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Volvo: Safety Beyond the Star RatingsCool Car Find: 1967 Plymouth Barracuda
We’ve found a patriotic Mopar that pays homage to Sox & Martin dragsters. Check out this Plymouth Barracuda find!
Older Barracudas Deserve Some Love
Mopar fans commonly point to the beginning of the 1970s as the best time in muscle car history. This short period before the 1973 Oil Crisis is where the Plymouth Cuda shined its brightest. In 1970, the Plymouth muscle car showed off new eye-catching sheet metal, came in a series of bright High Impact Paint options, provided customers with a number of exterior decal kits, had different performance hoods coops, and featured that rumbling 440 CID HEMI V8. It’s hard not to love these pinnacle pieces of the American muscle car era, but the Barracuda prior to this time was just as wonderful.
Today, we’re taking a look at a cool car find that proves older Barracudas deserve some admiration, includes a bit of drag racing history in it, and bakes in a little patriotism too.
The Second-Gen Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda originally came about in response to Ford’s plans for the new Mustang in 1964. Plymouth’s fastback coupe was based off of the Valiant of the same time, carried either a slant-six engine or a 273 CID V8, and was almost dubbed the Panda. Thankfully, the Barracuda name prevailed and actually beat the Mustang to the market, but it made only a fraction of the sales Ford had that year.
The muscle car would undergo its first refresh for 1967 and ushered in the second-generation Plymouth Barracuda. While this generation didn’t deviate from sharing parts with the Valiant, it did receive some unique sheet metal that made the Barracuda look distinctly different. The exterior received that Coke-bottle styling that was popular of this time that featured wider wheel arches and long body curves. Plymouth also provided customers with the choice of fastback, hardtop, or convertible version of this Barracuda.
Under the hood was either a base slant-six, numerous V8s, or the first instance of a Hemi in the Barracuda. Just 50 instances of the 426 CID Hemi V8 toting second-gen Barracuda existed and were specifically made for the Super Stock drag racing class. These drag purposed Super Stock Barracudas were assembled by the famous Hurst Performance brand and featured their Hurst Competition Plus floor shifter mated to the Hemi.
Hurst made sure to cut as much weight from these cars as they could. Fiberglass fenders, lighter weight glass, and special lightweight seats were installed. The company also removed any unnecessary components commonly found in consumer vehicles like insulation. Hurst then installed a functioning wide mouth hood scoop to these Super Stock Barracudas to help with air intake for the drag racing engine. The Super Stock Barracuda then went on to etch itself into the motorsport’s history books with the help of some drag racing icons.
Drag Racing Legends: Sox & Martin
If you know drag racing, you know of Sox & Martin. The team up of Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin created one of the most successful drag racing teams and further catapulted Mopar cars into popularity. Their red, white, and blue 1968 Super Stock Barracuda rocked the drag strips with Ronnie “Mr. Four-Speed” Sox behind the wheel. The team pushed their Barracuda to win tons of events across the USA and helped them secure both the ‘68 and ‘69 NHRA Nationals.
Sox & Martin went on to use a number of other Plymouths throughout their career, but this short period with the Barracuda of the late 1960s is fondly remembered by racing fans. They were an all-American racing team with a paint job to match and helped make Mopar what it is today. The duo was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2007, just a year after Ronnie Sox’s passing.
’67 Barracuda: ‘Merica Mopar
Now onto our Cool Car Find, this restomodded 1967 Plymouth Barracuda that acts as a street faring tribute to Sox & Martin. No, it isn’t the ‘68 Super Stock with the Hemi under the hood, but it does a good job of looking like one. It has the same red, white, and blue paint job that Sox & Martin had made so famous and features that wide mouth hood scoop. It is missing the blue tinted light covers and glass that the dragstrip duo used on their cars, but that’s because this muscle car is made for the road rather than the track.
The engine is a nicely finished 360 CID V8 Mopar crate engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission. So, there’s still plenty of Mopar motor under that hood, but a bit more manageable power than the wheel spinning Hemi of yore. This Barracuda also features some SSBC-USA performance brakes and Strange S/T Series drag axles. The tires are obviously not drag radials, but the Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires wrapped around some Cragar Series 32 Keystone Klassic wheels will grip just as well out on the road.
While the aftermarket bits make this Barracuda still sound like a fast little number, the dealer notes that shoppers shouldn’t “cast it off as some dusty old pink slip collector that only lives at the track.” That’s probably one of my favorite descriptions of those classic muscle cars that still run at the dragstrip I’ve ever heard, but that sentiment shows on the inside. The interior presents more of a cruiser than something Ronnie Sox would have raced in.
Chrome trim nicely accents the blacked-out interior that the restoration team painstakingly crafted for this Barracuda. The two front bucket seats are reminiscent to the ones found in a Sox & Martin car, but they’ve been covered in vinyl and a custom-made center console resides between them. Also, unlike the dragsters, this Barracuda features a folding rear bench seat to haul additional passengers along for the ride.
Mopar racing influence is visually represented throughout the vehicle too. There is carbon fiber in the dash, carbon fiber inlaid into the design of the door panels, white aftermarket Mopar gauges, an aftermarket Mopar steering wheel, and a Hurst shifter with a double bend shift handle connected to a white shift knob. While hearing the rumbling engine may be what you want in a muscle car, this one features added sound deadening material underneath the fresh black carpet to create a quieter cabin space. Adding to the comfort inside is the addition of air conditioning and a radio connected to an updated audio system.
This 1967 Plymouth Barracuda is as American as it gets. It’s a Mopar that represents some of America’s great racing heritage, features the colors of our flag, and even has a sticker along the hood scoop that reads “Merica” using the Mopar “M”. It’s awesome. Whoever ends up with this nicely restomodded muscle car will surely enjoy it. Be sure to check it out along with the rest of the great cars found at Streetside Classics on Carsforsale.com.
