Classic cars come in some shapes and most sizes, and a good chunk of the gearhead crowd agrees that their looks will never be matched by their modern equivalents. That's due to the significant advancements in safety and aerodynamics that engineers couldn't even dream of back then.
We could babble about the styling differences between old and new cars and the strong points of each one for ages, though we'd better proceed to the topic that has brought us all here: a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda. The classic muscle car is part of the third generation and shared its nuts and bolts with the era's Dodge Challenger.
Anyone with a slight thing for muscly old-timers can tell you that it came with several V8 engine options, the greatest of which was the 7.0L HEMI unit. Lesser grades had to make do with two fewer cylinders. The pictured one, however, brings the largest displacement power unit available, a 7.2-liter V8, hooked up to the rarer three-speed automatic transmission offered alongside the three- and four-speed stick shifts.
In terms of power, the 440 Six Barrell, with its triple two-barrel carburetors, was good for 390 horses when it rolled off the line, 15 hp more than the four-barrel 440. As for the HEMI version, it rocked 425 horsepower, a staggering amount for a car born in the early '70s, as the third generation was made from 1970 to 1974. Subsequently, Plymouth dropped the model altogether due to the energy crisis, despite its engineers readying two separate clay concepts with Superbird-like aero.
Photo: Mecum
Believed to be one of 129 copies made with the Torqueflite automatic transmission, this 1971 Plymouth Barracuda comes in purple with white accents over a white interior. It boasts power windows, power steering, power brakes with discs at the front, an A36 Performance Axle Package, and, more importantly, a matching numbers drivetrain. The listing doesn’t speak about its ownership and mileage, but one of the images accompanying it reveals the latter at 64,554 miles (103,890 km).
It is impossible to tell whether it is the original mileage, as only the vendor and the car's owner know it. Speaking about the former, it is Mecum that's been charged with finding a new home for this Plymouth Barracuda, and they are advertising it for their Kissimmee auction in Florida that will kick off right after New Year's Eve.
The event is scheduled to run between January 2 and 14, 2024, and will include around 4,000 other exciting vehicles, with the said 'Cuda being one of the stars. The muscle car will be auctioned at no reserve, and judging by its overall condition, it should fetch a pretty penny. How much would you cough out for it?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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