1970 Plymouth Barracuda Cuda Hardtop Coupe

A Street Version of Dan Gurney's Trans Am Cars
For a time, Plymouth enjoyed a racing program that cross-town rival Chevrolet didn't, due to anti-racing edicts GM enacted earlier in the 1960's. As the third and smallest of the Big Three, Plymouth had lost out to Pontiac for third spot in sales, but offered competitive vehicles with good durability and performance such as the Slant Six Valiants, and smart marketing like the Road Runner. Come 1970, Plymouth's stock was going to increase some more.

The optional Barracuda had started out as a fastback model of the Valiant, but within weeks the Mustang came out and created a segment that the Barracuda couldn't play in. A redesign in 1967 leveled the playing field. Then, with the advent of the 1970 'E-body' Barracuda (and Dodge Challenger). Plymouth trumped the industry with the ultimate ponycar. The Performance 'Cuda version had its own Trans-Am version called the AAR, which stood for Dan Gurney's All American Racers. It came with the legendary 'Six Pack', a 3x2-barrel carbed version of the 340, a unique fiberglass 'shaker' hood and strobe stripes, all at a base price of $3,966.

A total of 2,724 AAR 'Cudas were produced within a six-week time frame. Of those, it is not known how many were ordered without radios, but this is one of two existing so equipped, according to the AAR Registry.