Plymouth Barracuda

In 1964 just two weeks before Ford introduced the Mustang, Plymouth of the Chrysler Corporation introduced the Valiant Barracuda, the first muscle car. The Plymouth Barracuda was assembled in Hamtramck, Michigan, and also in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from 1964 through 1974.

Plymouth made three generations of the Barracuda. The first generation was made from the Plymouth Valiant design from 1964 through 1966. The second generation was still a Valiant based redesigned A-body car, available in fastback, and convertible from 1967 through 1969. The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda was no longer based on the Valiant. John E. Herlitz designed the new model on a shorter wider version of Chrysler's B platform called the E-body. The original fastback was dropped from the line and the coupe and convertible models were the only models offered.

In the first generation of the Barracudas, Plymouth mainly used three engines, the 225 slant-6 , the 273 V8 180 HP, and the 273 V8 235 HP. In 1964 when the Barracuda first came out, Plymouth offered a 170 slant-6 engine. For the second generation Plymouth, they dropped the slant-6 in the 1967 model they used the 273 V8 180 HP, the 273 V8 235 HP and the 383 V8. In 1974 The Plymouth Barracuda would see it's last years. This was the last Barracuda made. It only offered two engines; the 318 V8 150 horsepower, and the 360 V8 245 horsepower. The engines that Plymouth used are what made it a muscle car.