
very welcome. Why don't you tell me a little bit about the detail um in the hood and running
through the interior of the car? I think those pieces are pretty neat. Absolutely, so again the
hood was designed to fit around the supercharger so we didn't want an air cleaner sticking out of
the engine we just, we didn't like that look and again when we started this build the idea was to
go after getting a Great 8 or a Riddler award so we knew that the quality of the car had to
be top notch and the design of the engineering had to be over the top so we didn't want to do
anything cookie cutter. So we actually packaged an air cleaner inside of the hood that you can't see
and there's an aluminum panel that you take down to access the filter and then the grates
in the hood is where the fresh air comes in and they're actually uh CNCed Chrysler Penta stars
all throughout those panels. And that's a really cool detail. And they run throughout the headliner
yes they're everywhere throughout the car- they're even if you look hard enough, there's even some
bolts throughout the car that are Chrysler Penta stars. Such a cool custom touch. And you do have a
machinist on staff of course to make all of these custom things tell me what's in that bag in the
trunk? So there are some tools so we decided were there some custom parts on the car that needed
tools so as you were driving this car that you may need and in the leather bag our tools to actually
service the car do light service work on the car. That's super super cool. And the car is smart.
It is. It has a very sophisticated computer system in it we're running MoTeeC electronics so it has
their computer system for the engine and the chassis so it's very similar to like an F1 car
where we can control basically anything throughout the car. That's super cool. Yeah. And what about
the mirrors? I don't see mirrors on this car. There is a backup camera there's a rear view
camera and we really wanted the side of the car to be as sleek as possible and a mirror would have
ruined it so we decided not to put them on. Yeah. So what color is this paint? Tell me a little bit
about that. So the owner said he wanted it green but he said he wanted to look black in the shade,
green when the light hits it so we actually in the shop we custom formulated the color
and we've named it Hyper-Cuda green. Hyper Cuda green- that is the name of the build Hyper Cuda,
right? Yes. And what do the owners think of it? You know we had dinner with them a couple nights
ago and they are very happy with it. Well that is awesome, I'm so glad to hear that. I know
you guys are too. Yes we are too. Eight years to build it. Absolutely. Eight years to build
it? Wow! I didn't know that. Well we have to keep it a secret. Absolutely- thus the Great 8.
So we did a little bit of work with you- custom work with you on some weather stripping. Tell me a
little bit about that. Absolutely, so on the front and rear glass uh the way we wanted to design it
was we used AM Hot Rod glass which is acrylic urethane and I didn't just want to urethane it in
and leave that urethane edge I wanted to cover up that gap if you will. So I had Danny and Matt and
everybody at Steele Rubber Products- I didn't like exactly what you guys had so you actually tooled
up especially for this project to make rubber for the front and rear glass. I'm super proud of that
and then the rest of the rubber is similar to a production Cuda.
We were able to modify it to make it work. That's awesome and that custom weatherstrip
that you used to make those finishing touches that's available to everybody now so you know
anybody that's taping in a windshield or gluing in a windshield you want that finished look all
you have to do is give us a call and we can get you that look too. Absolutely. So and speaking of
Autorama and the Great 8, congratulations! This is a great eight car. We're filming this before the
Riddler got picked so we don't know what's gonna happen but we are definitely pulling for you.
Your work speaks for itself and it's definitely worthy of that that award. I think that's it for
now- thank you so much for your time thank you so much for your business and your partnership
over the years. We're so excited for you. If you want to see more builder interviews like this
one check us out on our YouTube channel and subscribe so you don't miss a thing