Field Find Project: 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

The Plymouth Barracuda tried to come out of the Ford Mustang’s shadows when it was given a new E-body platform in 1970. Its roots to the Valiant compact were finally gone, and sales jumped by 50% in the first year, the car’s best sales performance over the next five years. This ’70 Barracuda may have been rather ordinary when new, with a 318 cubic inch V8 automatic transmission. Years later, it finds itself as a project out in a field in Kamloops, British Columbia, and it’s available here on craigslist for $16,900 CDN (roughly $12,000 $USD). Another tip from our western tip expert, “Curvette”!

Timing for the reinvention of the Barracuda (and Dodge’s addition of the Challenger) was not the greatest. By 1970, rising insurance rates had put a damper on muscle car sales, and both these makes had their fair share of them. So, in 1971, Barracuda production numbers would drop by two-thirds. And continue to be dismal until Chrysler gave up on both pony cars in 1974. But in 1970, Plymouth found buyers for 13,000 Barracudas with the 318/TorqueFlite combo.

This ’70 Barracuda (not a ‘Cuda) has seen some hard times. Part of the front clip and a matching door have been replaced, so we assume it was an accident at some point. And it’s sitting exposed in a field in Western Canada, so it’s probably gotten quite cold during the winter months. The seller says it has “good bones,” though the car has the “typical” E-body rust. The Rallye Red paint has run its course, and some Bondo has been lavishly applied to the right side rear quarter.

The Plymouth has a black and white interior combination, but everything is probably ready to be pulled out and given an extreme makeover. Does it run? We don’t know, and we doubt it. The odometer supposedly reads 65,000 miles, but it could easily be 165,000. The car no longer has a fender tag, so was it removed to benefit another project Barracuda? However, we’re told the VIN matches all of the car’s body stamps, so it probably isn’t far from being original. Would you consider the asking price fair for what you’ll have to work with?