I’ve made a few of these posts with photos from the Cohort by Hyperpack (Here and Here). Most, showing Chrysler products, that as far as I understand are part of a large family collection that’s being sold, moved, and scrapped. However, I would think this Barracuda is one of the vehicles that will remain with the family. Its condition and the way it’s been posed and shot at dusk shows it is a special one.
There’s quite a lot of Mopar stuff that’s been recently posted at the Cohort by Hyperpack. Generally, no background is given on the vehicles, so no idea of the story behind this Barracuda. We’ll have to see if he appears in the comment section later to give us some background on this one. In the meantime, let’s just enjoy these nicely composed images that show a lot of ‘Cuda devotion.
Further reading:
Cohort Pic(k) Of The Day: 1970 Plymouth Barracuda -Having The Last Laugh
Car Show Classic: 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Gran Coupe – The Broughamiest ‘cuda Around
From its rubber boobs, I believe it’s a ’73.
Thanks for the feature Rich.
Yes this is my car. It’s actually a 1973 Barracuda, which is difficult to tell except for the large OE “new for ’73” large black rubber baby buggy bumpers that would have been absent on a ’72 model year.
Also The ’72’s have a different tape stripe.
I still own this car, and it is not going anywhere – It rests comfortably in my garage and enjoys some local cruising and ice cream shop runs ~during the 6-7 “good” months of the year here in Pennsylvania.
I acquired the car in 1994 from my father who bought it from the local wholesale car auction. My Dad had a used car dealer and car wash combination at his business, which we are slowly cleaning out.
Back to 1993; This car came in the back lot of the dealer in say April maybe, while I was still in High School. I worked full time at the Used car dealer for my dad during the summers but before I was able to drive I was there a lot less.
The barracuda had at that time ~47,000 Miles on it and every panel was scraped and dinged as the older couple the originally owned it must have had a narrow garage and had trouble backing in and out of the garage without scraping the entire side of the car up and down the garage door frame. In some areas of the car it had ~ 6 layers of primer and paint from the body shop resprays.
We repainted it, put quarter panels on, a new front valence, replaced the broken side mirrors, buffed the deep scratches out of the door windows, replace chrome trim that was damaged from the original owners.
I also remember replacing the front carpet as well because the previous owners glued hideous red floor mats to the back carpet with construction adhesive. The driver’s seat had a 1 1/2″ thich stack of washers propping it up a bit higher than the floor for the short owners of the car.
The 318 – 2 Bbl just received some maintenance and I never did any performance mods to this one. I saved all of my performance modifications for slant 6’s in other vehicles.
The barracuda was my first car, and today it is almost ready to roll over to 61,000 Miles. It is a no fuss car, It never needs much attention, I can just fire it up and go driving.
I never asked for the car in any way. My dad told me when I was 14 years old that I could have the car if I helped do the work on it. Done Deal!
I worked around the car lot for virtually free every summer whilst school was not is session from age 9, so I was not afraid of some work. For me and my parents this was a much better option to daycare during the summers off of school.
During the summer I DA’d the paint and got it ready for the paint shop, and semi stripped many of the parts foe the paint work. I chose to have the car painted without clearcoat in the original color of JY3 – Honey Gold.
I did all of the reassembly of the trim, bumpers taillights, grille etc. and the car was ready before my 16th birthday. I took my drivers’ test in this car, and took it to the prom one year.
The Barracuda was delivered with full wheel covers and no side tape stripe. I swapped to the magnum 500 style wheels and added the tape stripe. I also added a factory style AM-FM Radio and the Rear Defogger Option. I have owned the car for 30 years and I hope to be around long enough to enjoy it for 30 more.
That’s a pretty nice car, and way more of a daily-driver than the typical, ‘tribute’ big-block or modded cars. By 1972, E-body engine choices were down to just two: 318-2v or 340/360-4v (the latter being for 1974). And, yeah, the bumper guards make it easy to tell them apart:
1972 – no guards.
1973 – big, full-rubber ‘boobs’.
1974 – chrome, small rubber ‘boobs’.
I always thought it was weird how the last year had smaller guards than 1973 until I read that it was due to a stronger, redesigned bumper support frame underneath.
With that said, the flat hood, 1972-74 318 cars get the least amount of love, which actually works out better since they’re also way cheaper for anyone looking for the most accessible way to get into E-body life.
Actually, the rubber “boobs” were smaller (at least the rears) on the 73. I owned/own a 73 and 74 Challenger. I can’t tell you how many times I have whacked my knee when walking around the rear of the 74! I actually obtained a set of the smaller rear 73 ones, but I’ve never gotten around to swapping them out.
I fixed the MY in the title. Beautiful car!
Thanks for filling in the details. I was really hoping to get the story on this one. Great car!
Just what I love to see, a committed long time owner. You’ve got a beautiful car. I always liked these they just hit the market a bit too late.
Every time I see one of these, I am reminded of the TV show Mannix although ‘cuda Convertibles were used in the show.
Those of a younger generation will undoubtedly think of Nash Bridges.
How I loved – and love – those chromed rim rings. Something I really miss today.
I miss magnum 500s like these, with the chrome trim rings and brushed silver spokes. Every single reproduction gets them wrong and they look like buick road wheels with their full chrome plating and lack of trim rings!
Early Mopar Magnum 500 wheels had chromed rims. But the Mustang’s similar wheels had trim rings so, at some point (1968?), Chrysler went with a similar, cheaper separate trim ring setup.
Likewise, I think Chevrolet always used the trim-ring version of the Magnum 500 wheels, too.
Personally, I prefer the chromed-rim versions.
As an aside, I always thought it fascinating that the 1969 GTO Judge used rallye wheels ‘without’ trim rings. I could never figure that one out since The Judge wasn’t really a strippo musclecar like, say, the A12 4440-6v Mopar which initially had nothing but black steelies and chrome lug nuts.
The Judge was a poseur “stripper” muscle car, for middle aged guys like “GTO” in two lane blacktop to have the youthful image but with amenities and creature comforts. Plus it’s nothing really new, you buy a GT3 Porsche today and you get a 911 with less content for more money.
Mission creep set into the Roadrunner too by 1969 anyway, it still came standard in its 2-door post taxicab 383 form, but hardtop convertible, carpet, buckets and console and just about any other amenity was optional. By 70-71 with the 440+6 now a regular production option no longer tethered to the racecar A12 package, what separated a well trimmed Roadrunner from a GTX anymore? Perhaps with the insurance premiums of muscle cars broadening the content to appeal to older more affluent gearhead buyers was the deliberate strategy. That’s still the strategy you see today, the modern muscle car demo is anything but the youth market the original classic muscle car era was.
Circling back to Magnum 500s I don’t so much mind the rim being chrome but the spokes being chrome makes nearly every car wearing them today look plain wrong, particularly 68-70s era mopars. It amazes me people restore those to the meticulous degree I often see them, down to recreating factory marks no one ever sees, yet have a set of incorrect all chrome Magnum 500s on Cooper Cobra RWLs. If you’re going to go clearly unoriginal on wheels use an aftermarket period correct wheel like Cragars or slots for god sake, not a poor knockoff of the original!
No, the muscle car demo today is the very same people who made up the demo back then, only older.
Naturally, there are younger exceptions, but there’s also no such thing as a stripper car today. Even the most basic cars have power windows/locks/mirrors, decent sound systems, air conditioning, etc.
Matt: Forced to upgrade to 15″ wheels because large WW 14″ tires were no longer available, I sought out the best possible match for the Magnum wheels. These are one piece alloy, with a three inch lip…I think they look VERY good, and most people don’t even notice that they’re not a trim ring wheel! 🙂
The picture didn’t come through?!
Beautiful car and pictures! 70-71s get all the adoration in the collector car world but there’s something about the 72-74s I find prettier
The smooth roof in the rear 3/4 perspective shot reminds me of one of those oddities about the way Chrysler charged extra for a vinyl roof on these cars. When the vinyl roof was specified, it meant that the roof didn’t need to be properly finished and the vinyl was just kind of schmuked on over the unfinished weld seams. This was okay for maybe the first couple years but, eventually, as time went on, the welds would show through as the vinyl became worn. I suspect this method first came to be used as a cost-cutting measure on the Superbird NASCAR specials.
In effect, it may actually have cost Chrysler ‘more’ to finish the metal roof than it did to apply the vinyl top.
When it comes to the 1970-74 E body cars I always see the 1970-71’s and rarely come across the 1972-74’s, for some reason i prefer the 1972-74 taillights over the 1970-71’s and this is coming from someone who prefers the earlier 70’s vehicles.
These are beautiful cars – a few months ago I got the rare treat of having one pass me on the highway. That one was a Challenger, but they are just as beautiful. Seeing one out on the highway at speed was like seeing a wild animal always seen in books or in zoos out in its natural habitat, a really rare sight these days.
Remember very few without a vinyl top.