1971 Plymouth Barracuda Cuda from North America - Comments

In the year I drove this car very little went wrong that wasn't due to my own tinkering and experimentation. A few loose electrical connections and new front disc calipers, that was about it.

The main problem was rust. Quarter panels, fenders, roof seams and the trunk and floor pans got it bad. Grinding it all out was a daunting task.

There was probably a list of sensible cars for kids just out of high school, and the 340 Cuda was not on it. Big, loud and quick, it was everything a young man could want, but probably not what he should have driven. I loved it.

Straight line acceleration was its strong suit with enough engine and tire noise to turn every head. Handling was above average, braking good, the stark cockpit was actually rather comfortable. This car could turn a late night run to the store into an adventure.

The 4-barrel 340 was rather thirsty and delivered 12 mpg, barely a notch above abysmal, but for a kid with hot wheels this didn't seem to matter much.

I almost hate to ask this, but reading between the lines I get the impression that you drove it for a year, and because it was a little too much to handle, you wrecked it or otherwise trashed it? It breaks my heart : (. But I suppose that's why the 1971's are skyrocketing in value, since there aren't many left. I bought mine for $900 in 1987 and still have it. The 1971 models were the more rare to begin with, and then a lot were wrecked because the power was too much temptation even back in the muscle car era. I finally took mine out of daily driver service a couple of years ago because it just seemed too irreplaceable to risk putting it on the street everyday, and have some uninsured idiot ram into it. Mine also has a 340, mildly built, but still close to stock. With no apologies to the purists, I replaced the mechanical point ignition with the Direct Connection electronic ignition package, and have zero regrets about losing the points. It sounds like a quiet, docile little 318 standing in front, but standing behind, you can hear how much air that high-compression engine is pushing through the cylinders. I pull up next to people, and the deep rumble of the exhaust (all perfectly bone stock, mind you) sets their camper shell to rattling on pick-up trucks. If you take it easy and barely touch the throttle, it almost drives like a nice, quiet, docile little 318--if you can ignore the constant rumble of the high-compression 340--but when you punch it, it feels like it's going to get airborne! Most cars when you punch it, there is a momentary pull back into the seat, but this car just keeps pulling and pulling. Driving steadily on the highway I have gotten about 20 mpg. Manual shifting for speed, the shift point is at 4200 rpms, and at those rpms it will do about 40 mph in first, and 80 in second. I love the simplicity--the only car I've ever seen with the forethought to put the dashboard illumination lights in a place where you can actually change them without removing the dashboard! The only drawback, which I've only recently been able to accept, is that this car is WAYYYY overpowered compared to its stopping ability. The hydraulic, non-power, drum brakes are not a good match for the 150-miles-per-hour that this car will do. If you want a driver, and not a preserved museum piece, the front power disk brake aftermarket upgrade would be a good move. I should say that mine tops out at about 150 because of the gearing. That speed is achieved at 4300 rpms, and even though the engine has a lot left above that (stock redline was about 8,000), it has reached its speed limit because of the gearing. The other drawback is finding suitable gasoline. With the stock 10.5:1 compression pistons, you WILL get pre-ignition pinging on pump gas, and the closer you get to 100 octane, the better. With 95 octane, you can drive modestly and cruise on the highway, but will ping accelerating up hills. The best fuel is aviation gasoline (not sure about the carbon deposit issue, so keep it periodic), but the additives that really get you close to 100 octane are a must. 104 used to be good, but then they watered it down, so now I like Outlaw. The gas mileage is good enough for a daily driver, but what kills you is adding the $20 bottle of octane booster, and the $4 bottle of lead additive to every tank of gas. Thankfully, my days of driving like that are over, and now I just enjoy periodically cruising the back roads doing 40 mph, smelling the fresh cut hay in the summer evenings. Definitely one of the coolest cars ever made, a timeless classic with unassailable performance and looks for over 30 years. This is a car that turns as many or more heads than it did in 1971.

Got my '71 Barracuda convertible new in its model year. Equipped with a 318 V-8 it was, of course, not a muscle car, but certainly packed enough punch for any highway driving. Engine and transmission were overhauled at 252,000 miles and the car has had several interior and exterior re-dos. It presently looks and drives much as it did 35 years ago and the beautiful, clean design lines turn heads whenever it's on the road. Hats-off to the engineering and design team!

Update to the original post:

My barely one year ownership experience was due to the car needing increased maintenance attention when I had school and work to contend with. The crummy mileage didn't help either (turns out there was a hole melted through a piston, and not by me) so I traded the Cuda for a Honda. My economy tripled overnight and the maintenance requirement went to almost zero. Of course the performance and fun factors also went to zero, but life is flawed. The Cuda was an experience that won't be soon forgotten and I'd have one again today were it not for the astronomical prices they are fetching.

You said in the review that most of what went wrong with the car was because of your tinkering and experimentation, so why the 6 out of 10 for reliability? You also said that the cockpit was rather comfortable and then gave it a 5 out of 10.

It's just too bad that we didn't have foresight when we were younger. I was lucky to purchase my car slightly after high school, and am equally lucky that my dad cared enough about me to help with the car, otherwise it would be in someone else's garage right now. If we could only see the future and all those zero's on the checks that purchase these cars today, I doubt anyone that sold them back in the day would part with their ride, knowing it would be next to impossible to buy one now for the average person.

But I guess that's part of why the value is so high right now, everyone wants one, the ritzy rich, the average, to the people living below the poverty line.

The new Challengers are still out of the price range for most of the potential buyers. If the government and auto makers want to restrict the purchasing of performance cars, why don't they make it an even playing field instead of allowing only the wealthy to dictate the market. It happens all the time; one person believes they know what's best for everyone, and convinces other people to follow their cause like lemmings. Idiot politicians and bureaucrats, who probably haven't ever driven a muscle car, stopping or at least waning the sales of muscle cars, forcing the auto makers into making production changes, is one of the biggest reasons so few cars such as ours exist today, in turn adding to the value.

Even the automakers ruined some of the models like the Cuda/Barracuda by offering smaller, lighter, cheaper performers such as the Duster. I guess when we keep giving them 800 billion dollars every time the economy turns to crap, they just stay in control. Since Obama was elected, over 1.5 trillion dollars has bailed out companies that were in trouble. 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS! How many people live in the world, 6 billion, how about the next time the government has a brain fart, they give the money back to the people that have been paying taxes their entire lives. 1.5 trillion divided by 330 million, hows that for economic stimulus.

How do I remove the dashboard with A/C on my Cuda-72?

It's way easier with no windshield.