Nineteen sixty seven was a banner year in music. It was prime time for psychedelic rock in the UK and US, not to mention all the jazz, folk, soul and funk records that were being coming out at the time. But that’s just grazing the surface. There were amazingly good sounds coming out of Jamaica, Brazil, South Africa and Continental Europe as well. What does that have to do with the Plymouth Barracuda, aside from the date?
Well, with so much excellent music, there are many minor hits (or filler LP tracks that were never destined to be hits at all) and tons of foreign tracks that can pleasantly surprise the listener, whereas some overly familiar tunes can feel a bit underwhelming. Think of the cars of 1967: Cadillac Eldorado; NSU Ro80; Dino; Toyota 2000GT; Saab 99 – sheer automotive royalty. Nobody ever accused the Barracuda of being anything that groundbreaking. And yet, it’s one of my favourite American cars of 1967. An obscure B-side by Ma Mopar and the Valiants it may be, but it sure hits the spot.
In the Great Pony Wars of the mid-to-late ‘60s, the Barracuda very much played the part of the wallflower while the Mustang, Cougar, Firebird and Camaro were duking it out on the sales floor. (Out of common decency, we will forego mention of the AMC Marlin.) In 1967, the all-new Camaro scored big with over 220,000 units made. The Cougar, also in its first year, did very too – just above 150,000, to be precise. The Firebird‘s success was more muted (82,000), while the Mustang kept its top spot with over 470,000 sold. All Plymouth could muster with their little fish was 62,000, all body variants (hardtop, “Sports” fastback and convertible) combined.
Styling-wise, my personal top choice of those five would be the Cougar. But the Barracuda gets the silver medal (bronze for the Chevy). It’s true that the family resemblance with the Valiant in that front end is completely unnecessary – counter-productive, even. But that’s the only bone I’d have to pick with that fish.
The long tail and somewhat swoopy overall styling definitely did not conform with the long hood / short deck / square roof aesthetic dictated by Ford, which may explain why the Plymouth may have appeared to some at the time as a fish out of water. But there are still a bunch of great details on the Barracuda, and it has the most distinctive shape of the bunch, especially this hardtop coupé version.
It was not necessarily planned that way, however. One of the original concept sketches shows what could have been a more individualistic front end. Just like the (then still unfinalized) Cougar, Plymouth stylists were thinking hidden headlights, Coke-bottle flanks that have a bit of the (also not yet produced) Camaro / Firebird and a panoramic rear window. Not much of this ended up on the final product – a shame, as a little more personality would probably have made a world of difference to the 2nd generation Barracuda’s lacklustre sales.
But again, the production model is a great-looking machine in many respects. And from many angles, bar the front, perhaps.
And those scripts and emblems are also pretty darn cool. Not as iconic as the Mustang’s galloping horse, perhaps, but there’s a lot of hindsight in that. Ford kept the Mustang and its emblem going for decades, after all. In 1967, Plymouth figured the fish had a fighting chance.
Inside, it’s just no contest. This is Mopar ‘60s chic at its level best. Another company *cough*GM*cough* would have just put standard-issue dials in there. The Plymouth ones had that central chrome insert popping out – even the speedos were styled. The shifter is a massive chromed wand, not the sad T-shaped cane seen in the Mustang. The Cougar, for its part, smothered their dash with acres of faux wood, a malady that would take hold on the Barracuda by 1969. But in this 1967 car, none of that tatty affectation. All is silver, black vinyl and chrome.
What about under the skin? Chassis-wise, the Mopar-wide front torsion bar suspension was head and shoulders above the rest, according to near universal opinion. Brakes-wise, the ‘67s kept banging the same drums for most of the range but, just like the competition, did offer optional front discs on the sportiest variant (a.k.a. the “Formula S Package”).
The engine bay could house anything from the base 225ci (3.7 litre) 145hp slant-six to the Formula S’ 383 (6.3 litre) 280hp V8, with the 273 (4.5 litre) V8 in between available with either 180hp (2-bbl) or 235hp (4-bbl). The slant-six was probably the best base six of the ’67 pony cars (the Cougar excepted, as it only came with V8s) and the Torqueflite was arguably the best transmission.
But the competition did outgun the Plymouth in the horsepower race at the higher end of the range. The 440 was not yet slated to be shoehorned in the Barracuda – that only happened in 1969. And it hardly made a dent in the sales chart even then.
Price-wise, the 1967 Barracuda was a little dearer than the Mustang and Camaro, especially the latter. This, in addition to the Valiant styling cues, singular proportions and lack of truly high-performance variant probably explains why its strengths (interior, suspension, base engine) were offset by its defects. Build quality was also a potential issue with Chrysler products at the time, or at least they were perceived as such by some.
The 1967-69 Barracuda, as previously stated, did not sell well compared to other pony cars. The ’67 was the high-water mark, which is saying something. Adding insult to injury, the ’68 and ’69 did even worse than the AMC Javelin. This is really the back end of the Billboard 100.
Maybe it’s a case of rooting for the underdog (underfish?), but the Barracuda is my pick of the ’67 pony cars. This Tokyo-dwelling example, which looks like it has the 273 V8, is pretty much the perfect ‘60s Detroiter two-door, as far as I’m concerned: big but not gigantic, uncommon but not exactly rare, superbly detailed but not overdone.
Back when I was a student in London, I spent a good deal of time in record shops wading through boxes of singles to unearth the odd gem, only to flip it over to discover something even better. I realize that the 1967 Barracuda is part of the A-body family in Chrysler-speak, but finding this B-side in Downtown Tokyo sure brought back memories of Camden and Soho. Those were the days, my friends…
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1968 Plymouth Barracuda Formula 340 – The Worst Selling But Best Pony Car Of 1968, by PN
Vintage Car Life Review: 1967 Barracuda Comparison – The Tame 6 cyl. Hardtop and The Brisk V-8 Fastback, by Rich Baron
Vintage R&T Comparison: 1967 Mustang, Barracuda and Camaro – The Pony Car Shootout, by PN
Getting Passed On The Left By A 1967 Barracuda, by PN
Great article, with a wow finish!
The Carnaby Street reference fits with my memory of a striking illustration in a car mag with swirly, “oh wow!” colors overlayed by black, hi-contrast drawings of various angles of the Barracuda, and a headline that queried something like, “Plymouth Deals an Ace, Will the Others Answer?”.
Chrysler seemed to be going for the feel of a low volume Euro GT — which was out of step with the bulldog, gridiron aggressiveness demanded in that segment. I would have owned one — yes — but despite it’s good looks, there was some X factor that it was missing. It looked too refined. Maybe they should have made it the Valiant instead, as the boxiness of that compact didn’t — and still doesn’t — work for me. The Barracuda body is a ringer for the ’67 Lemans, like the younger, less charismatic brother of the popular high school jock with the “letter” jacket.
What’s that? A “fast and furious luggage room” ?
The concept sketch looks so much better in my eyes …
An alternate proposal was the Barracuda Formula SX. The story goes it was a bit too close to the styling of the upcoming 1968 Pontiac Tempest and GM, supposedly, made it known to Chrysler that legal action would be taken if they released the 1967 Barracuda in that form.
I wonder if some little designs elements of the Formula SX was recycled later for the Duster? The C-pillar would have been quite at home in the Duster.
These fish were pretty rare, there was a yellow one of these in my neighborhood when I was young and the proportions on the hard top were just off compared to the competition. Being a derivative of the Valiant didn’t help. The stink of the original Valiant stuck around for a long time.
The Mustang nearly outsold the competition combined, throw its cousin the Cougar in and Ford handily beat the competition.
That car obviously does not sit outside in the weather. It has to be garaged to be in that condition!
The close-up of the taillight is interesting in that Chrysler bounced around with subtle differences for every year for the 2G Barracuda:
1967 – chrome molding inside the lens; reverse lights in lower valance panel.
1968 – reverse lights moved to inside the taillight lens in place of the chrome molding.
1969 – reverse lights moved ‘back’ to the lower valance panel; no insert in the tallight lens.
The taillights/reverse lights were a styling theme that was also used on the 1968/69 Plymouth B-bodies.
I have also noticed this. I prefer the original ’67 look. The lights on the ’68 look so small, like the surface of the taillamps lenses are barely the surface area of the reflectors on many other cars. I do like the overall styling of the rear panel, though – very tasteful in execution.
I was always a B side kind of guy myself, there are bands I’m only even a fan of based on their lesser known tracks, Queen might be the ultimate example. Likewise I like these 67-69 Barracudas, including the even more off the beaten path hardtop. I never much cared for conformity and trendinesss in life and when it comes to having an alternative in the “ponycar” field, the Barracuda is an actual alternative! It’s not a proportional imitator of the Mustang like the GM F body twins, and it was it’s own unique thing with no mildly differentiated corporate sibling to muddy the waters further. The Barracuda was a unique product. But I don’t speak for the masses who only care to hear We will Rock You over and over.
I don’t see the blatant Valiant resemblance in the front end at all btw, besides maybe the split grille? That criticism could certainly be leveled against the first generation Barracuda but there is nothing shared with the second, nose, grilles, fenders, bumpers were all unique to it. Biggest tell is the A pillars/windshield area, if these got the Duster treatment they’d have virtually nothing in common on the outside with standard valiants
Personally, whilst I agree it has nice details and badges, I don’t get this car, specifically the proportions, with squashed cabin, long rear end, large overhangs and very upright screen. It’s got a touch of the Vauxhall Firenza coupe.
Bit still, a great example clearly being properly cared for, and if the owner likes it, then enjoy it!
Looking at this notchback in profile, it’s almost got a scaled-down “Plymouth Charger” thing going for it. I don’t necessarily see “ponycar”, but it’s a shape I like.
Both this car and the concurrent AMC Javelin have been said to have longish rear quarters. Not to diss this Barracuda, but there’s no comparison with the how this look was handled on it versus AMC with the Javelin. I hadn’t even noticed any extra length on the Jav until I had read it mentioned at CC, which speaks to how deftly it was executed. The ’68 Javelin is genuinely beautiful.
I find thiis ’67 Barracuda attractive in the same way I had developed a taste for certain things that I didn’t love at first. Like black licorice. That long-hood, long-deck look is distinctive and unlike so many other cars.
Here’s a thought on the ‘Plymouth Charger’ notion: imagine if the 1967 Barracuda had the 1968 Charger’s flying-buttress, tunnel-back rear window treatment (which was actually aped from the ’66-’67 GM intermediates).
Would have made a world of difference on the Barracuda coupe’s appearance.
Or going a step further, having the fastback style of the 1966-67 Charger with a touch of coke-bottle or fuselage and you get something closer in design to the Australian Chrysler Valiant Charger. Interesting to note then the guys of IndieAuto pondered then the 1970 Barraduca should have been like the Aussie Charger. https://www.indieauto.org/2022/06/03/1970-plymouth-barracuda-should-have-been-like-an-australian-valiant-charger/
That’s a terrific article about the reality of Chrysler’s ponycar efforts and states something I’ve thought all along: the E-body was a much bigger failure and hurt the company more than many realize. I’d go so far as to call it one of Chrysler’s ‘Deadly Sins’.
The biggest reason the financial disaster aspect of the E-body is typically overlooked is because the cars look so darn good and, today, the most powerful-engined (Hemi), premium trims bring among the highest auction prices for any domestic car, ever.
But in just about all other aspects, they’re quite bad, almost to the level of the 1957 ‘Forward Look’ cars. Even if the much lower profit 1970 A-body Duster hadn’t cannablized much of Chrysler’s E- and B-body coupe sales, I’m not sure it would have made much difference in the long run.
It’s has a Corvair Monza look to rear window angle perhaps to imitate the roof line of the convertible?.
While Chrysler copied GM’s last model cycle ever since the 1962 downsizing debacle, the one positive trade-off was their efforts typically came off much better. A case in point is the ‘tunnel-back’, flying-buttress 1968 Charger relative to the same styling gimmick on the ’66-’67 GM intermediate hardtops.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work when Chrysler tried to put the 1965 Corvair roof on a version of the 1967 Barracuda. The problem was how they addressed the C-pillar. The Corvair’s C-pillar was thin and graceful, while the Barracuda’s was much wider and made the quarter window too small and awkward. The whole thing just didn’t work and Chrysler would have done better to have gone a different route.
This is a sweet car indeed .
I’d rather have a first generation one, in that light yellow I liked so much .
-Nate
The one styling quirk on the 1967-1969 Barracuda hardtop (IMHO) is the shape of the rear window glass. I always thought a rear window more in the vein of the 1964/65 B-Body 2-door hardtop would’ve worked better. With the window angling back and landing closer to the trunk opening, the visual length of the top would appear longer and the and the length of the trunk would appear a tad shorter (in the side view). as a bonus, it would’ve helped the headroom in the back seat.
Plymouth definitely went their own way, styling-wise, on the G2 Barracuda. It always has been one of those designs where the more you look, the more subtle design characteristics you fine. It definitely is not a flat, slab-sided Valiant with a re-arranged grille. (although, I do like the G1 Barracuda, the unofficial “Uncle” car in my family)
Always liked these 67 thru 69 Barracudas. The fast back and convertibles were my favorites. Not so much the hard top. Kudos to Chrysler for their endeavor to produce a more refined offering. At least they didn’t try to emulate Ford or GM. It’s always been difficult for those with less cash to throw around to compete with those with much deeper pockets. A problem Chrysler always had to deal with but usually overcame commendably imo.
Back in 1971 when I was in elementary school, my older brother bought a ’67 Barracuda nochback from a next door neighbor. It was the twin to this car, however, it had a bench front seat and the deluxe interior with fake wood on the dash and door panel’s. That was a beautiful car. I was in love with and to this day, my favorite car of the 1960’s. I have driven Barracuda’s Mustang’s, Camaro’s, and Firebird’s. I’ll take the Barracuda any day of the week over it’s competition and in my opinion, it’s a better looking better built car. For some reason, I never found my own Barracuda but managed to buy a ’71 Challenger convertible in 1983. I have some time left in my life so maybe one day I will find my own ‘Cuda.
I personally had a very good first i.mpression of the 67 Valiant and still have fond memories of my neighbor and good friend who in 68 bought a 67 Valiant 273
4 Speed, 4 bbl, I couldn’t believe how quick it was, for example, we had three grown men in my buddies Valiant and his cousin was alone in his 68, 383 roadrunner and That little Valiant with 550 pound of passengers pulled away from that roadrunner like he was in reverse. I only recently found out that was indeed a special little car, only 81 of those 4 speed 4 bbl 273’s made and being lighter than the barracuda it was even faster than its “performance” cousin. My buddy kept that car for decades and the local Chrysler Plymouth dealers Son had asked my buddy to let him know if he wanted to sell it so he did, the car is now part of a collection and he certainly got his money back.
In the 70s the notch back barracudas were some of the badest cars in drag racing,.With slicks stuffed in those fenders the long trunk help with the traction.
I owned a 67 barracuda , 273 , 235 hp formula S and I loved that car ! Mine was a fastback but alot like this vehicle. Thanks for the memories!
I think the front end would have been much improved if both the inner and outer lights on each side were the same shape; preferrably both round. As they were, the combined round and rectangular elements just clashed.
Sweet car I had a 69 notch for 6 yrs,it had I had a built 318 and she moved. It was a automatic but hooked up great. Surprisingly beat alot of of cars with that 318. My car was B5 blue with white interior it was a beautiful ride. Sold her in 2009 big mistake
The funniest thing about was, a 73 yr ladie she had the same car, her husband brought her new. Someday I’m going too find a notherone. I want too put a new hemi in one.
I had the ’69 fastback version of this car. It was the 383 S model. Got it cheap because it had been in an accident and whoever repaired it didn’t know what they were doing. I believe that was the 1st year Chrysler figured out how to get the big block and power steering under the same hood.
The car was a terrible handler. It wasn’t that fast in a straight line either. Despite having posi, an aggressive launch smoked the tires without much actual forward motion. On the plus side, it could spin impressive donuts on any type of dry pavement.
After a bit of work spread out over some months, I got the car repaired right. Despite all the faults inherent in the front heavy design, that car sure was fun. In a rare moment of sanity, I realized there was no way I could afford to keep insuring and running the car while also keeping up with school payments.
After demonstrating the donut spinning ability in a K-Mart parking lot, I got my full asking price from an overheated teenage buyer. I suspect he enjoyed the car immensely. I do hope he survived the experience.
I know I’m late to comment, but I wanted to offer a small correction to a splendidly written article.
Disc brakes were optional on all ’67 Barracudas except the 383 Formula S models, on which they were required. Even the cars with the base six cylinder engines could have them. They have excellent, albeit heavy by today’s standards, Kelsey-Hayes four piston calipers. They are very similar, but not identical to the calipers used on Mustangs of the era. Due to that happy coincidence, the brake pads used on Mustangs and Barracudas are the same. So thanks to Ford building so many Mustangs, I have a wide variety of choices of friction materials from which to choose for my ’68 340-S Barracuda.
A lovely assessment! Although slightly before my time, my knowledge of these cars came first from various miniatures as well as any late model cars on the road back then. Then as a teenager, my obsession with cars had me studying car books and magazines repeatedly. There was a diecast toy company called “Playart” sold primarily through Woolworths stores here in the USA, and the company frequently had stock versions of the most popular real cars. Matchbox on the other hand was putting out rather staid and obscure choices (Mercury Park Lane and Commuter?) while Hot Wheels was custom everything. Hong Kong based Playart, supposedly owned by a true car enthusiast, but out some excellent models, including the requisite Mustang, Camaro, Javelin, and Barracuda. I had all but the Barracuda, but upon seeing the model later, I found it to be the most “adult” and attractive of the “Pony Cars”. There is something peculiar on about the notchback version, and I think it is related to the front end somehow being discordant with the rest of the design. From my perspective which I cannot explain, it looks good on the fastback, but not on this. And despite being a GM guy, I have come to appreciate the strengths and weeknesses of various makes based on merit rather than some sort of foolish blind allegiance. One of my favorite car interior designs is the 1963 Buick Riviera that looks just as nice being behind the wheel as viewing it from the outside….but yes, I completely understand how the author argues that the Barracuda had the best dash layout / design of the cars in this class. Definitely an interesting car that was a big fish somehow made small by a huge retail car market pond.