During the 1960s, the Plymouth Barracuda was always in the sales shadow of the Ford Mustang. Even though it was introduced in the same market segment 17 days earlier. The car got a redesign in 1970 along with its own platform, the E-body (with the Dodge Challenger), which finally distanced the car from the Valiant compact. The seller has a rough project in the form of a 1971 convertible, which was born with a 318 cubic inch V8 and an automatic transmission. Its rarity today is driving the auction here on eBay, where the current bid is $30,700, reserve unmet. If you want to inspect the car in person, you’ll need to find your way to Shingle Springs, California.

Sales of the Barracuda improved by 50% from 1969 to 1970, so Plymouth had reason to be optimistic. Yet, demand took a two-thirds nose-dive in 1971, likely because of the car’s association with the muscle car market, which had become a target of the insurance companies. Out of only 16,492 Barracudas built in 1971, just 1,387 were non-Cuda convertibles, like the seller’s car. The number that has likely survived without going to the junkyard may only number in the hundreds.

If you decode this Plymouth, you’ll find that it left the factory wearing GB2 Blue Metallic paint. It was a bucket seat car with a console, and the 318 engine was paired with a floor-shifted TorqueFlite automatic transmission. Sometime in the past 55 years, the transmission was converted to a manual (3 or 4 speed and is it still around?

We don’t know what’s happened to it over the years, and the interior is mostly MIA after the collapse of the convertible top. The assumption is that what you see is what you get, so if it’s not in the photos, it’s not there for the extensive restoration this car will need. Would you restore it to factory specs, or would you opt for a ‘Cuda 340, 383, 440, or Hemi clone? Whatever the case, the acquisition price will not be cheap.