The Plymouth Barracuda is a car that was manufactured by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1964 through 1974.
The first Barracudas (1964) were actually a Valiant option package. The base engine was a 225 slant 6 with a 180 horsepower, 273 cubic inch V8 available. With the 180 hp V8, early Barracudas would run 0-60 in 12.9 sec, and the quarter mile in 17.8 @ 72 mph. Gas mileage was 16-19. The test car had 2.73:1 rear gears and a 3-speed automatic (Car Life, July/64). 90% of buyers 1964 Barracudas were ordered with the V8.
1964 was the only year that Barracuda had Plymouth, Valiant, and Barracuda badging. It also had the Valiant symbol used throughout instead of the later Fish. Despite strong reviews for the Barracuda, the inexpensive, more clearly unique (as opposed to sedan-based) Ford Mustang outsold the Valiant model by 8:1.
At the
heyday of muscle cars in the 1960’s, competition was heating up in 1964. That
was the year the newsworthy Ford Mustang hit the market. And, of course, two
weeks earlier, Plymouth had launched the competition: the Barracuda.
Technically, the car was the first of the so-called pony cars on the market,
although few people would argue that this distinction mattered much in the end.
Although
the Plymouth Barracuda was an example of one of the great muscle cars of this
time, production stopped relatively early and enthusiasts have to look only
towards the past to recapture the glory of this compact and sporty, powerful
automobile.
The Early
Days of the Barracuda
One
interesting story about the Plymouth Barracuda involves its name. While the
car’s name is a reference to the tropical fish that preys on other fish by
using a combination of speed and skill, it was not the first pick of the
Plymouth executives. Much to the chagrin of the car’s designers, those
executives had decided a better name for one of the world’s greatest muscle
cars would have been “panda.”
The name
change would probably not have helped the car outsell the Mustang. In fact, the
Plymouth Panda would probably not have been a huge fit with fans of muscle
cars. Who would want to brag about driving a panda?
However,
the car designers were wise enough to make some decisions that did give the car
some real potential in the market. Obviously, one goal was to keep the car
affordable. Muscle cars were being sold primarily to younger drivers on limited
budgets so the price tag had to be reasonable for the audience. To make this
happen, the car designers incorporated elements of the Plymouth Valiant into
the Barracuda. Despite these efforts, the Plymouth Barracuda’s base price was
about $200 more than the Mustang’s $2,300 price tag.
Changes
in the Barracuda
As muscle
cars go, style changes are almost a given. Sometimes those changes work for the
model and sometimes they don’t. In 1967, the Barracuda underwent a successful
transformation that included adding some convertible and notchback hardtop
styles. A year later, Plymouth released a version of the Barracuda with a 426
Hemi engine intended to heat up the competition in the pony car market.
In 1970,
the car went back in for a redesign. This time the results were not as
successful. The new look of the car completely abandoned the familiar features
of the Valiant. That may not have been what did the car in, however. Insurance
companies were starting to charge more for coverage for the Barracuda and
similar models. That combined with rising gas prices and intense competition
made the decrease in sales following the redesign almost inevitable.
The End
of the Barracuda?
While the
last of these muscle cars were made in 1974, some auto experts speculated that
a new model would be released in 2009 to compete with the new versions of the
Camaro and the Mustang. However, such plans seem to be more wishful thinking by
muscle cars enthusiasts than reality.