Plymouth GTX 1970 images

Plymouth’s 1970 GTX was already losing sales to its cheaper Road Runner sibling, and the rare 440 Six Barrel option most collectors chase today made up only a small fraction of that shrinking total. With just 7,748 GTXs built that year and roughly 678 carrying the triple-carb 440, the math behind this car’s rarity is stark.

The luxurious GTX sales were down because of the budget priced Roadrunner, which sports similar lines and has many of the same power options available as well. There was no convertible GTX on the order sheet in 1970, but the “Grabber” hood option is back although now revised, with only one opening and it’s located centrally on the newly added “power bulge” hood. The basic engine is the 440 with a four barrel carburetor or the next step up is the 440 six pack and then the 426 Hemi is a little more tempting option.

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MCF thanks Gateway Classic Cars for the images provided here

By 1970, Plymouth’s original muscle flagship had a problem: its own cheaper sibling was outselling it. The Road Runner offered nearly the same performance for less money, and GTX buyers had shrunk to a small, serious crowd willing to pay more for standard equipment most competitors charged extra for. That crowd got smaller still if they wanted the top engine option, one so rare that most GTX buyers never even ordered it. The production numbers behind that engine explain exactly why surviving examples command the attention they do today.

The Engine Most GTX Buyers Never Chose

Above the standard 440-cubic-inch four-barrel, Plymouth offered the 440 Six Barrel — a big-block RB engine fed by three two-barrel carburetors, a 350-cfm unit in the center flanked by two 500-cfm carbs, rated at 390 horsepower at 4,700 rpm. It sat below only the 426 Hemi in Plymouth’s 1970 performance hierarchy, and it came bundled with heavy-duty everything: shocks, suspension, driveshaft, U-joints, rear axle, brakes, and a wider six-inch wheel, plus standard bucket seats.

How Rare Is Rare? The 1970 Production Numbers

Total GTX production for 1970 fell to just 7,748 cars, with the standard 440 four-barrel accounting for roughly 6,400 of them. The 440 Six Barrel option was ordered on a small fraction of the total — commonly cited around 678 cars — and the 426 Hemi rarer still, at only 72 units. That scarcity is a big part of why a well-documented, numbers-matching Six Barrel or Hemi GTX from this year draws serious money at auction today. The scarcity is not just a collector talking point, either: some original buyers held onto their cars for decades, and one Vietnam veteran who bought his 440 Six Barrel GTX new in 1970 was reportedly still driving that same survivor 55 years later.

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