The Barracuda was completely restyled for 1967. The new car was longer, wider and lower and most importantly it was no longer a Valiant knock off. The new design was very clean and minimalist and the result was a sporty looking car. This was especially true of the “Sport Barracuda,” Plymouths name for the fastback.
The new larger car could now hold a big block engine, but just barely. Power steering and air conditioning was not available with the big block because of space constraints. Engineers at Plymouth had hastily redesigned the engine compartment to handle the larger engine and things didn’t go as smoothly as they had wished. The redesign was very necessary because Ford had redesigned the Mustang so that in could fit a big block between the fenders. The New Camaro and Firebird were designed from the beginning to hold the larger engines. The Barracuda could have never competed with the other pony cars without this capability.
The performance Barracuda was still the Formula ‘S’ and it was available as a $177 option that included suspension upgrades, wider tires and a 6000rpm tachometer. The Formula ‘S’ could be had with either the Commando 273ci small block with 235 horsepower or the 383ci big block with an advertised 280 horsepower. Plymouth was able to sale a total of 7,193 Formula ‘S’ models with 5,532 fitted with the 273ci Commando and 1,841 with the 383ci big block.
