Plymouth Barracuda 1971 Burnout

This 383-powered 1971 Plymouth Cuda represents the final chapter of an era: 1971 was the last year Plymouth offered the Barracuda with any big-block engine at all. New emissions and horsepower-rating regulations arriving in 1972 would end the big-block Barracuda for good. Built on Chrysler’s E-body platform alongside the Dodge Challenger, it is a genuine piece of muscle car history caught in its final year.

Here is a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda with a 383 V8 engine doing a burnout for your entertainment. Enjoy!

Watching a big-block Barracuda light up its rear tires is one thing; understanding why 1971 would turn out to be the last year Plymouth ever let buyers order one that way is another. This particular Cuda carries a 383 cubic-inch V8 under its hood, a combination that was already living on borrowed time even as it rolled off the assembly line. Government regulators were about to change how horsepower itself got measured, and Plymouth’s engineers knew it. What buyers could not have known in 1971 was that they were witnessing the final chapter of an engine lineup that would never return to the Barracuda in the same form again.

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A 383 With Two Different Personalities

The 1971 383 measured 4.250 by 3.375 inches in bore and stroke with an 8.5:1 compression ratio, and it came in two distinct states of tune, a 2-barrel version rated at 275 horsepower and 375 lb-ft of torque, and a 4-barrel version rated at 300 horsepower that came standard on the sportier Cuda trim like this one.

The Last Year of the Big Blocks

1971 turned out to be the final year Plymouth offered the Barracuda with any big-block engine at all, whether that was the 383, the 440, or the fabled 426 Hemi. New government regulations arriving for 1972 forced automakers to express horsepower as a net figure instead of the more flattering gross number, and Plymouth trimmed the Barracuda’s largest available engine down to a 340 cubic-inch V8 as a result.

Three Trims, One Platform

Styled by John E. Herlitz, the 1970 to 1971 Barracuda shared Chrysler’s E-body platform with the Dodge Challenger and came in three flavors, the base Barracuda, the luxury-leaning Gran Coupe, and the performance-focused Cuda, with this burnout-ready 383 example representing the platform at its most street-oriented.

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