Plymouth Barracuda 1967 Formula S

Plymouth’s second-generation Barracuda gets overshadowed by the E-body cars that followed, but the 1967 Formula S hid something genuinely rare under its Coke-bottle bodywork: a 383-cubic-inch big block squeezed into a compact engine bay. The fit was so tight that power steering was not available at all. Fewer than two thousand buyers took the option, and the compromises tell you exactly how hard it was.

Model generations that sit between two more famous ones tend to get skipped in conversation, and Plymouth’s fish has one of the clearest examples in American car history. Everyone knows the E-body cars that arrived in 1970 with their enormous fender flares and Hemi options, and plenty of people know the odd little glass-backed original. The cars in between get remembered mainly as a styling exercise. That is a mistake, because for a very small number of buyers in one specific model year, this generation offered something none of the others did at the time: a big-block engine in a genuinely compact car, with all the awkward compromises that implies.

A 383 That Barely Fit

The redesigned 1967 Barracuda still used a Valiant-based unibody underneath, but the Formula S package let buyers step up from the standard 273-cubic-inch V8 to a 383-cubic-inch big block rated at 280 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. Fitting a big block into an engine bay designed around a compact platform was not straightforward. The clearance was tight enough that power steering was not offered at all on 383 cars, and front disc brakes became part of the deal rather than an afterthought, giving the car some chance of stopping in proportion to how quickly it accelerated.

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The Suspension Package That Came With It

Formula S was more than an engine choice. It bundled heavy-duty torsion bars at the front, additional leaf springs at the rear, uprated shocks at all four corners, and a front anti-roll bar, giving the Barracuda handling that road testers of the period rated as genuinely good rather than merely acceptable for an American car. That reputation was earned honestly. Chrysler’s torsion bar front suspension was well regarded, and a Formula S with the smaller engine and this hardware was one of the more balanced American cars available at the time.

The Fastback That Deserved Better Attention

The 1967 redesign brought three body styles: a notchback coupe, a convertible, and a fastback whose long roofline flowed all the way to the tail. The fastback is the shape most people picture and the one that has aged best, with proportions that hold up remarkably well next to contemporaries from Ford and Chevrolet. Plymouth’s problem was never the styling. It was that the Mustang had defined the segment two years earlier and captured the attention that a car this attractive would otherwise have received on its own merits.

Still a Valiant Underneath

The Valiant underpinnings were both the car’s strength and its limitation. Chrysler’s A-body was light and structurally sound, which is why the Barracuda handled as well as it did, but it was engineered around six-cylinder and small-block V8 packaging. Adding roughly two hundred pounds of iron ahead of the front axle line changed the car’s balance considerably and pushed components toward their design limits. Everything about the 383 installation reads as engineers solving a problem they were handed rather than one they would have chosen.

Why the Rating Was Lower Than Other 383s

That 280-horsepower rating sat below what the same 383 produced in Plymouth’s larger cars, and there was a physical reason for it. Exhaust manifold clearance in the narrow engine bay forced the use of restrictive manifolds, and the cylinder heads were not the highest-performance versions available. Buyers who wanted more found the fix quickly, since headers and better heads were available immediately from the aftermarket, but as delivered the car was deliberately detuned by packaging constraints rather than by any intent to limit it.

The 340 That Arrived Too Late for This Car

The engine that would have solved the problem elegantly arrived a year too late. Chrysler’s 340-cubic-inch small block debuted for 1968 and was lighter, revved more freely, fitted the engine bay without drama, and allowed power steering, all while delivering performance close enough to the 383 that the tradeoff barely registered. It became the definitive Barracuda engine for the remainder of the generation. That timing leaves the 1967 383 cars as a one-year experiment, which is precisely why so few were built and why they now attract the attention they do.

How It Drove Compared to a Small-Block Formula S

Behind the wheel, the difference between the two Formula S versions was character rather than simple speed. The 383 car delivered enormous low-end torque and effortless acceleration in a straight line, while the small-block car turned in more eagerly and felt considerably lighter on its feet, particularly without the assistance the 383 car could not have. Period road tests reflected that split, and many testers preferred the balance of the smaller engine even while acknowledging the big block was quicker in a straight line.

Living With One Today

Owning one now involves accepting the same compromises the original buyers did. There is no power steering, parking is a workout, the engine bay is crowded enough that routine service takes longer than it should, and heat management deserves attention. Parts availability is reasonable for mechanical components thanks to Mopar’s shared engineering, though model-specific trim for this generation is much harder to find than E-body equivalents. Owners generally report that the driving experience justifies the inconvenience, which is roughly the same conclusion the magazines reached in 1967. The other practical consideration is cooling, since a big block in a bay this tight leaves little room for airflow, and most long-term owners end up fitting a larger radiator or an improved fan shroud before their first serious summer with the car.

The Generation the Market Keeps Overlooking

The market has been slow to catch up. Second-generation Barracudas remain considerably more affordable than the E-body cars that followed, despite being rarer in almost every configuration and arguably better resolved as a design. A documented 1967 Formula S 383 fastback is a genuinely scarce car with an interesting engineering story attached, and it can still be bought for a fraction of what a comparable 1970 car costs. That gap has been narrowing steadily, which is usually the point at which people who were paying attention wish they had acted sooner.

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