PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA
“THERE ARE, OF COURSE, PLENTY OF ALTERNATIVES APART FROM THESE ONES”
LATER MODEL CUDAS from the early 1970s are worth big cash now, purely because they’re among the horniest looking things ever to drip oil on a driveway. So the real value is in earlier cars, and we’d go for something form the second generation built between 1967 and 1969. Earlier than that and the Barracuda looked too much like an Aussie Valiant AP6 with a different tail on it, but the second-gen cars are much cooler.
There were convertibles and notchback body styles in the second generation, but we reckon the Fastback is the absolute pick of them. Engine options ran from the good old slant-six to 273-cube V8s in 67 models and a switch to the 318 for 1968. There were bigger engine options (including the 340) but you’ll pay a lot more for those. One of the fifty Hurstassembled 426 cubic-inch monsters? Name your price.
Like our local Valiants, these Barracudas were pretty simple but tough things with leaf-spring rear ends and torsion-bars at the front. So they’re dead easy to work on and there can’t be too many mysteries surrounding a 273 or 318-inch V8 these days. And the 727 or 904 Torquef lite autos? Bomb-proof. Totally.
But really, it’s that fastback styling that gives the Barracuda its charm. Which, of course, also means that an earlier, gen-one, Barracuda fastback comes back into the reckoning, because it has the same sense of style. Actually, the massive rear window in the early fastback was so big, PPG had to be commissioned to make it specially and it was, at the time, the largest single piece of autoglass on a production car.
Oh yeah, one more thing. While most people think the Ford Mustang invented the pony-car thing in 1964, the original Barracuda actually beat the ’Stang to market by just two weeks. Man, you’d reckon the world was down to its last handful the way the asking price of them has shot up. (Actually, it kind of is I suppose.)
And we’re not talking exclusively E38s or E49s or even R/ Ts; even an XL or base-model taxi-pack with a 215 and a column-shifted manual is worth upwards of $40,000 if it’s in reasonable nick with not too much rust falling out of it (and they do rust, oh yes). Meanwhile anything with good paint and a fresh interior is closer to $ 60,000. And that’s before we even get to R/ Ts. And don’t kid yourself, you want an E38 or E49, you’re gonna need a six-figure sum starting with a `2’. But a Barracuda? Closer to $30,000 or $35,000 gets you into a very nice car with a V8 and lots of cruising left in it. Even less if it’s left-hook.
Don’t ignore the mid-70s Road Runner, either. These were a bit bulkier looking but they’re even better value. Think of them more as a Chrysler by Chrysler alternative… again, at about half the price or even less.
AND ALSO…
There are, of course, plenty of alternatives apart from these Big-Three examples and who knows what genre of four-wheeled muscle might come into fashion in the coming years? Look at the market and figure out what it is you like about a certain car, because chances are there’ll be an alternative you mightn’t have thought of yet. And, hey, isn’t lateral thinking and standing out from the pack partly what this game is all about in the first place?
And seriously, we’re not tr ying to tell you not to buy that Aussie classic you’ve always lusted after. But, if the Stateside alternative appeals at all, give it a look, because the money you could save will insure, register and run the thing for years. You probably won’t see the same capital gain as you will with a gilt-edged Aussie muscle car, but you will have just as much fun in a car that has street cred written all over it.