1 of 83: 1969 Plymouth Barracuda Convertible Formula S
Solid and virtually rust-free, this 1969 Barracuda Formula S is a car that has been sitting idle since the early 1980s. It has been removed from storage, and now the owner is looking for a new home for it. There will be some work required to return it to original, but if you feel that you are up to the challenge, you will find it located in Martinez, California, and listed for sale here on eBay.
Finished in Sunfire Yellow, the Barracuda is a fairly neat and clean looking car. Rust is limited to a few small bubbles at the bottom of the passenger side quarter panel. The black convertible top is present, but it is pretty sad looking and will need replacing. The originality of the exterior has been impacted by the replacement of the hood and front header panel by panels from a ’68 model by a previous owner. Apparently, they preferred the look of these panels.
A check online has confirmed that the owner’s claim that this is 1 of 83 ’69 Formula S Convertibles powered by a 340 V8 is accurate. However, the originality of the Barracuda and this claim are impacted by the fact that the original engine is long gone. The engine that is there is a 340ci V8, but it has a casting date of 1970. The owner also has a ’67 340 and TorqueFlite that he will include with the car if the buyer uses the BIN option on the auction. The transmission fitted to the car is a TorqueFlite along with an 8¾” rear end. The car is also fitted with power steering, power brakes, and I must say that the engine bay presents very nicely. The owner does say that the car is in running condition and that it does drive.
The interior of the Plymouth presents relatively well, but there are a few things that would need to be addressed if the new owner was seeking to preserve as much originality as possible with this car. The first and most obvious is the covers on the seats. They should be finished in a combination of yellow and black vinyl, and to me, that velour-cloth does nothing for the car. The heel protector on the carpet is starting to pull away from the carpet itself, but apart from those two quibbles, the rest of the interior trim looks to be quite good.
So, while this Barracuda Formula S is in generally good condition, there is some work to be performed to return it to its original specifications. While none of this work could be classed as major, the fact is that it is not a numbers-matching car, and this will have some impact on the vehicle’s ultimate value. Bidding on the car has not been particularly strong, and has only reached $2,025 at the time of writing, and the reserve has not been met. The owner has set the BIN price at $36,400. Ambitious, or worth the money?
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Comments
Cool car and as long as you’re not going for points judging, why not? At 20-25k, nobody gets hurt and you got a unique summer ride…. The 340 is probably the most underrated small block on the planet, and these cars are pretty light! Chip away at the small stuff while scorching tires….
Definitely not worth that money. Can get a roadrunner or super bee for that price. 8-10k. Tops. The bidding will show the value. Great color and its a drop top.
I’m of the opinion that “1 of 83” no longer adds value when the motor & hood aren’t what came with the car. $36.4k seems like wishful thinking even with the extra engine/trans thrown in. Otherwise, I really like the car.
All the panel changes, different seat covers, not numbers matching engine and trans makes this a project car with the end game of cool car but not really a collectors item. In this shape worth about $7000 and nothing more.
They didn’t make a 340 in ’67’. Only a 273 and 318 for the Cuda. 340 wasn’t available till ’68’.
I had a ’67’ with the 273 power pack.
Don – not exactly. There was a late 67 Formula S 383. I passed on a 4spd conv in maybe 95 for 10k because it was a crappy driving car….saw it 2 years later in Hemmings for 55k……sigh….
Yes they made 340’s in late 67 for the 68 model’s
But they weren’t for 67’s. They always start early making both cars and engines for the following year in the 3rd and 4th quarter of the previous year. This doesn’t make it a 67 model year.
“survivor” ? How? With all the non original stuff to the car, how can anyone claim this to be a survivor ? Yes, it was a survivor until all the parts where changed, interior changed, motor switched out and stuff repainted I suppose. Trying to bump up the value by trying to claim this is a survivor doesn’t work. It’s a fairly rare car on its own right, just tell it like it is. I agree with the assessments of Rhett and Kuzspike on values only because it’s a convert. At 36K, you will be well over 40K to get this back to where is should be with body work, new paint, top and interior.
Nice car.
Not worth 34
20 maybe
Yes, to bring in that kind of money the whole car needs to be gone over and many items need to be replaced because of the rush paint job. Never seen an ash tray in the front arm pads, only in the rear. Steering wheel cracked, with the wrong color horn button. Poor fitting dash pad. Missing chrome on the foot pedals. Much dented grille chrome. Appears to be body damage in the front. As stated by someone else, seats are wrong, along with the seat belts. Motor needs a lot of detail, including the correct AVS carb and not a Holley. Horns seems to be also incorrect. Wiring, belts, alternator, master cylinder lid, fuel line from pump to filter, then filter to rear of carb and valve covers need to be replaced. Just wondering why the harmonic balancer was not painted engine color and by the way, I believe the 340’s were painted red in 68′. Blue came out in the 69’s with automatic and again red for the 4 – speeds. The rims should be the body color and i believe the hub caps are from a later model. I also wonder what the floor pans look like being a convertible. Now the good of the car is, it’s a convertible, has the right hand mirror option. If it is a true 340 car, i believe it could sell for 40 – 45,000.00 if 20 – 25,000 in improvements were done, so should bring the price down to around $20,000.00 as is.
I have doubts that the front end parts were replaced for aesthetics the lack of original parts makes it more suspect of course they could have been sold but I suspect it was in a crash. Who buys a striped 340 vert and pays to swap out the hood for a more conservative one and check me the header is an interior support piece so why would it be replaced for aesthetics? The lack of originality affects the value. This is one of my favorites and would be pleased to have it in any of the blue exteriors and a two tone white interior.
Maybe, but even if not I agree with the swap. The 69 had a pinched little center nose section, and the 67-68 hood with the chrome inlays is a nice design, better than the raised 69 Barracuda (and ultimately Dodge Dart) hood.
25 k tops
I own 10 of these cars and this is not a good BIN price.
It needs too much work to be done.
I own a 1 of 40 convertible 4sp and a 1 of 60 convertible 4sp both 68′ s
Formula “S” cars
Good luck to the seller and new owner
It’s a very nice car to own trust me,
or I wouldn’t own so many.
Some guys say $7000, some say $25000. Nobody really has a clue except professional evaluators…
Or maybe Cuda Ken does – he’s bought ten of them, and likely sold a few along the way. Hey – most every licensed appraiser in this hobby is offering nothing more that an detached opinion formed by observation, not personal involvement. I think guys are looking at this car all wrong – if you think this car is going to be concours judging ready for reasonable money, this isn’t your car. But it appears to be a solid, legit 340 car that’s ready to cruise, and perhaps race with a minimum of prep. ANY muscle convertible in that state is worth that 15-25k range, hands down. Ask Charles how far he got with his 5k offer…
Wow.
Good spotting Terry.
Now I say its worth 10 gs maybe
Owned two ‘69 Barracuda Fastbacks,one was an M-code car that came with two small scoops on the hood,available to big-block cars only.The other car had the stock hood which was removed and replaced with a Dart Sport dual snorkel hood with functional cold-air inlets,got lots of good compliments and made my Barracuda one-of-a-kind street machine!
This P code car is far from a Formula S coded car as you can get. P code was for a 340 but ….pretty sure it’s been offered before with no takers….need to see a fender tag….
Here is the fender tag decoded. The A01 should be a Light Package. I’m not sure if the A53 is equivalent to the ‘S’ package or not. That usually went to 1970 vehicles.
BH27:
Plymouth Barracuda
High
Convertible
P9B: 340 275HP 1-4BBL 8 CYL
1969
Dodge Main, Hamtramck, MI, USA
101929: Sequence number
E55: 340 cid 4 barrel V8 275hp
D32: Heavy Duty Automatic Transmission
Y2: Yellow Exterior Color
D6P: Trim – Luxury, Vinyl Bucket Seats, Yellow/Black
X9: Black Int. Door Frames
801: Build Date: August 01
964063: Order number
A01: Unknown Top Color
A53: Trans Am Package
A86: 69 only Interior Decor Group
B41: Front Disc Brakes w/Standard 10in RR Drum
B51: Power Brakes
C16: Console w/Woodgrain Panel
C55: Bucket Seats
G31: OS RH Manual Standard Mirror
G33: LH Remote Racing Mirror
J25: 3 Speed Wipers
L31: Hood/Fender Mounted Turn Signals
M25: Wide sill moldings
M31: Belt Moldings
N85: Tachometer
R21: AM/FM Radio (5 1/2 Watts)
V3X: Black Convertible Top
V6X: Longitudinal Stripes, Black
END: End of Sales Codes
I found other info that says the A53 is the Formula S package. I also don’t see any info on the rear end. It usually is on the fender tag.
Any one who pays more than 5K for this put together has more money than sence. After all the work that needs to be done to this car to put it back to right. You’ll still be in the hole. To many other cars out there available correct that can be had. Why fall in love with a car thats close to being a put together. This comes across as a front end wreck that someone thought they could put back on the road but worked only with ready available local junk yard parts. Nope, just because the present owner is into loosing, doesn’t mean… but wait what did PT say?
Needle in a hay stack. All you have to do is start moving the hay. One shaft at a time. Did some one say shaft?
A lot is wrong with this ad, 67 340 nope. Survivor yet the interior is wrong. I don’t remember the shift knob being in the 67-69s. It is a Chrysler piece, 70 & up. Does have a 69 stripe, from the pics looks like a 68 nose. I don’t see the ugly hump on the 69. Maybe the pic is not clear?
Looks like interior needs detailing but this drop-top is clean and ready for the road,asking price might be high but someone built this car with parts to make it a driver and with the “340”makes this Mopar a cool criuser!
Robert, I have several photos from dealer brochures dating back to the 69′ year. They all show the auto shifter knob as being wood grain with a black button, but the one here is chrome. Being a “S” package I’ll would think it may be correct. A friend of mine had a 67′ “GT” Dart 273 4 bbl that also had the chrome shifter, but I thought the button was also chrome. I am a little confused on the A53 code, being a Trans Am. The TA came out in 70′ and was a Dodge Challenger not a Barricuda or the correct terminology “CUDA”, in which was known as a “AAR CUDA”. Both were “E”bodies not “A” bodies. I have seen codes change from year to year and this may be the case here. If it was a Trans Am auto, I would think it would of have to been on the circuit for that year to use that name and also have a HIGH gearing in the rear end. As stated earlier there were no rear end codes, which I thought was odd.
Robert, I have several photos from dealer brochures dating back to the 69′ year. They all show the auto shifter knob as being wood grain with a black button, but the one here is chrome. Being a “S” package I’ll would think it may be correct. A friend of mine had a 67′ “GT” Dart 273 4 bbl that also had the chrome shifter, but I thought the button was also chrome. I am a little confused on the A53 code, being a Trans Am. The TA came out in 70′ and was a Dodge Challenger not a Barricuda or the correct terminology “CUDA”, in which was known as a “AAR CUDA”. Both were “E”bodies not “A” bodies. I have seen codes change from year to year and this may be the case here. If it was a Trans Am auto, I would think it would of have to been on the circuit for that year to use that name and also have a HIGH gearing in the rear end. As stated earlier there were no rear end codes, which I thought was odd.
for ’69, A53 was the Formula S package. As far as as the shifter being correct: Chrysler. Say no more.
I am wirh Charles too.
Put together package possibly from a wreck.
Down to 5000 now. 😣