The Plymouth Barracuda of 1970 :

For 1970, the Barracuda was all new. Along with the Challenger, the Barracuda launched the short lived E-body line-up.

The E-body was essentially a shortened wheelbase 68-70 B-body. That is why the suspensions and engine compartments are almost alike. Everything behind the front fenders is unique to the E-body.

Well, with the styling change, Chrysler dropped the fastback, but retained the hard top and convertible. And thus began the more popular generation of the Barracuda.

Also with the demise of the A-body, came the demise of the Formula "S".

The base 'cuda came with the 335 hp 4-bbl 383 big block engine. But that was just the beginning. If you were willing to part with a few more bucks, you could have four other engines. The first step up was the 275 hp 4-bbl 340.

People usually assume that the 340 was the base engine because it was a small block putting out less power than the 383. But in actuality, the 340 torqued up a lot quicker than the 383, and there was considerably less weight to pull around, which helped straight line acceleration and cornering ability immensely

This made the 340 'cuda the best overall performance package of any '70 'cuda offered, except for the AAR.

The next step up was the 440 block, which you could have in either 375-hp 4-bbl form, or the 390 hp 6-bbl version. The king of the hill was the 425-hp 426 Hemi engine.

These cars also got stiffer suspensions, and the Hemis came with 15" rims as standard.

The 440 6-bbl has always played second fiddle to the Hemi in the public's perception, but the truth is that it was just as fierce a competitor on the strip, and could whip the Hemi between street lights. This is because, like the 340, the 440 torqued up quicker than the Hemi.

And torque is correlated to acceleration. Power, which the Hemi had more of, correlates to speed.

So between two identically prepared 'cudas, differentiated only by the block, the 440-6 would jump out in front. The Hemi car will only catch it over a significant distance.

The Hemi 'cudas came standard the Cold Air Grabber (commonly known as the shaker hood). On the Hemi, bringing the cold air in could mean as much as a gain of 20 horsepower. Most shakers in '70 were textured silver, except for red cars, which got red shakers. The shaker was also standard on the AAR.

Standard on the others was the beautiful performance hood. It came with two non-functional scoops that covered most of the hood, and looked enormous from the passenger compartment.

Cars equipped with the shaker, or the 440-6, were not available with air conditioning, because the compressor could not co-exist with the air cleaner.

If you wanted, you could even get your front, or both, bumpers covered with urethane and painted body color.

More in the way of the appearance of the beast were options for a rear spoiler, and the window louver package, which also included a black vinyl top and textured window chrome, which was painted black. Road lamps below the front bumper came standard. The dual exhaust actually exited through two cutouts in the rear valence panel. The tail light panel was painted an ominous black.

Sales were much improved over 1969. Just over 17,000 'Cudas were built in '70, including the convertibles and the AAR's. And there was more to come in '71. The AAR 'Cuda was a mid-year addition announced by Plymouth in February.

The AAR was without a doubt the most complete package of style, straight-line performance, and handling that Chrysler built during the muscle car era. The AAR was produced only for 1970, in order to compete with GM, Ford and AMC in the popular Trans-Am series. To qualify for the series, Plymouth had to build a minimum of 2,500 street versions that shared most of the race cars' components. Plymouth actually wound up building 2,724 AAR's. The AAR's engine was putting out 15 more horses than a stock 340. About that advertised 290 horses, don't believe it. It was more like 325!