As far as animal-based car names go, they tend to gravitate towards the mean, fast, aggressive, and/or tough side of the spectrum. I don’t know if buyers in 1965 would have filled showrooms to buy a cuddly Plymouth… Panda? The seller has this 1965 Plymouth Barracuda posted here on craigslist in Lakewood, Washington and they’re asking $8,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to local_sheriff for sending in this tip!
Plymouth first offered the Barracuda, oddly enough, on April Fool’s Day of 1964: April 1st, about two weeks before the Ford Mustang debuted. The idea was to call this car the Panda but that got shut down fairly quickly. Could you imagine a Hemi Panda? The first-generation cars were made until 1966 you already know that I’d prefer a first-gen Barracuda over any Mustang, but that’s just me. It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that the Barracuda name went away after the 1974 model year and it hasn’t been revived yet.
This example appears to be in good condition overall from what photos the seller has uploaded to their craigslist ad. The rear 3/4 angle is arguable the coolest of this era Barracuda. That rear glass is the stuff of legends, just don’t break it or you’ll break the bank.
The seller tells us that this car has had one owner for 57 years but we don’t know which end of the 58 years of being alive it was. I’m assuming the first 57 years. They say that it has minor rust but there are no detailed photos or underside photos showing anything alarming. The gold exterior, I’m assuming, has been repainted at some point and the gold interior appears to be in equally nice shape, although the seller mentions some water damage inside. Bucket seats and a center console for the three-speed TorqueFlite automatic shifter complete the sporty feel inside.
The “sporty feel” goes away, at least partially, when the hood is opened as this Barracuda has a 225 slant-six engine rather than a V8. The slant-six would have been factory-rated at 145 hp and 215 lb-ft of torque when new. They say that it runs great and Hagerty is at $9,900 for a #4 fair condition car – although that’s with a 273 V8 and I’m guessing that there is at least a 15-20% deduction for a six-cylinder. Have any of you owned a first-generation Barracuda?
Haven’t quite figured out how BFs does it. I don’t hear near as many people with memories these posts generate as me. Be that as it may be, right out of HS, ’73ish, a guy named Ron had this exact car, except a factory 4 speed. It burned oil, a LOT of oil, almost to the point, Ron could guarantee a “cloud” of smoke on demand. I remember he finally took the head off and there were puddles of oil on top of the pistons. I don’t remember it being anything fancy, a Valiant with a big back window, just another “beater with a heater”, and eventually junked. A Barracuda hadn’t attained the musclecar status yet, and like most of these “fastbacks” ( Marlin, Charger, etc) nobody wanted these. For that simple reason, it’s an amazing find.
So Howard – your friends 8 year old car burned oil – wow what a surprising comment from you.
These were rushed out to get ahead of the mustang but it was just a fancy valiant. They put that amazing piece of glass on the back and tada instant fast back. The slant six was a strong six cylinder but doesn’t make this one all that desirable. Myself I like the next gen notch or coupe with the Hi Po 273.
Not true, they were planning the Barracuda the same time as the Mustangs were being planned and there was no rush to see who was first.- its just that Plymouth came out first by a few weeks . Not a Ford guy, but debuting the Mustang at the Worlds Fair really trumped Plymouths debut, even if it was a few weeks later
These weren’t rushed out to beat the Mustang, that’s an urban legend . Both cars were in the design stages for years before they came out.
“Fancy Valiant”? Absolutely. But remember, the Mustang was nothing more than a fancy Falcon.
Yep – nothing like Ford putting a Mustang emblem over the Falcon Sprint horn ring – pull one off some time.
I had one with a 273. Fenderwell headers, sounded great. It was pretty fast, not today’s fast but fast for then.
LOVE that two tone roof!
As a kid in the sixties, I always enjoyed when a family friend would stop by occasionally to visit my father, and one day he showed up with a brand-new Barracuda, identical to this one. He always had cool cars even before that, like a 58 Vette and an MG. An obvious strong influence on my own developing automotive interests.
I had a 65 Barracuda like this back in the seventies. Mine was copper color with black interior. If you buy this and live in a warm state be prepared to put a/c in it. That back window turns the interior into an oven, and fortunately mine had a Montgomery Ward hang in a/c. When I would get into mine after sitting in the sun I could not touch the steering wheel until the a/c cooled it down some. I put a padded steering wheel cover on it and that helped. It had a 225 slant six with automatic and it performed well even with the a/c on.
I like the pink laundry basket option – that’s pretty HOT.
It looks light blue to me (?). Not as HOT but still COOL
My grandparents had this car in white. It was so hot on the inside with the big rear window and no A/C. My grandfather improvised and installed a set of Venetian blinds in the rear window. Lol. Voila problem solved except my grandmother could never see anything behind her when changing lanes and we were constantly getting honked at when she almost hit other cars. Oh the memories. Theirs had a push button gear shift too!
That backlight was made at Chryslers glass division (McGraw Glass) on Detroit’s west side. I remember talking with production workers that made it. It was the largest peice of sagged glass ever made. Quite spectacular then and now
As far as I know, I still own one of these. I left it in a field behind a friends house 20 years ago with some other cars that belonged to him. It was/is a formula S, hi po 273, four speed, 100% original and complete…BUT the poor thing went down a river in a flood in ’69 and was badly damaged from one end to the other.
With the prices beat up old wrecks are selling for, it may be the right time to dig it out ! LOL
I had one back in about 1992, purchased it for $200 bucks the owner had installed a after market cassette stereo and something happened with the wiring causing a dash fire melting the dash the windshield and the headliner. It had the V8 ran good. Not long after I was at the Everett mall and I seen one that had a lot of body cancer but nice wheels so I left a note on the windshield and eventually sold it to him for $400 bucks. Thinking back I should have kept it and looked for parts at Rays auto wrecking.
Ray’s Was Great. The Everett Mall, not so much.
What really popularized these cars, in the 60’s; and on the tracks, someone came out with this with a Hemi turbo powering from the back under the glass & it was labeled: Hemi Under Glass. That unto itself drew people to drag races to see the monster under glass. Ran like a jet. Wheelies were nothing for it. Ah, I love the smell of Nitro in the morning.
I remember the hemi under glass car. I had a 55 Chevy C gas car called Half-Fast. Didn’t like molars. But I did buy a 70 Coronet 426 hemi in 74 for 1300 bucks!
How do you feel about wisdom teeth Bob Novello ?
Here is that car being wrecked. .
https://youtu.be/OT789MAVVBs
Closest car I had was a 66 in same paint color, but a white interior; and it was the Formula ‘S’ with 4-spd and the hi-po 273! My 3rd car ever and I am now 73. Wish I had kept it along with many others in my lifetime which are now high $$$!!
Sweet looking car. That’s a long time for one person to own a car. I’ve always loved pre-1970 Barracuda, probably more than 1970 and later Cudas.
I have 6. Love them. 2 with AC. All V-8.
I have a restored 65 with the 273. This is a good deal for a complete and running vehicle. Mechanical parts are still available at your local NAPA store, body parts, not so much. Great car but no muscle.
Yep i bought mine from my pop worked 2 summers in 73/74 too buy it, formula S which was cool. In 78 i traded it for a Datsun 510. Good memories.
If only more pictures were posted on Craigslist. When you advertise a car for sale, the more pictures you can show the better.
Like Howard said “if you can read this bumper sticker I’m out of oil”
I had a 65 way back in 1972. 273 HiPo 4 speed. They came with a single exhaust and a large rectangular chrome exhaust tip. I paid three hundred for it, drove it over a year and sold it for 450. I patted myself on the back thinking I was a wheeler dealer. In retrospect, not so much.
With the “fancy Valiant” comment, etc., well, I gotta tell this joke that an old friend used to roll out every once in a while:
I got a day old pastry, a 1967 Dodge and you….
….also known as an old tart, an old Dart, and an old f**t.
Sorry, I know it’s bad, but I was unable to stop it!
If they would have stuck with “Panda” would the “Cudas” have been “Das”?
I have had 1 1964 Barracuda (parts car) and 2 1965 Barracudas. All three were red with black interior. (back in the ’70s) The parts car was a 273 V8 auto trans., one “65 was a 225 6 cylinder 3 on the tree and the other ’65 was a bored out 318 with hot cam and dual exhaust and auto trans. THESE CARS NEED SWAY BARS AND AN UPGRADE OF BRAKES OF ANY KIND! I completely burned out a set of brand new brakes shoes (on all 4 corners) Trying to get the car stopped from about 115MPH. Both feet on the brake pedal and pulling up on the steering wheel with all my might! I did not stop at the stop sign, but rolled through with smoke coming from all four wheel wells at about 20 MPH. Luckily no one else at the 4 way stop that day. (Wooded area, so unsure of traffic until you stop.) I loved my last Barracuda and sold it with approx. 32,000 miles on the clock in 1979.
I know this will get deleted but MAYBE someone will see it before it does. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In my eyes, these first year ones were uglier than homemade sin.
I’m in Canada and we never see them this rust free,it would cost 5 times as much in body work to get it to where this one is. The ones I see are patched.That’s a steal if the underneath is like the engine bay.
I love the slant six engine under the hood. Since when does a Barracuda have to have a fire-breathing V8 engine powering it, unless it’s a drag racer or a Nascar racer.
Owned both a 1965 Cuda (still do) and a 1965 Stang 2+2 and I’d take the Cuda any day just on the stock steering and handling.
My first one was in 1975 as we graduated and unknowing to my buddies I had gotten it going at the base hobby shop. Came up on my buddy from behind – who had got a 1965 Mustang convert for graduation – and he ran me about half a mile not knowing it was me. Pulled a fender on his 289/2V against that little 273/2V.
It’s great to see a car ad with the honest mileage statement of 282,000 instead of the typical obligatory 82,000.
Of course, that cuts the number of comments in half.
I’m with car nut. The slant sux is the bomb. Runs for ever strong. The person that pasted burning oil in six years. They forgot to put the oil plug in and drove it a while or something.
I’m with car nut. The slant six is the bomb. Runs for ever strong. The person that pasted burning oil in six years. They forgot to put the oil plug in and drove it a while or something.
I have 6, 65 Barracudas. All V8,s. 2 are formula S with ac. 1 with factory Disc brakes.
I owned three successive 1st Gen Barracuda’s over eight years while in the Air Force.
1. 1964 – I purchased my first Barracuda from the original owner in the late 1970’s. He was stationed in Florida in 1964 and had ordered a 1964 Plymouth Fury. While at the dealership about to sign on the line, a transport pulled in with a shipment of new cars… including a black 1964 Barracuda. He quickly forgot the Fury and bought the Barracuda on the spot.
He drove it stock for two years before pulling the 273 V8/push-button automatic. By the time he was done playing, the V8 had a 3/4 cam, titanium pushrods, domed pistons, a crank from a Dodge truck 360 V8, double-roller timing chain and gears, Mallory dual-point ignition, 10-quart oil pan, JR fender well headers, a torque limiter, and a 780 dual-feed 4bbl Holley. The slushbox was swapped for a Competition Plus four speed. He also pulled the tiny 13″ tires, installed a set of lug adapters, and machined 1965 Corvette 15″ magnesium mags to fit. He finished it off with a pair of wrinkle-wall slicks on the rear (had to cut out the rear wheel openings) and a forklift battery in the trunk’s spare tire well with the Positive cable running up to the starter.
He raced with Chrysler’s “Ramchargers” drag racing team for a couple of years in the Super Stock class. When I bought it from him, he showed me a couple of tricks he had installed:
• a toggle switch on the dash near his left knee. As he pulled up to the “Christmas Tree” lights, he’d flip the switch to cut out the alternator and run straight off the battery. Sounds negligible to me, but…
• re-machined the pull handle on the dash-mounted ashtray to be a slide-switch. His thumb could just reach the handle/hidden switch in third gear. He said when he’d reached the top of third gear, he’d push the switch to the right with his thumb and quickly shift into fourth. Hitting that switch would adjust his timing just enough to kick him across the line ahead of his opponent! Told me the inspectors never found it when looking for nitrous bottles.
He said with the weight of all that glass and the forklift battery in the trunk, he couldn’t get the tires to squeal, she’d just launch and cross the quarter around 98 mph in a little over 10 seconds!!!
Sadly, Hurricane Camille hit the base and the Barracuda sat in 18″ of salt water for a week and a half. Air Force promotions, a wedding, and resultant kids all became higher priorities as the “fish” sat… waiting.
Thankfully, he dragged the Barracuda with him when he was transferred to Michigan. That’s when I saw it in his front yard and quickly made it my own!
I lived in the base auto hobby shop when not on duty, sleeping, or eating. I pulled the heads and took them to the local speed shop to have cleaned, repaired and rebuilt (original owner said he’d twisted a valve in a race just before the hurricane hit).
Then, I pulled the tranny and carried it into a transmission repair shop. The “seasoned gentleman” came out from the back of the shop wiping his hands on a shop rag, spotted the gearbox sitting on the metal-topped counter and slowly approached it, never looking at me. He turning it this way and that, muttering, “Chrysler… mid-sixties… small block…”, then looked up at me with a smile and asked, “… missing third gear?”… to which I nodded, amazed.
He picked it up like it was his newborn baby and headed for the curtain, “C’mon”.
Once on the workbench, he carefully rolled it over on one side, exposing the access plate. He reached up to a ceiling-mounted air wrench, pulled it down, exchanged the socket, and with a few quick bursts, removed the plate. That’s when he reached in and then held out his hand revealing a handful of brass shavings.
“Third gear syncho is pretty much gone.”, he said while inspecting the cavity with a flashlight. Satisfied with his assessment, he turned to me and offered, “I’ll give her a good cleaning and replace all the synchro’s for $80. Have her ready in two weeks.” DEAL!!!
I spent that two weeks replacing the carb and getting the rest of the car ready. Our base Commander offered a strip of unused runway on Saturdays for bracket racing. My black “fish” wasn’t much to look at, leaving more than one person surprised!!
2. Drag racing is a very expensive hobby. The Sunoco gas station just off base was selling 102 octane gas at an unheard of $0.69/gallon. Way too expensive to use this high-powered, rusty fish as my daily driver. So, I saved a 1965 Barracuda with a 273 V8, center-console shifted Torqueflite from a nearby salvage yard and towed them both to a friend’s speed shop two hours south of the base. He put a friend of mine and me up for a week and gave us two bays in his shop to strip the dragster and swap what we could into the salvaged fish. In exchange, I gave him any parts we didn’t use and the ’64 carcass to turn in for scrap.
While there, his wife pulled in driving the car her husband built for her: a gorgeous white with blue stripe 1965 Barracuda. It was only a 225 Slant Six center-console shifted Torqueflite, but she was solid and running well. I told my speed shop buddy to contact me if he ever wanted to sell it.
I drove the de-tuned salvaged fish for another year until I saw my speed shop buddy’s Barracuda for sale in AutoTrader!!!! He’d lost my contact info and figured I’d see the ad.
3. As soon as I could arrange leave, I drove my salvaged fish to his shop, made a trade/cash deal, and drove my third Barracuda back to the base!!
Besides the awesome stock racing stripe, she was also equipped with:
• a dealer-installed, under dash AC unit and compressor under the hood (it only lacked the dual-belt pulleys and a charge to make it functional)
• a late 1965 spring-loaded trunk lid lift cylinder (1964 and early 1965 had a latching/collapsible metal slide, which often got bent)
• a stock rear window defogger (I found in a salvage yard’s 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. I took copious notes and measurements as I pulled the switch, bezel, wiring, and defogger motor and bracket)
• As I began rebuilding Plymouth’s “Leaning Tower of Power” and three-speed Torqueflite, I decided to build the rest of the car to be as close to or better than Plymouth’s “Formula S” specs for handling:
• Upgraded drums all around (Power Disc conversion was beyond my pay grade at the time as I was soon to muster out of the military)
• Dialed the front suspension as low as possible
• Installed the widest most aggressive tires that would fit (brand new from a car that lost in a RR crossing duel with a train)
• Replaced the tired rear leaf springs with NOS units
• Upgraded shocks and bushings
• Installed front and rear ADCO Sway bars (as beefy as possible)
With no Power Steering nor Power Brakes and all the suspension upgrades, I had the best handling, mid-sixties, “pony car” that stood out amongst the dime-a-dozen Mustangs and Camaro’s of the day, getting 20+ mpg and looking good while doing it!
Sadly, two years later (and newly married to an Italian Brunette) I had to make the choice all of us have to make:
• keep the car my wife could not drive (see aforementioned note about no power brakes nor power steering)
• sell the Barracuda and buy a “family car”
I sold it to a kid who didn’t know what he had. The last time I saw it in 1983 was in the parking lot of Oakdale Mall in Binghamton, NY. The left front fender was dented, the windshield was cracked, and the access panel in the rear had two rectangular speakers cut into it.
If ANYone knows how I can determine its current condition/location (without the VIN), please post your suggestions here. Now, close to retirement, I’d love another chance. TIA (as the kids text).