426 Hemi Powered: 1967 Plymouth Barracuda

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With all the hoopla surrounding the introduction of the Ford Mustang in 1964, it was overlooked that Plymouth, too, introduced the same kind of car – 17 days earlier. Just as the Mustang was derived from the Falcon, the Barracuda was a byproduct of the Valiant. It never sold as well as its Dearborn competitor, with 62,000 copies at the peak vs. the Mustang’s 607,000. The car got a redesign in 1967 along with the Valiant and interest perked up a bit. Including this fastback that has a 426 cubic inch Hemi under the hood where a 273 V8 originally lived. It’s available through a dealer in Oconee, Florida, and here on eBay where the bidding holds at $31,499 with an unmet reserve.

The Barracuda had its best sales year in 1967, with the fastback accounting for nearly half the production (30,110). The seller doesn’t identify this car as the performance-oriented Formula S (the forerunner of the ‘Cuda), so perhaps it’s not. There no background details are provided by the seller, so we must assume that information was not made available to the dealer to capitalize upon. But chances are this was a regular fastback that was transformed into a muscle car by a prior owner.

Given the condition of the Plymouth and the insertion of Chrysler’s famed Hemi engine, we conclude this automobile was restored at some point. The body and paint are excellent, but we don’t know if this is the original color. The red and white interior, if an original combination, would only work on a red, black, or white exterior paint job. Everything looks quite nice until you open the trunk and find an ample supply of surface rust on the floor. Was this overlooked in a restoration or did a problem bring it about later?

The ”D” code in the VIN supports the roots of a 273 from the factory. Assuming a professional installation was done, the Hemi would add a lot of weight to the front end, so hopefully, things were beefed up to support that extra bulk. An automatic transmission is part of the set-up but is it original or was it replaced with the motor? The overall mileage for the car is under 70,000 miles. This looks like a beautiful automobile with the trunk being the major flaw. Since you couldn’t get a 1967 Barracuda with a Hemi, what’s the top-end value for this car going to be?

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Comments

  1. alphasudMember

    It’s a good looking car in white with the white/red interior. Definitely a drivers car over a beauty queen. I can’t understand why they wouldn’t have spent a little time to clean the trunk and apply rust converter and shoot it in white. And more importantly find out where the water is coming in and fix it. With this car you are buying 2 things. The price of the 426 Hemi and a #3 ish Barracuda. I would think the combination of the 2 would be the selling price.

    Like 9
    • bobhess bobhessMember

      Agree. Nice clean installation of the drive train. One thing I’d do as the brand new owner is shorten and widen the oil pan. Hook that once on something immovable and you’ve made a mess out of a good car.

      Like 6
  2. Mopar mama

    Lots of questions. It has 1968 taillight and trunk trim and 1967 backup lights. Wonder if they did anything with the brakes or just left the 10” drums. Lets hope they at least put some disks on the front or your first trip may not end well

    Like 0
  3. Mike K

    This is really nice, I’ve always loved the body style, and the Hemi makes it that much sweeter ! I’d be proud to put this in my garage, and wouldn’t mind putting my foot into it getting on the freeway! I can just imagine how this thing pulls !!

    Like 6
  4. spq1972@hotmail.com StanMember

    Mopar or no car the Chrysler fans say.

    Like 4
  5. Cold340t

    Gone! 8:30pm west coast time. $37k for a nice driver. Lucky new owner.

    Like 5
  6. Lonemalt

    No new owner. Reserve not met

    Like 3
  7. Sterling

    i am not saying this motor came with car but it could have! back then to sell one more car a dealer would make these changes in a order but some time the motor code would not be changed. just like you could order the paints that no other person has and most time but not all times do this paint order get put on the tag. most times they took a white car and put this custom order color over the white and the tag would show the car as white not the custom paint color. same thing with custom motors!

    Like 1
  8. Mike

    For all that money and you have a flex hose on there????? Smh

    Like 5
  9. Norman K Wrensch

    The transmission would of had to be changed when the Hemi was put in seeing that the bellhousing bolt pattern is considerably different between the hemi and a small block Mopar

    Like 3
  10. moosie moosie

    If you scroll past the EBAY listing to see the full size pictures there’s a picture of the load floor below the rear glass and it shows rotten damaged carpet with stains from something that was stored on ’em that rusted, that and the nasty rusty looking trunk floor says this had (might still) have a leaky rear glass. But it is a nice enough cat that I’d love to own . In those pictures it also shows the right side front fender with 3 holes in between the red stripes , I wonder whats up with that , maybe they changed their mind on where to put the 426 HEMI emblems ???

    Like 0
  11. Phil D

    The interior is most certainly not original. It wasn’t until the late ’70s that white seats and door panels were available with anything but black accessories/trim. The interior may have been red and the seats and door and quarter trim cards replaced with white, or they may have recovered or replaced everything if a complete color change was involved.

    Like 0
  12. Emel

    Now I see what Plymouth was doing here with these fastbacks.
    To match the Mustang fastbacks.
    Personally it was a good idea….not a great execution of putting that idea into a car.
    For either car.
    Rather have the 1970 thru 1974 Cuda 3rd gen body.

    Like 1
  13. Car Nut Tacoma

    Lovely looking car. I’ve always preferred daily driver cars over concours d’elegance beauty. I hope whoever bought the Cuda enjoys it.

    Like 0
  14. Troy s

    Hot rod Barracuda, if it runs anything like those original Hemi powered Cuda race cars……prepare to be scared shootless, ha ha,
    Not a muscle car just a built street/strip car with the emphasis on strip. Nice ride!

    Like 0
  15. KarlS

    I have a 67 formula S barracuda and the formula S insignia is below where the two red stripes are on this car. And then the ad didn’t mention what the rear end ratio was or even whether it was a Dana 60 or what would have come with the Commando 273, an 8 3/4 rear end. Otherwise, nice car and well bought.

    Like 0

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