Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda, 1970-1971: History, Specs, and Rarity

The E-Body and the Hemi Gamble

Plymouth's Barracuda moved to Chrysler's new E-body platform for 1970, sharing its chassis with the Dodge Challenger but keeping its own sheet metal, a wider track, and a lower stance. For the first time, the Barracuda's engine bay was built to accept Chrysler's biggest engines — including the 426 Hemi — without the cramped fit that plagued the earlier A-body cars. Plymouth built the top trim as the 'Cuda, and checking the Hemi option box turned it into the most serious street car the brand ever sold. It didn't last: 1971 was the final year Chrysler offered the 426 Hemi in any E-body, and the option quietly disappeared after that.

Engine, Transmission, and the Shaker Hood

The 426 Hemi in the 'Cuda carried the same rating it had everywhere else: 425 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 490 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm, numbers widely regarded as conservative even by Chrysler's own standards. Buyers could pair it with a heavy-duty 4-speed manual, rowed through a Hurst pistol-grip shifter, or Chrysler's 727 TorqueFlite automatic. 1970 was also the first year for the Shaker hood option — a scoop bolted directly to the engine's air cleaner so it visibly shook at idle, poking through a cutout in the hood rather than sitting on top of it. It's one of the most recognizable options on any Mopar of the era, and it carried into 1971 largely unchanged.

1970 or 1971? The Grille Tells You

The two Hemi 'Cuda model years are close enough in spec that the fastest way to date one is to look at the nose. The 1970 'Cuda uses a single round headlight on each side set into a simple grille. For 1971, Plymouth restyled the front end with quad round headlights — the only year the 'Cuda wore four — set into a more complex grille split into six sections that earned the "cheese grater" nickname. 1971 also added fender gills: chrome-edged louvers set into each front fender just behind the wheel opening, again unique to that single model year. A 'Cuda with two headlights and smooth fenders is a 1970; four headlights and gills mean 1971. Given the grille and headlight layout on the car in the render above, it reads as a 1971.

What a Numbers-Matching Hemi 'Cuda Costs Today

Production numbers explain the money. Plymouth built 666 Hemi 'Cudas for 1970 — 652 hardtops and just 14 convertibles — before the number dropped even further in 1971: 108 hardtops, plus a handful of convertibles that sources count differently depending on whether they're counting U.S.-market cars alone (commonly cited as 7) or total worldwide production including export cars (up to around 12). Hagerty's valuation guide puts a concours-condition 1970 Hemi 'Cuda convertible in Bugatti money, and the 1971 convertible has produced some of the highest results ever recorded for a muscle car at auction — Mecum sold one for $3.3 million at its Kissimmee 2026 sale, and a Winchester Gray 1971 convertible drew an unsold $4.8 million bid at Mecum's 2021 Indianapolis auction. Hardtops trade for dramatically less than convertibles but still command six and seven figures when the Hemi and its paperwork are genuine.

Finding One

Because of what a real Hemi 'Cuda is worth, this is a muscle car worth being suspicious of. Fender tags, broadcast sheets, and third-party Mopar authentication — Galen Govier's tag service is the name most often cited in the hobby — are standard practice before money changes hands; a numbers-matching Hemi 'Cuda without documentation is not a car most serious buyers will touch. For everyone else, a 340 or 383 'Cuda wears the same shaker hood, the same fender gills if it's a '71, and the same pistol-grip shifter for a fraction of the price — and it's still one of the best-driving, best-sounding E-bodies Chrysler ever built.