1967 Plymouth Barracuda
 

2009 Autocross @ Warminster County Park
 photo from 2009 Holbert Memorial Autocross, Warminster Pa.  Thanks Mike

"You'll never want to go straight again.

And why should you? . . .
. . . Go straight?  Be our guest. . . It's a great way to get from one curve to another."

Plymouth Barracuda, 1967 advertisement


    This is an ongoing project to make the car more competive in autocross and be enjoyable to drive on the road. The pages here will hopefully provide some insight and reference for others with similar goals.  In the mid 1960s Scott Harvey and other engineers started road racing and rallying Chrysler Corporation's compact cars on their own and were eventually backed by the company.  Much of what was learned then has become arcane; difficult to find and difficult to apply, but not entirely.  My project started with Mike Martin's book Mopar Suspensions and has advanced with hard experience, more books on handling, and insight from a small network of similar enthusiasts connected by the internet.

For the first time in many, many, years, I seriously competed for a series trophy.  Result was a first place win at one event, and second place for the 2006  Philadelphia Region Summer Series in Street Modified.  I really have to thank my competition, because that's what made it both fun and worthwhile.  :-)

This project started with a 6-cylinder car purchased because it had a clean body.  . The suspension, drivetrain and engine were replaced with the equivalent of the 340 performance package, except the front roll stiffness was increased.  As I was rebuilding the Barracuda, a co-worker got me started autocrossing. It was not soon enough. As it was, my Barracuda ended up just slightly overprepared for the Street Prepared class, and the car was entered in C-Prepared. Since 2001, it is running in the new Street Modified class which has more local participation and does not allow cutting of sheet metal. 


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Links to other Barracuda, Challengers, Dart, & Valiants set up for Sports Car Competition:


Hey! I Want to Play Too! Autocross & Track Event Links: