Plymouth Muscle Cars, "The Rapid Transit System"
The first of the identifiable Plymouth Muscle Cars was the GTX which made its debut in 1967 boasting a 440 high performance engine with now hard to find closed chamber heads. In 1968 the GTX was restyled and led to the introduction of the Plymouth Road Runner, which became even more popular than the comparably equipped Dodge Super Bee. 
The GTX came standard with a 440 4-BBL and the Road Runner came with a high performance 383 although the optional 426 Hemi was also available for both the GTX and the Road Runner and in 1969 the 440 Six Pack was released as an option.The GTX was the more luxurious of the two models, however it was the Road Runner that dominated the market in '68 and '69. Thinking of investing in a classic muscle car? Click here for some helpful information.
Compact Plymouth Muscle Cars emerged as the Barracuda was introduced in 1964, basically a Plymouth Valiant with a large glass fastback tacked on with a 235 horse 273 Commando under the hood.In 1967 the A-Body platform emerged and the 280 horsepower 383 became an option for both the standard Barracuda and the Formula S version. There was both a fastback and a notch-back model as the one pictured here. In 1968 the Formula S base model came standard with the 275 horse 340 small block. There were However, about fifty of the Super Stock models built by Hurst that were armed with the 426 Hemi that made 10 second quarter mile runs right out of the box. 
The E-Body 'Cuda was and still is one of the most popular Plymouth Muscle Cars ever built. The 'Cuda was produced from 1970 to 1974 and was powered by everything from the Slant 6 to the 426 Hemi. 1970 and '71 performance models came standard with the 383 Magnum and the optional 340, 440 and 440 Six Pack power plants were available as well as the 426 Hemi with a high-lift cam, header style exhausts, dual inline 4 BBL carbs on an aluminum intake, and featuring the fiberglass "Shaker" hood and scoop. 
In 1970 the 'Cuda AAR was equipped with the underrated 290 horse 340 Six Pack with 10.5:1 compression, a recast block and reinforced lower end, Trans-Am heads with a beefed-up valvetrain and three Holley deuces on an Edelbrock aluminum intake, as was its corporate cousin the 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A.The cutout exhaust on the AAR and T/A exited in front of the rear tires but the amount of plumbing it took to make it work proved to be overly restrictive. The fiberglass hood scoops on both the AAR and T/A were functional with a sealed air cleaner on the underside and it was estimated that it added another 10 to 15 horse at 80 mph. As the Muscle Car era drew to a close the '72 and '73 'Cudas were equipped with only the small block 340 4-bbl and in '74 the 360 4-bbl. 
The Plymouth Duster debuted for 1970 as a performance version of the Valiant. The Duster became the new compact Plymouth Muscle Car and featured curvy exterior styling and a rounded fastback look for the rear. The Duster was available with a variety of engines, ranging from a slant six to a high performance 340 V8 rated at 275 horsepower. The base price was a mere $2,172 but for a mere 400 bucks more you could add the option of a 340 V8 with four barrel carb, dual exhausts, a floor mounted three-speed manual tranny, a 3.23:1 third member, a heavy duty suspension with larger diameter torsion bars, extra leaf springs, front stabilizer bar, front disc brakes, and a unique instrument panel that included a tach and 150 mph speedometer. Several variations of this compact Plymouth Muscle Car were produce including the Twister in 1971 that featured rally wheels, racing mirrors, side and lower deck stripes, a flat black hood with hood scoops, bucket seats, and a new "sharktooth" grille as standard equipment. The Gold Duster was introduced in 1972 and all Dusters received received a new set of long thin taillights, and standardized marker lights. The hood scoop for the Duster 340 was changed to a new dual snorkel scoop, similar to that of the 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A. The horsepower ratings dropped off considerably in '72 when Dodge re-rated all of its engines to the new SAE Net standard. The 340 went from 275 Horsepower down to a humble 240 horse. Return from Plymouth Muscle Cars to Home Page
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