I’m not going to bellyache about a seller being skimpy on a car’s history and details. The seller shares that it was in a person’s collection in Nevada for 55 years and was sold as part of a three-car group by the owner’s estate. The next owner, a Nevada police officer, had it for several years, did a lot of work to it, and the car has had two owners since then, one being the seller. The exterior is in very good condition. This first-year ‘Cuda looks sharp in its Code AA-1 Barracuda Gold Poly paint that is very presentable. I’m not spotting any rust or accident damage, but I wish the seller had included photos of the undercarriage. The chrome, trim, and glass (including that massive 14.4 square foot rear window) looks very good.
The ‘Cuda’s gold and medium brown interior looks good overall and is “very Valiant” in appearance. There is some visible wear on the driver’s bucket seat and the woodgrain steering wheel is wrapped and a brown dash pad is atop the instrument panel. (They may or may not be hiding cracks or other imperfections.) The back seat, which Plymouth advertised as seating three, looks very good and the factory air conditioning is said to blow cold. Although a four-on-the-floor stick shift with Hurst linkage was available, this ‘Cuda left the factory with a push button TorqueFlite automatic transmission. It was also ordered with optional power steering.
Under the hood, you won’t find a Slant-Six, but the desirable 273-cubic-inch V8 that has been rebuilt (with receipts). When new, it could generate 180 horsepower at 4200 rpm. The seller says the upgraded disc brakes have been newly replaced and the car has a new aluminum radiator, new exhaust, and new coated factory headers. I’ve always liked the look of the ’64 and ’65 first-generation Barracudas. Given Plymouth’s limited budget, they did a decent job of making the vanilla Valiant into something a little more sporty.
When these came out I wasn’t quite driving yet but I remember thinking, “that would be a heck of a back window to break”.
Sixty years later I’m still thinking the same thing. I can’t imagine new replacements are available. And what would the cost of a “used” window be if one could even be found?
From what I’ve read and heard, they’re not as hard-to-find or expensive as you’d think.
Hi Arron,
There are quite a few on Facebook ranging from $100 to over $600 in used condition.
I always thought these were almost as cool as the Ford Cortina GT my dad drove.
In later years, I always imagined that the rear window let in an incredible amount of sunlight and made it difficult to keep the interior cool. A cool interior is essential in Southern California.
I saw a car just like this one at a cars and coffee in Tustin. It brought back a lot of memories.
They ain’t that hard to find.
I would trade my 31 model A coupe for that in a heartbeat.
Joe
Cheyenne, Wy
Seems it would take a lot of effort to break it. Front windshields are a lot more vulnerable (deers, birds, and such). Even most accidents would not impact (literally) the rear window; if it did the car would probably be totaled anyway.
I saw a rebuild show on TV and they replaced one for $1600, but the show was a few years old.
This one’s right up my ally. I happen to own a very early `65 Barracuda with some unusual features. My mom was the first owner; it had been a factory rep’s car that our dealer snagged. Mainly, its red with a black factory vinyl top (think `65 Dodge Dart GT). I cannot find any production figures to tell me how many were so equipped. And I have only seen `66 models with vinyl tops–not many but one or two in my lifetime. My car has 14″ wheels vs. 13″, came equipped with the 2bbl. 273 V8, PS, PB, AM radio. The red interior is in original shape but the carpet has faded over 60 yrs. It doesn’t currently run, and I’m needing to sell it.
I had a red ’64 a red ’65 and a blue ’65. I really like these and wish I had another. But not currently in the cards. Removing one of those rear glass to keep as a spare was not easy. Laying on your back and pushing out with your feet is quite the experience. Particularly in a junk yard in the summer in the 95 degree sunny 80% humidity day. A non-formula S car needs quite a bit of suspension and brake upgrades. I’m always watching for another one.
This looks like the same car that was on barn finds in December.
https://barnfinds.com/pristine-machine-1964-plymouth-barracuda/
Price then was $25000, now $23300. It may have sold then and new owner selling it now or it’s that same owner lowering his price.
Looks like the same seller, or a lazy flipper who is re-using the same pics. Probably the former.
Yes, you can buy these cheap, but this one looks pristine. So if you want one, why bother starting out with one that needs everything?
Thanks for the link to jog my memory. I thought I had seen it before as soon as I saw that ridiculous fish decal on the rear hatch.
Yep….it’s been for sale for awhile now….they aren’t for everybody…..
Hemi-underglass potential!
https://youtu.be/LabX19ocJZA?si=PDZRQGme1UKtV8QO
I had one of these as my first car. It was great to take to the drive-in, especially if it was an all- nighter! Pull in backwards, lay down the back set and the wall to the trunk, through in a couple of pillows and get comfortable. Such good times. Mine was a slant 6, push button automatic. It turned low 19’s at the drag strip. Not fast, but consistent. Left most days with a trophy and sometimes the money. Boy did the guys get upset. They were sinking all kinds of money in their engines, and was walking, or should I say driving, away with the wins. Kinda like the tortoise and the hare! 😁
That window can be surprisingly cold on a winter night…..
It’s a shame this Barracuda’s 3000 miles away from me, or it might be coming home with me.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the first generation Barracuda’s. In 1965 my mother wanted a Barracuda in the baby blue color they had. A neighbor owned a Chrysler/Plymouth store, and one night my parents went to his dealership to buy my mother her Barracuda. Our neighbor was away and one of his salespeople said or did something to annoy my father. The next night they went to a different dealer, and somehow came home with a Fury I wagon instead of the Barracuda. I was heart broken when I saw the wagon, and so was our neighbor when he returned and found out what had happened while he was away.
Why are so many of the nice clean cars on here in Washington state?
NW cars don’t see the rust causing salted roads. And doesn’t have the dry hot sun baking the paint and interiors. PLUS Curvett does a great job of finding them!
The late 60’s to mid 70’s Sunbeam Alpine Fastback looks similar like a smaller version of a Barracuda. I believe that Sunbeam was under the Chrysler umbrella at this time as my wife had a 67 Alpine and on the lower front fender was the Chrysler star emblem. I don’t remember if my Alpine Fastback I had at the same time had the star emblem or not.
My 1967 Sunbeam tiger Mark 2 has the same pentastar emblem on the left fender down low and on the seat belt. Yes by then Chrysler own them.
I believe the Chrysler branch was called Rootes (spelling?) And I have thought that the body style was similar also.
Yep….they had bought them in 1966 I believe with Chrysler putting out a dealer brochere – which I have – as well as the pentastar on the fender for 1967….they shut down the production as they couldn’t sell a Tiger with a Ford motor in it.
The first pony car was a Mustang hence the term pony!
The Barracuda was out two weeks earlier. Its a well known fact .
I loved these right when they first came out — especially the gold ones. I thought the Mustang was ugly and disproportionate with its chopped-off rear end (STILL do!!!). Too bad that a nice ’64 Barracuda is so pricey now. The very fact that it looks more Valiant than sporty is exactly why I like it. And a V-8 automatic such as this would be right up my alley. I can drive a standard — don’t get me wrong — but I like 1940s standards which were made so that an 87-year-old woman could shift them and operate the clutch. Not like the ones you need MUSCLES to operate. PERFORMANCE is the LAST concern I have with a car: comfortable and easy to drive, along with reliably long-lasting, are what I look for — and too old to have air-bags.
I was 10 years old when these came out. There was a dealer showing them off at the 4-H fair and they had a gold one just like this one, push button automatic, white walls the works. I believe it was a V8 also. What I like about these is you could open the trunk lid, lay flat the back wall, lay flat the rear seat and practically put a sheet of drywall back there. It was like a station wagon or small truck. Very versatile car for 1964.
Yep, the ’64 Barracuda sales brochure bragged about how you could have 7 feet of “anything” space when you dropped the security panel and back seat. The brochure shows a beach boy type loading in a surfboard.
Hi Angel! My Grandmother and step grandfather had just moved up from Tennessee and had used up their ’53 Chevy pulling the U’Haul trailer. (We lived in the south suburbs of Chicago then) So they went looking for a new car. They came home and gave me a toy Barracuda and Comet. (They didn’t purchase either one) They were about 1/24th scale. My 11year old self took instantly to the Plymouth. I didn’t really like the Comet. I played with those cars until there was nothing left of them. Once they didn’t roll properly I had no use for them. That toy Barracuda shaped my preference for them at an early age. And I have had 3.
Hey Wayne,
Always a pleasure to hear from you. Not sure if I mentioned this before, im sure I have, my parents bought a new 1953 Chevrolet 150, black, about the only options on it were a heater and am radio. By then turn signals were pretty much standard equipment. Mom and her cousin drove me (then 2 months old) from New Jersey to Colorado and back in it. My mother loved Colorado.
Those 1/24 cars sound really nice. Were they metal or plastic? Wouldn’t it be great if you still had them?
Always wishing we still had my brothers Tonka trucks. They were metal but as you did, we kids played the hell of them.
Me too….sister’s BF in 1967 had a silver 1965 which is maybe why but more reasons why I like them….
Angel they were plastic and long gone. Yes, it would be cool if I still had them. I soon became a Corvette fan as Dad brought home a ’55 Vette to restore. Once done and sold, we started on a mildly crashed ’58 Vette which we restored and Dad kept it as his daily driver.
YOU are YOUNG!!! only ten years old in 1964? I am old enough to be your father, Young Lady!
Actually Harrison, you are old!(lol) just like the rest of most of us!
You want to be my daddy, Harrison? 😆😆😆😆😆
This is pretty cool, I haven’t listed mine yet, but I have a 64 1/2 273 4spd Gold/ black interior, .stock set up. Outside Philadelphia.. time to clean house, 4 other cars to sell too.. No time, no money, my custodian days are closing…
Looking at the pictures and the location I almost thought it could be the one I sold back in 1989 for $400 bucks, restored of course I had purchased it from the original owner for $200 he had installed a after market cassette player and it malfunctioned and caught fire so the dash, windshield and head liner had damage the rest of the car was clean I got it thinking it would be a easy fix but pre internet parts were harder to track down than what I planned for. One night I went to the movies at the Everett mall and there was one in the parking lot with a lot of body cancer but it was jacked up in the back and had decent wheels so I left a note on the windshield andththe kid and his dad came out and purchased it from me
It’s a nice one….not seeing the 1964 only emblems but no one cares…..
@Wayne
Sounds like you had a cool Dad.
I did. He’s been gone 25 years now and I still miss him terribly. He would have been with me 100% of the way while I built this house. I used to live across the street from my father in law who was an ex-tool and die maker. Between him, my Dad and myself. There wasn’t anything we couldn’t fix. We did many things that people said couldn’t be done. And the 3 of us were regularly in one of our garages doing a project together. And there was always a running dialog as to who’s crazy idea this was this time. And the poker playing was ruthless. All in good fun naturally. We just played penny ante and invited a neighbor to join us one evening. He lost $20 in less than 20 minutes. He later said that the next time we wanted him included in our game. He would just send his wife over with a $20 spot.
I had one of these in the “70s. Same color and engine, but mine was a 4 speed.
I recall my dad bringing home one of these from work (someone traded it in on a Mustang) when I was a kid. That back window was just…Vast! My sisters and I took turns climbing behind the seat and it felt like a terrarium. Apparently they called them “Backarudas” at work. This one looks to be quite nicely turned out.
My little brother used to sit backwards in the “glass hatch”, and pretend to be a fighter pilot with a football helmet..
I remember laying in the back of ours as a kid, watching the sky go by. As I recall, it was a 273 with console shift and a “trailer-towing” rear axle, as my dad called it many a time.
Thinking about it, how could the Mustang NOT be the first pony car? It is the vehicle that coined the term to begin with.
I guess that makes the Barracuda the first fish car(?). But didn’t the Marlin come out before?
Sorry Daniel, I just saw your comment after making my post.
To Angel: you’d quickly tire of me as a parent: all those 1930s, 1940s, 1950s 78 rpm records that I play constantly, that just about nobody else remembers. I AM OLD; however, I don’t FEEL particularly old, at least in spirit (physically, however, is another matter, sometimes). And a bit lonely: everyone else I once knew lies in the ground, except for one who is in a nursing home and has no idea where he is, or who I am when I come to visit him: ten years with Alzheimer’s will DO that to ya, sadly.