Plymouth’s 1967 Barracuda Formula S let a very small number of buyers order something almost nobody expected in this compact unibody: a genuine 383-cubic-inch big-block. The fit was so tight that power steering could not be offered, and disc brakes became mandatory just to keep the car stoppable. Backed by a beefed-up suspension package, the Formula S turned a Valiant-based economy car into a legitimate street performer. Only 1,841 were ever built.
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Plymouth’s second-generation Barracuda gets overshadowed by its E-body successor, but the earliest Formula S cars hid something genuinely rare under their Coke-bottle sheet metal — a big-block option nobody expected Plymouth to squeeze into a car this small. Most Barracudas of this era were built around small-displacement V-8s, comfortable cruisers rather than street fighters. The Formula S package changed that equation for a very small number of buyers willing to order an engine that barely fit under the hood. Fewer than two thousand people ever did. What made this option so difficult to get right, and why did so few buyers take the chance?
A 383 That Barely Fit
The redesigned 1967 Barracuda still shared its Valiant-based unibody underneath, but the Formula S package let buyers step up from the standard 273-cubic-inch V-8 to a 383-cubic-inch big-block rated at 280 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. Squeezing a big-block into an engine bay designed around a compact platform was not trivial — the fit was tight enough that power steering was not offered on 383 cars, and disc brakes became mandatory equipment rather than an option, just to give the car a fighting chance of stopping.
A Suspension Package Built to Match
Formula S was not just an engine choice — it came bundled with heavy-duty torsion bars up front, extra leaf springs out back, uprated shocks on all four corners, and a factory anti-roll bar, giving the Barracuda handling that punched well above its economy-car roots. Body styles for the redesigned Barracuda expanded to fastback, hardtop coupe, and convertible for 1967, giving buyers more ways to option the Formula S package than the outgoing first-generation car ever offered. Buyers could pair the 383 with either a TorqueFlite automatic or a four-speed manual, the only two transmissions Plymouth offered with the big-block.
Only 1,841 Built
Plymouth built just 1,841 examples of the 1967 Barracuda with the Formula S 383, making it one of the rarest big-block muscle cars of the entire era — rarer than plenty of nameplates that get far more attention today. That scarcity, combined with the novelty of a genuine big-block wedged into a compact unibody, is exactly why Mopar collectors chase these early Formula S cars as hard as they do, especially in matching-numbers, four-speed configuration.
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