Plymouth Hemi Cuda
Manufacturer : Chrysler Corporation
The car was produced from 1964 to 1974 with assembly taking place in Michigan. The car came in the classic muscle car layout with the power at the front being distributed to the rear and couple with a Fastback A-body shape. This is the most recognizable and most desirable of the Barracuda's and one of the most sort after muscle cars of this day.
The one we all remember
In 1970 the Plymouth Barracuda was massively redesigned, removing all parts of commonality with its previous predecessors. This was essentially a much different car compared to the first Cuda that came out which was a much softer looking animal.
As a sales tactic at this time of production there were only to type of models being offered , the coupe and convertible version. These came in a number of engines both in manual and automatic gearboxes. This all new model was styled and designed by John E Herlitz using the shorter version of Chrysler's existing B platform.
The old car was seen as more of a slouch but with this revamped styling the brand then dropped the label of being an economical car and it ended up being a fully fledged muscle car. The larger engine bay offered more options to the engineers than the previous car. This allowed for Chrysler to release and install one of the best engines that they have put into a car , the 7 liter 426 engine. This specific model eventually made the brand image of the car and ultimately one of the poster cars for muscle cars of the era. Although 8 variants of the 1970 Cuda were made with a choice of a 3 speed or 4 speed manual and an automatic none of these are remembered as much as the Hemi.
1974 many of the luxury items and high performance parts were dropped from the line up including the big Hemi engines. Although in 1975 a concept car was sculpted and planned to be produces and released before winding down the model, this never saw the light of day. This was due to the 1973 energy crisis which was a killer of many big engine cars with high fuel consumption.
The Cuda E-body cars remain very collectible cars even till this day with the convertibles and the high performance vehicles commanding the highest price tags. A factory condition good example of these cars is rare and as such it remains a good investment for the future.
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