Two separate packages. The Barracuda being the base model and the 'Cuda the performance package (think R/T on the Dodge side). Of course, I'm speaking of the E-bodies.
I just thought they got a series of serious face lifts and the 'cuda was a mere shortened labeling of the actual "Barracuda"............
Nope. If you see an E-body badged 'Cuda, you'll know it's got something under the hood.
As far as the shortening to the word "Cuda" when speaking of all Barracudas is just us getting lazy. My '74 Barracuda is just that: a factory 318/904 Barracuda. I still call it my 'Cuda.
I know that the Valiant was the basis to the car body, but still.....I thought the Barracuda and the 'cuda were like the 1969 Coronet, and the 1970 Coronet, same car, just a serious "face-lift" from one year to the following year.....
Going from '69 to '70, the Barracuda stopped being the A-body and became the new E-body. The E-body shared it's underpinnings (suspension) with the B-body cars, even though the engineers wanted to build a fresh car from the ground up. The bean counters said "no" and consoled the engineers with the fact that '71 would see a new B-body from the ground up.
