Plymouth Barracuda is one of the most sort after American Classic auto. It began its life as pony car. It has been hailed as the All American Sports Compact Car. Barracuda made its debut in 1964 when cars were all about fun and good times. It perfectly portrays the big American dream. This car started as a coupe and soon made its way to become a big. large and monstrous Muscle Car. The sleek design based on the Plymouth Valiant chasis was something way ahead of its time when it came out in the mid 60s. It soon became a rage among young people with a zeal for performance.
The 1964 model had two variants : 170 ci 101 bhp slant 6 and the 255 ci 145 bhp v8. The v8 became an instant hit. It was mainly pitted against Ford Mustang, the only major competitor in this genre. Ford won this part of the competition due to it’s major release and marketing campaign, although the Barracuda was still catching up fans all over America.
1967-69 saw some major changes in the Barracuda. Now, the base model had 225 ci slant 6 145 bhp with the V-8 option 273 ci. 1968 saw a major upgrade to the engines, two new V-8′s the 318 ci and the 340 ci whilst the 383 plant was upgraded in output to 300 and then 330 bhp eventually.
1970-74 saw the final stages of the Barracuda. The chasis was upgraded to fit the new Hemi engines. This was an E body and many fans have found it quite similar to the Dodge Challenger. These last generation cars became real collectibles before it was phased out entirely in 1974.
