Plymouth tore up the Barracuda’s compact-car bones for 1970 and built the E-body around a single idea: an engine bay wide enough to swallow a 426 Hemi without compromise. What followed was eleven powertrain combinations in one model year, a Trans Am homologation special, and just 666 Hemi ‘Cudas built. It was also, commercially, a failure, which is exactly why the survivors are worth what they are today. Read on to find out how the numbers really break down.
There is a particular sound a car show makes when someone rolls a ‘Cuda through the gate, and it has nothing to do with the exhaust. It is the sound of people putting down their coffee. Plymouth built the E-body for five model years, sold nearly all of the interesting ones in the first two, and then watched the entire category evaporate underneath it. What is strange is that the car everyone now remembers as the ultimate expression of Mopar muscle was, by the only measure that mattered at the time, a commercial disappointment. Understanding why means looking at what Plymouth was actually attempting in 1970.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Why Plymouth Threw Out the Old Barracuda
The first two Barracuda generations shared their structure with the Valiant compact, which meant a narrow engine bay and a permanent handicap in any fight with the Mustang or the Camaro. For 1970 Chrysler started over with the E-body, a shorter and considerably wider platform that shared its cowl and front structure with the B-body Charger and Coronet. The Barracuda’s wheelbase came in at 108 inches, two inches shorter than the Dodge Challenger built alongside it. More importantly, the engine bay was now wide enough to accept a wedge big-block or a Hemi without any compromise at all. That single decision defined everything that followed.
Eleven Ways to Order the Same Car
The 1970 order sheet was genuinely extraordinary. A buyer could start with the 225 cubic-inch Slant Six, step up through the 318 and the 340, take a 383 in either two-barrel or four-barrel form, move to the 440 four-barrel, then the 440 Six Pack with its trio of two-barrel Holley carburetors, and finally arrive at the 426 Hemi sitting at the top of the page. The ‘Cuda designation was reserved for the performance models, which wore hood pins, a blacked-out hood treatment, and an optional shaker scoop. No other American manufacturer offered a spread like that inside one body in one year.
The Hemi ‘Cuda’s Real Production Numbers
The 426 Hemi was rated at 425 gross horsepower and 490 lb-ft of torque, and it was available in the Barracuda for only two model years, 1970 and 1971. Plymouth built 652 Hemi ‘Cuda hardtops and 14 Hemi ‘Cuda convertibles for 1970, which comes to 666 cars in total. For 1971, with insurance companies actively refusing to write policies on cars like this, the numbers collapsed to 108 hardtops and just seven convertibles. Those seven 1971 Hemi convertibles are the reason the phrase Hemi ‘Cuda and the phrase seven figures now routinely appear in the same auction sentence.
The AAR and a Small-Block Homologation Play
Underneath the Hemi headlines sat something arguably more interesting. The 1970 AAR ‘Cuda, named for Dan Gurney’s All American Racers team, used a 340 small block fed by three two-barrel Holley carburetors on an Edelbrock aluminum intake, rated at 290 horsepower. It received a fiberglass hood, a strobe stripe, side-exit exhaust, and a staggered tire setup with larger rubber at the rear. Plymouth built roughly 2,724 of them across a single model year, purely to homologate the engine package for SCCA Trans Am competition. It remains the most genuinely purpose-built car of the entire E-body run.
1971: The Grille Everyone Argues About
For 1971 Plymouth gave the ‘Cuda quad headlamps, the distinctive grille that collectors either love or refuse to discuss, and the four fender gills that have divided opinion ever since. It was also the final year for the 426 Hemi and the 440 Six Pack in the body. Sales fell hard, because the muscle car market was already in freefall, insurance surcharges were brutal, and fuel was about to get expensive. Everything after 1971 was a fundamentally different car wearing similar sheet metal, with the 340 as the top engine and the Hemi gone for good.
What the E-Body Got Right on the Road
For all the straight-line reputation, the E-body was a genuinely competent chassis by 1970 standards. The optional heavy-duty suspension with a rear sway bar and 15-inch wheels transformed the car’s behavior, and the front torsion-bar arrangement Chrysler had used for years gave better front-end control than the coil-spring competition managed. The trade-off was weight distribution. A Hemi car carried an enormous amount of mass over the nose, and drivers stepping out of small-block cars generally found the transition unforgiving in the wet and expensive in the ditch.
Clones, Tributes, and the Documentation Problem
Because the E-body shell was shared and reproduction parts are abundant, there are far more cars presenting as ‘Cudas today than Plymouth ever built. The fifth and sixth characters of the VIN identify the model and the engine code, and the fender tag carries the option, paint, and build data. For a Hemi car, a broadcast sheet and registry documentation are effectively mandatory rather than nice to have, because the gap in value between a genuine example and a beautifully executed tribute is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Why the Shape Still Works
Five decades on, the 1970 ‘Cuda’s proportions have aged better than almost anything else built in that decade. The short deck, the long dash-to-axle measurement, the wide track and the low beltline combine into a stance that plenty of modern performance cars are still chasing. Plymouth’s high-impact paint palette gave it a personality nothing else matched, with names like Vitamin C, Lemon Twist, Plum Crazy and Sassy Grass Green doing as much work as the sheet metal. Whatever engine sits under the hood of any given survivor, the body is why people stop walking.
The Car That Outlived Its Own Market
The E-body Barracuda died after 1974, having never sold in the volume Plymouth needed to justify the investment. That commercial failure is precisely why the survivors matter so much now. Plymouth designed a purpose-built performance platform at the exact moment the market for one was collapsing, spent the money anyway, and then walked away from it. Nothing that came afterward combined that breadth of engine choice, that much styling nerve, and that short a production run. It is the most concentrated four years of ambition in the company’s history.
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Related posts:
Air Bags
Rear View Camera-was in the 1956 Buick dream car
Lane assist is now becoming a popular option
Your tires do NOT need nitrogen!
Alf’s 1965 Chevy II Nova SS—A Member’s Muscle Car
Testimony of a Muscle Car Fan
Pontiac GTO 1964 restoration
Mustang 1968-2 bbl “A” code-by MCF Charles
Buick Skylark 1970 GSX tribute car-MCF George has bragging rights!
Pontiac GTO Judge 1969 Bill’s one owner images
Hi there, just changed into alert to your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful for those who proceed this in future. Lots of people will be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!