The world was given a chance to get one more generation of Barracuda back in 1975, but due to 3 main factors it didn’t reach production line: high insurance charges, government’s criticism against muscle cars and industry’s turn from performance to research [emission].
There were several proposals made for the new generation fish design in E-body style, but Chrysler wasn’t interested because there was no place for high performance cars in their plans. There was some work being done at Plymouth Advanced Studio – they were working on the next Barracuda. Chrysler had 4 years for new model preparation and no one working on this project expected that the E-body Barracuda will not see the sunlight. It is interesting, that there were 2 designs involved in the next Barracuda’s creation. One was made by designers Shunsuke Matsurra [aka, Matty] and Don Hood, while the other was built by the team of John Sampson and John Herlitz. These teams studied each other’s projects, discussed, but worked separately. Herlitz and Sampson made their Cuda look fluid while Matsurra made it more muscular. After claying 4 different models teams ended up with 2 units. And the final proposal was actually the blend of both team designs.
The other problem was that Chrysler’s management was made of financial executives and they no longer listened for car enthusiasts. Chrysler also get some critics for being short-minded during 1968 when they had good sales but did not invest money in development. Some say, it was a mistake to make Barracuda smaller than Challenger, because it ment new body panels to be fabricated. Leaving the same panels would have saved millions that could have been invested in future development.
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