World's First-Ever HEMI 'Cuda Is the $2.2-Million Mother of All Barracudas

The ‘60s brought about the pony car – small body, big engine - and the ‘70s brought it to extinction (nearly). One exceptional pony was so different from everything else in its class; it wasn’t a horse at all. It wasn’t even a mammal, but a voracious sea-dwelling raptor.

Naming its creation after the aquatic equivalent of the wolverine, Plymouth didn’t envision what they had just done on April Fool’s Day in 1964. That was the moment the Barracuda model saw the light of day. Mother Mopar had no idea what practical joke she was playing on her competitors.

Mainly because, at the time, the competition was scarce, but two weeks later, the Mustang reared its way into the piston universe, and nothing would be the same again. The success of the newly-introduced Ford spawned an unexpected arms race between the U.S. carmakers – the horsepower tug-of-war.

The Barracuda wasn’t an early bird to the muscle party. Still, when it finally entered the rubber-smoking league, it came in firing a broadside of epic proportions. In 1969 (on August 1, to be specific), the very first Plymouth Barracuda equipped with Mopar’s signature 426 cubic-inch V8 came out of the assembly line.

The displacement alone doesn’t mean much, but the engineering of it was a decisive blow to everybody else. It was so brilliantly designed it remained unchanged for seven years, from 1964 to 1971, when it was sadly discontinued. In short, its cylinder heads had a very distinctive dome shape.

Chrysler called it hemispherical, although it wasn’t an actual half-sphere. To make it more appealing, marketing-wise, the long – and rather technical – name was trademarked as the HEMI. Gearheads are less pretentious regarding geometrics outside their crank-spinning immediate interests, so the name stuck.

Before leaving the stage, the engine turned several automobiles into downright legends. One of them is that slick oceanic predator, the Plymouth Barracuda. Equipped with the “elephant” HEMI engine (animal references were a strong sales point in that age), the car was sold as ‘Cuda. It was the range-topping version of all Barracudas, and its story began in the 1970 model year.

The competition was already fierce; the likes of Chevelles, Shelbys, Judges, and GSXs (to name but a selected few) had drawn first blood several years back. But the late-arrival ‘Cuda wasn’t deterred by its counterparts and stepped right into history.

In total, the model – the Barracuda, in all its iterations – lived for precisely ten years: April 1, 1964 – April 1, 1974. The economic warfare, fueled by international oil cartels, axed the big gas guzzlers forever.

However, the HEMI ‘Cuda came out just in time to shine bright on the V8-worshipping firmament. And the first one ever to be put together is – undisputedly – a mythological hero. It was the third Barracuda to be assembled on the new E-body platform for the 1970 production run. Crucially, it was the very first HEMI-powered one.

Its chassis number – 10003 – has somewhat of a Holy Grail aura, given its unicity. The car had a rather humble destiny, given the “time study” role Plymouth gave it. Namely, the automobile was to be taken to dealerships, where teams of mechanics would practice various works on it to get accustomed to the new model.

The car was to be torn apart and reassembled time after time so that the dealers could better estimate how long various procedures would last. And this is precisely what the first HEMI ‘Cuda did – it served as a punching bag for the wrench-yielding horde.

But forty years ago, the first-ever super-Barracuda met its current owner. The Alpine White paint has since been refreshed once – in the factory’s correct hue – but everything else is original and impeccable, mainly because the automobile received the honors it deserved and was put in museum storage in Auburn, Indiana.

However, the four-speed manual wasn’t kept off the road completely, so this 426 CID (seven liters) V8 fired its 425 hp (431 PS) salvos on the streets on more than one occasion. In total, the odometer collected 17.755 memory miles (28.571 kilometers).

The car is bone-stock original, making it the crown jewel of any collection. The moment has arrived for the car to change hands, but…

There is a big BUT here. Or, rather, $2.2 million of them, if we accept the exchange rate of one “but” per USD. The car is for sale, and its build number fully entitles it to raise the bar seven figures sky-high. Even though it is not the most expensive HEMI ‘Cuda (yet) and, obviously, isn’t as funds-vaporizing as other unique piston treasures, the first of its kind deserves every single dime.

The detailed specs of the car are – near as makes no difference – strictly informative, for this automobile is not to be bought for the cabin amenities or its drag stripping might. We’ll drop them here in honor of the legend that today stands before us.

It has the manual four-speed gearbox (the pistol grip shifter leaves no room for mistakes), black leather-and-vinyl bucket seats, an AM/with stereo 8 Track player and rear speakers, and an overhead console.

An excellent combination of factory options ads the Stripe Delete pack, a Tac Delete, and Premium trim. Outside, the primordial 1970 HEMI ‘Cuda sports front disc over rear drum brakes (all power-assisted), the unmistakable Shaker Hood, and the 3.54 rear differential Track Pack.