Plymouth Cuda 1972 440 600HP – Brutal V8 Sound!

This 1972 Plymouth ‘Cuda hides a defiant secret: Chrysler did not offer a 440 in the ‘Cuda that year at all, having pulled every big block from the lineup for emissions reasons. Someone built one anyway, stuffing a modified 7.2-liter 440 good for 600 horsepower under the hood of a car that was only supposed to come with a 340 at best.

Insanely loud 1972 Plymouth ‘Cuda with a huge modified 7.2L 440 cid V8 engine producing 600-horsepower!
You get to hear some epic V8 and exhaust sounds, plus see an overview of this classic American muscle car legend, enjoy!

There is something almost defiant about a 440 rumbling under the hood of a 1972 ‘Cuda, because Plymouth itself was not selling that combination anymore. The year this car was built, Chrysler had already pulled the plug on big-block Barracudas entirely, leaving buyers with nothing bigger than a detuned 340 small block. Someone clearly was not willing to accept that answer. What ended up under this hood – and how loud it sounds doing its job – tells a story about refusing to let emissions regulations have the final word.

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The Year Chrysler Pulled the Big Block

1972 marked the first year Plymouth did not offer a 383, 440, or 426 Hemi in the ‘Cuda lineup at all – emissions regulations forced the factory order sheet down to a 225 slant-six, a 318 small block, and a revised, detuned 340 four-barrel making 250 net horsepower as the range-topping option. That is the backdrop that makes this particular ‘Cuda’s 7.2-liter, 600-horsepower 440 feel like such a statement. This was not a car Chrysler would let you order this way in 1972 – it is a car somebody built anyway.

Ironically, 1972 Was a Banner Sales Year

Here is the part that surprises most people: ‘Cuda production actually jumped more than 25 percent to 7,828 units in 1972, even as the big-block options disappeared entirely. Buyers kept showing up right as the muscle era’s most serious engines were vanishing from the order form. Dropping a 440 into one of these cars today feels a lot like finishing a sentence Chrysler never got to complete – 600 horsepower and an exhaust note loud enough to make the emissions engineers of 1972 wince.

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