Why Low Numbers in 1969?

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Drg racr

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I was looking at the articles and read that in '69 there were only 7569 Barracuda V8 hardtops built, and 11,000 fastbacks. Other years had significantly higher numbers. What happened in '69? Was it the major design change? I'm just curious, as I own a '69 hardtop (High Class) V8.
 
I read once that pictures of the 1970 E-Bodies leaked, and people thought, "Wow, I'll wait til next year to buy a Barracuda.
 
I think it was the end of the normal 3 year run of the body style so maybe, like said above, people were waiting for 1970 model change. If you look at the production numbers '67 was highest, then dropped for '68, then dropped even more for '69.
 
The E body cars did through a wrench into the whole machine. Sales of 1970 Charger and Road Runner models were down too.
 
That's easy.

DUSTER!

Duster sales were outrageous the first year
 
The same thing happend with Valiants in 69. They built the most in 67 and 8 and then it dropped off a lot in 69. That's why you don't see many 69 Valiants either.
 
There was a lot of competition for new car buyers in 1969. The Barracuda was on it's 3rd year of this body style and it was getting "old". There were approximately the same number of Z-28's sold in 1969 as there were for ALL Barracudas, not just high performance models. Mustangs and Camaros outsold Barracudas by far, not even close. Also, the 69 Road Runner was very popular with the Mopar guys. Even when Barracudas were new on the streets, we were somewhat scarce. And regarding the Duster in the earlier post....it didn't arrive until the 1970 model year.

The good thing was, parts were later available, maybe because the cars didn't sell well. In the early 80s. I would go into a dealer and order every new part I could for my 69. I shoulda bought more than what I needed.
 
in the summer of 1969, i had saved up about $500 ($1.00/hr.) from my work as a "pin-boy" at the bowling alley in my hometown owned by the same guy that owned the Chrysler-Plymouth dealership. i stopped by the dealership one saturday morning to look at a 68 fastback formula s barracuda that one of the mechanics had ordered special and had decided to sell. the owner guy was very friendly and he called me over to a desk in the showroom. he said i ought to wait until the fall because he had been to a private new model "dealer showing" in detroit and the 1970 plymouth Cuda was a completely new car and it was "beautiful." he also went on about all the "race stuff" that was available on the car. i asked him about the price and he said they were going to be about $800 more than the 69 Barracudas but that they were "worth it." that would have put them around $3600-$3800 dollars which was A LOT of money in 1969! i didn't listen to him and bought the 68 formula S from the mechanic for $2200.00. it only had a little over 12k miles on it. as it turned out, that car with all the modifications the mechanic had done ended up being the fastest car in my town.

there were more chevy and ford guys in my town than mopar fans and those guys were all excited about the "new" camero - the 69 Z/28 and SS-396 and the mustang mach-1 and Boss 302. as to the mopar guys, all the Plymouth dealerships were offering deals on a new 69 Roadrunner for around $2800.00 and that deal was hard to beat.

if you were a 18-25 year old male "car nut" in 1969, there were lots of choices of new cars to buy between $3000-$3600. for that kind of money, you could buy ANY muscle car from GM, Ford and Chrysler except a Corvette. AND muscle cars had been around for 5 years at that point and there were a lot of choices of used muscle cars. for $3000, you could buy ANY GTO 64-69; ANY Corvette 53-67; ANY mustang 65-68; any mopar 64-68. the 69 Barracuda was just one out of scores of cool cars that a "gear head" might consider buying in 1969.

and remember, "loyalty" to a car brand was MUCH stronger back then than it is now. there were "Ford" guys; "GM guys; and "mopar guys." whatever you were, THAT'S the car you bought!

there were lots of reasons why sales of the 1969 Barracuda were not as high as other similar cars that year.
 
I had thought about back halving this car and cutting out unnecesary weight. But after hearing about the low numbers, I was having second thoughts about cutting up a low production number car.
 
Drg racr said:
I had thought about back halving this car and cutting out unnecesary weight. But after hearing about the low numbers, I was having second thoughts about cutting up a low production number car.
Click to expand...


Certainly not if it is a Original BB car! I went through the same thoughts in the mid 80's and came to my senses and did not get the torch out! I am glad for it today!

Ask JimHarvard about that and the 440 car he is repairing!
 
Mine is a 318/904, power steering, manual disc brake car. Originally was red with a white vinyl top, white and red interior, console, AM radio. Just basic transportation when it was new.
 
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