This Day in History: The Plymouth Barracuda was introduced on this day in 1964. The Barracuda is a two-door pony car that was manufactured by Chrysler Corporation from 1964 through 1974. The Ford Mustang is generally credited as being the first pony car – but the Barracuda was actually released 16 days before the Mustang. Pony cars are smaller than muscle cars. Muscle cars, like the Dodge Charger and Chevy Impala had the large V-8 motors.
"The Barracuda story begins in the hyper-competitive environment of Detroit in the early 1960s. Long before the Big Three were knocking heads with the best of Germany and Japan, they were busy trying to one-up each other.
The creation of the Mustang (called the Cougar during development) was well known. Using the Falcon platform, Ford would rapidly and efficiently create the legendary pony car. Sensing an opportunity and not wanting to lose anything to Ford, Chrysler turned to its Valiant economy car for similar inspiration.
It's here where the two companies approaches split. Ford creates an entirely new body for the Mustang while on the other hand, Chrysler merely modifies the Valiant with a sportier fastback design. This not only saves money (Chrysler always seemed to be cash-strapped) but development time. It's the reason why the Barracuda beat Mustang to the punch but it's also why the first-generation Barracuda sold in the tens of thousands versus hundreds of thousands for the Mustang." Source
https://whiteknucklerbrand.com/blogs/wk-blog/the-elusive-predator-the-plymouth-barracuda-1964-1974
The Barracuda was discontinued after 1974, a victim of the 1973 energy crisis.
A 1975 Barracuda had been planned before the end of the 1970-74 model cycle. Plymouth engineers sculpted two separate concepts out of clay, both featuring a Superbird-inspired aerodynamic body, and eventually reached a consensus upon which an operational concept car could be built. Due to a rapidly changing automotive market due to the energy crisis, the concepts were scrapped and the Barracuda was not put into production for 1975.
The 1971 Hemi 'Cuda convertible is now considered one of the most valuable collectible muscle cars (it had a V8 motor). Only thirteen were built, seven of which were sold domestically. The most recent public sale was at the June 2014 Mecum auction in Seattle, where a blue-on-blue 4-speed sold for US$3.5 million (plus buyers premium).
This Kindle book, 70 Forgotten Ghost Stories is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only 99 cents and Edgar Allan Poe - An Exhumation is available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only 99 cents
For a list of all of my digital books click here
No comments:
Post a Comment