Car Spot: 1965 Plymouth Barracuda

The first barrage in the pony car wars …

Ford and Plymouth were in a race to be the first to enter the pony car era and to get there they were using off-the-shelf stuff. Ford, the Falcon, and Plymouth the tried and true Valiant, Chrysler’s A-body, and while it shared a great majority of parts and bodywork the huge and distinctive wraparound rear glass made it stand out. It was the largest ever (14.4 sq ft) on a standard production car at that time.

Due to the development costs of the Chrysler Turbine Car budgets were tight, but the company’s executives wanted to have an entry in this emerging sporty-compact car market segment (Not yet called a Pony car) and looked to put a dent in some of the Chevrolet’s Corvair Monza’s sales. Plymouth’s executives had wanted to name the new model Panda but the designers hated it and in the end, the name Barracuda prevailed.

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It debuted on April 1, 1964, with a base price of $2,512. Yup, April Fools Day (FYI: Same day as the AMC Gremlin but six years earlier.) and beating the Ford Mustang by two weeks. The new model used the Valiant’s 106 in wheelbase and the Valiant hood, headlamp bezels, windshield, vent windows, quarter panels, doors, A-pillar, and bumpers. Powertrains were identical to the Valiant’s, including two versions of Chrysler’s slant-6 six-cylinder engine. The only V8 option was Chrysler’s all-new 273 cu in LA V8 and with a two-barrel carburetor, it produced 180 hp. The shortened sales season for the 1964 Barracuda totaled 23,443 units compared to the 126,538 Mustangs sold during the same time. The Pony car wars had begun.

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Consumers wanted more power and Plymouth responded. The 273 engine was available as an upgraded Commando version with a four-barrel carburetor, 10.5:1 compression increasing the engine’s output to 235 hp. A new Formula ‘S’ package included the Commando V8 engine, suspension upgrades, larger wheels and tires, special emblems, and a tachometer. Disc brakes and factory-installed air conditioning became available after the start of the 1965 model year. Sales nearly tripled that year and 65,556 were sold. But it could never catch the Mustang as it sold around 400,000 that same year.

The Barracuda saw two more generations produced but sales of Pony cars dropped off beginning in 1970 because of emissions, and a soft economy, and production ended on April 1, 1974, ten years to the day after it had begun. At its peak in 1970, the Barracuda was the ultimate pony car and muscle car, depending on which engine you got. The 340+6 equipped ‘AAR Cuda is still considered one of the best pony cars of the era, and very few things will ever top a 426 HEMI-powered ‘Cuda muscle car. So sad now that the Mustang is the sole survivor, and with big V8s to boot.

What are they worth now? The first-gen cars are very affordable. Even this Formula S in Concours condition according to Hagerty is just over 38 grand. Some of the later models are much more. A 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda 426 Convertible sold at auction in 2014 for an eye-watering $3,780,000!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my spot. I have lots of others on our site so check them out. Tell your friends. Come back next Friday for another one of my spots along with some of its history. Have a great weekend.