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By Joe Oldham, as featured in the book “The All American Muscle Car,” by Joe Oldham, Randy Leffingwell, Colin Comer, David Newhardt, and Jim Wangers.)

“There was actually a time in America when you could walk into any Chrysler-Plymouth dealer in the country—there were several thousand of them—and purchase as many Hemi Barracuda convertibles as you wanted. There were no limits. There were no shortages. Hemipowered Barracuda convertibles were not in short supply.

For two full years, from September 1969 to August 1971, had you wanted to buy 20,000 of them, Chrysler Corp. would gladly have built and sold them to you.

But in those two model years (1970–1971) that Hemi-powered Barracuda convertibles were offered, only 25 were built—14 in the 1970 model year and 11 in 1971.

Of those, two 1970 units were built for Chrysler itself to serve as press demonstrators and were eventually sold as used cars. So only 12 Hemi ’Cuda convertibles were actually bought by paying customers in 1970, and 11 in 1971.

Why?

Judging by the frenzy these cars cause on the ultra-rare occasion when one shows up at a car show or auction, you’d think they were highly desirable cars and Chrysler should have sold a ton of them.

So why only 25 in two years?

I’ll tell you why—they were lousy cars, and nobody wanted them back then. How do I know?

During the golden era of muscle cars, I worked as a writer for Magnum-Royal Publications in New York City, publisher of auto magazines such as Hi-Performance Cars, Speed and Supercar, and others.

It was my job to track test, street race, and photograph all the muscle cars of the ’60s and early ’70s.

I lived through the muscle-car era, not as a consumer or collector, but as an industry insider with every conceivable hot car at my disposal.

Back then, I looked at the cars I had to write about as, well, just cars, not coveted, collectible objets d’art that would someday sell at auctions for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars.

They were just cars. Just as you can pick up a copy of any car magazine today—or log on to any automotive website—and find a review of a new Hyundai Sonata, back then you could find the same sort of information about muscle cars, and it was my job to drive and review the new cars of the day—Hemi Barracuda convertibles, Ram Air GTOs, W30 Olds 442s, and Cobra Jet Mustangs.

They were just cars.

And I’m telling you, 14 Hemi Barracuda convertibles were all Chrysler
could sell in 1970. And they could sell only 11 in ’71.

I can also tell you this without equivocation: Chrysler muscle cars were terrible to drive as everyday vehicles. I used to dread it when my boss, Marty Schorr, assigned me to pick up some Mopars and do a story on them.

Yes, I actually dreaded having to drive Mopar muscle cars, especially Hemi-powered cars.

Granted, the 440-powered Wedge cars ran very well. They had excellent low-end torque and could hold their own on the street with anything out of GM—Pontiac GTOs, Oldsmobile 442s, Buick Gran Sports, Chevy Chevelles, and Camaro SS-396s. (Ford was a nonentity on the street until the 428CJ engine came along in 1968.)

But as cars, the Mopars were crudely built compared with GM or Ford, with cheap plastic upholstery, knobs falling off, windows that didn’t seal properly, carpeting that didn’t lay flat, etc.

The Hemi? Dodge Chargers, Coronet R/Ts, Super Bees, Plymouth GTXs, Road Runners, and other Mopar models with the Hemi engine were even
worse.

They compounded poor fit and finish with an engine that would barely run on the street and weighed 200 pounds more than the wedge. That’s right. The Hemi engine, as it came from the factory in showroom stock condition, would barely run on the street.