Danny Gans was a familiar name in the Las Vegas entertainment scene because he was a headliner on the Strip billed as “The Man of Many Voices.”
‘He was also a car guy who had some very interesting rides, including a purple 1970 Plymouth Barracuda resto mod.’
Floyd Lauer became the owner of the car after he purchased it at an auction in Las Vegas following the death of its famous owner.
Floyd had seen Danny Gans perform in Vegas several time and was a big fan of the entertainer. Floyd is also a big fan of Mopar muscle and the ’70 Cuda fit right into his car interests.
He was at the auction and he wanted to get the Barracuda at a good price. Floyd knows plenty about cars and was not fazed by a tick in the engine compartment when the Barracuda was fired up at the auction.
He recognized the sound of a loose fan belt whereas other bidders were “scared off by the tick”, according to Floyd. Eventually he was the high bidder on the late Vegas entertainer’s prized Barracuda.
The car has been heavily modified since its factory days and now sports old school good looks over a massive change in the power-train department.
The ‘Cuda has a bored-out 418 that used to be a 360. The new displacement marked the start of a whole new attitude for the Mopar pony car because this car is a mean machine on the street. The big changes include a change to throttle body fuel injection and an upgraded custom tranny to corral all the new horses.
The result is a car with 440 on its hood emblem and that number may be a bit misleading for car guys because they might think it has some connection to the famous 440 cubic inch Mopar big block. However, the 440 number refers to the horsepower at the rear wheels for Floyd’s Barracuda.
There is a big difference between the horsepower at the flywheel and the rear wheels. The horsepower number at the rear wheel will decide whether or not you can melt the tires on the car and Floyd’s resto mod Barracuda has the potential to go through a generous supply of rear tires.
Floyd said his beefed-up Barracuda will run “tall 11s” and still “drives perfect” down the road. He added that his car is very “hard to keep civilized”, given the available horsepower. He had a couple of buddies with him who have driven the car and completely agreed with Floyd.
One of Floyd’s friends described how it is virtually impossible to turn a corner without chirping the tires because the Barracuda has so much throttle response and any gas pedal pressure will squawk the tires. The other friend described how he filled the passenger compartment with tire smoke-from a standstill with no brake stand- in Floyd’s Barracuda.
‘Floyd has other cars, but his Barracuda is the car he drives the most because it is both civilized and uncivilized in one package-kind of like Vegas.’
Jim Sutherland
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