1968 Plymouth Barracuda

The 1968 Plymouth Barracuda was cosmetically a carryover from the 1967 year. A new grill and side marker lights were the most noticeable changes. However, there were significant changes to the Barracuda on the inside.

Under the hood Plymouth offered a new motor. The high compression 275hp 340cid motor was a high revving power house that was perfectly matched to the Barracuda. As in 1967, the 383 was still available for those who needed even more power. However, the additional weight and size of the big block engine forced owners to do away with air conditioning and power steering. As well, the Formula S could be ordered with a 340 or 383 motor.

The suspension of the Barracuda was updated to reflect increasing power. The spring pressures were increased greatly from previous years and were designed to match the performance of the vehicle. Therefore, the 340 and 383 cars received larger springs and sway bars along with heavy duty shocks.

On the inside Plymouth expanded its interior options to include more luxury items such as a wood tri spoke steering wheel and deluxe interior finishes.

Probably the most important contribution the 1968 Barracuda made to the muscle car era was the creation of a limited number of 426 hemi powered Barracudas. Plymouth contracted Hurst to build approx. 50 cars for competition in NHRA’s competitive Super Stock class. These cars were acid dipped bodies and had fiberglass fenders, and hood. The cars came with bare bones interior and light weight lexan windows. They were built to be feather light and extremely fast from the factory. Each car also came with a four speed or torqueflight mated to a Dana 60 rear end and racing leaf springs. Under the hood was the 12.5 to 1 compression 426 race hemi. These cars were not street legal and even came from the factory in primer so racers would create their own paint schemes. Currently, super stock Barracudas and Darts run the quarter mile in under 9 seconds at over 150mph.

Read the Chrysler announcement letter that explains all about the 1968 Super Stock cars.

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Recommended links:

• Plymouth Muscle Car Home
• Plymouth Cuda Photos
• Plymouth Cuda VIN Decoder