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Barracuda 67-71 |
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Barracuda 67-71 |
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1964 Plymouth introduced its "pony car," the Barracuda.
Introduced two weeks before the Ford Mustang, it was quickly lost in the wake
of the other car's popularity. A spinoff of the Valiant, the
Barracuda had the biggest rear window ever installed on an American car,
which wasn't much to go on unless you wanted a really bad sun burn. Neither was the top engine option, a 180
horsepower 273 cubic inch V8. Ford quickly trumped the Barracuda in 1965
by offering the potent 289 with as much as 271 underrated horsepower.
They also introduced the Shelby GT350 with either 306 or 360 horsepower
289s under the hood. If that wasn't enough, "Cobra kits"
were available from Ford dealers that would push the 289 to over 350
horsepower and make your insurance man cry. You too, when you got the
bill.
Chrysler fought back by upping the 273's profile to 235 horsepower through the 1966 model year, but it didn't help. The 273 just couldn't get any traction with the market and routinely got its coolie kicked on the street by the 289 Mustangs. The Barracuda attempted to become a true pony car in
1967; it was completely redesigned on a new longer wheelbase and offered a choice of
really weak V8s; two anemic 273s and a 383 V8 with a rather unimpressive 280
horsepower. The Slant Six engine was officially dropped. Thank God. Unfortunately, the 383 engine was so large that the power steering pump
wouldn't fit under the hood, so power steering was unavailable, resulting in poor
handling and very muscular forearms. The original fastback model was now joined by a notchback and a convertible model. The Formula S option package was still available and added
heavy duty suspension, a tachometer,
Wide Oval tires, and special emblems and trim. Good quarter mile times
were still unavailable at any price.
Unfortunately, the 440 required the elimination of power steering and disc brakes and was only available with an automatic transmission, as the rear axle needed to be cushioned against the immense torque of the engine. With 57% of the car's weight over the front wheels and the use of drum brakes all around, handling and braking suffered. So did anybody who came up against one of these things at a stop light. Low 12's with slicks were commonplace. 299 fastbacks were ordered with the 440. Good luck changing the spark plugs. Low sales numbers were due to the fact that MoPar had failed to promote anything other than the GTX, R/T, and 440 six pack models up until this time. I knew a guy who had one of these 440 Barracudas, and you just couldn't believe the acceleration. It was the most uncontrollable car I've ever seen or ridden in. Driving one of these babies was
like being strapped to an Atlas missile with seats. This was one
car that could hang with the insane Corv-8, as it was known. This was
the conversion kit sold by Crown Engineering of Newport Beach,
California for about $600.00. The kit allowed the installation of a
small block Chevy engine where the back seat of the Corvair used to be.
A friend of mine had one, it weighed in at 2700 lbs with a FI 327 / 375
HP engine. It was truly uncontrollable. So was he, so it was a good
match. Standard Barracudas came with a flat hood, while 'Cudas came with standard dual
non functional hood scoops. Hmmm. Great. Kinda like a girlfriend you
can't.....well, you get the point. Optional on all 'Cudas (and standard on
Hemis) was a functional "shaker" scoop, so named because it attached directly to the
engine and poked up through a hole in the hood, and thus moved whenever the engine did.
Rain also got in and made for some very interesting ignition problems. The Hemi cost $871 and was installed on just 652 hardtops (out of 17,242) and 14 convertibles (out of 550) copies. It sported hydraulic lifters and was easier to tune than in previous years. The 440+6 was a
bargain at just $250 and could usually trash the Hemi. Both engines were tricky to drive: the 440+6
engine's vacuum actuated front and rear carburetors came in with little warning, while the Hemi's stiff throttle linkage sometimes snapped all eight barrels open at once.
Tricky, but lots of fun. Not for the tires, though. Along with the Dodge Challenger T/A, the AAR 'Cuda sported a unique 340 cid V8 with 3x2 barrel Holley carburetors that produced a highly underrated 290 bhp. Insurance companies adjusted the single 4 bbl 275 hp version to 325 hp, while the six pack engine actually produced in the neighborhood of 350 hp. These 340s would easily crack 13 second quarter mile times at over 100 mph with decent tires. The exterior had a matte black lift
off fiberglass hood, body side strobe stripes, tri colored AAR shield, and standard black ducktail spoiler. The AAR 'Cuda also had special shocks and
rear springs which raised the rear end 1 3/4 inches over the regular 'Cuda.
This allowed clearance for exhaust pipes that exited in front of the rear
wheel well (after routing through the standard muffler beneath the trunk). It also permitted the use of larger tires in the rear, one of the first uses of wider rear tires on a production automobile. |
