1968 '340' Barracuda vs 1968 '383' Road Runner

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Was it marketing that made the difference?
I was only 5 when the Mustang came out, but I remember getting diecast promo cars from the State Fair that year.
Chrysler always seems to be lagging in the marketing department.
I may be biased, but the 1967-69 Barracuda's excelled in any model, over the Mustang.
was the Mustang cheaper to buy?
The Mustang was a gloryfied Falcon & nothing else.
 
The barracuda style was over the top, too futuristic for that time.
Now, when someone sees my 67 fastback, people ask
what kind of car is it and say it's really cool.
kind of like the studebaker, way ahead of it's time.
 
Clearly 'Marketing',

Ford was far ahead of Plymouth especially in marketing and advertising.

The MSRP $ was relatively close for both cars.

Ford just had more $$$ focused on Television Advertising, and they had many more
Dealerships in the 'high-traffic' areas.

Honestly, with the 'low' production numbers of the,
1968 Barracuda 340 'Formula S' {3917}
1968 Barracuda 383 'Formula S' {1120}

These cars could really be labeled 'Street Sleepers'
 
1968 340 'Formula S'

$(KGrHqN,!k0E+1li8MSQBQGwJR0V8g~~60_3.JPG
 
Rico,

I'm waiting for the information from Eddie. He was the Assistant Parts manager at the
Plymouth Dealership on West Fordham Road in the Bronx, right off I-95 in the late-60's.

They ran a black 68' '383' Road Runner in E/S in 1968, and F/S in 1969 - and also
a 68' Barracuda 340 'Formula S'.

They had some backing from the Plymouth Regional Office 'Free Parts and Technical
Advice'.
 
Rico,

I Got The Skinny,

Eddie Bamarco got a new 1968 '383' Road Runner (all black with a Black Matte Hood)
in early-November 1967.

The Fordham Plymouth Dealership owned the car, but Eddie (Assistant Parts Manager) prepped and raced it.

Eddie said it came through as a 4-Speed with a 3.23 Sure-Grip, Drum Brakes and
Manual Steering, AM Radio and Tinted-Glass for the Front Windshield.

No other options were ordered and the car was priced at approximately $3200.

In 'stock trim' they first raced it at New York National Speedway, where Eddie
said it ran 14.90's @ 94 MPH.

Over the winter {January/February 1968} they built the car for the Track, and to be classed in
E/Stock for 1968.

The Plymouth Regional Zone Rep wanted the car to be a 'Legal Car', as both the Plymouth Zone Office
and the Dealership would sponsor the Road Runner with their name lettered on it, as well as provide
all the Performance Parts 'Free of Charge', while sponsoring it.

But Eddie said, they built a 'Cheater Engine', and never let anybody know what they did to the 383.
 
Rico,

Eddie is sending me the photos, which I'll post.

Here is what he said performance wise, with the cars completely stock.

The 68 '383' Road Runner, 4-Speed with 3.23 Sure-Grip ran a bunch of
14.90's @ 94 MPH and 'never' got into the 14.80's after about a 'Dozen' runs.

The 68 'Barracuda 340 'Formula S' {Notchback}, Automatic with 3.23 Sure-Grip
ran 14.75's @ 94 MPH.

When they raced them 'head-to-head' down the Bronx River Parkway, the Barracuda
was about 'one car length' ahead of the Road Runner at the end of the run, every time.

The Barracuda would leap off the starting line quicker, and pull to about a 2 1/2-Car
Length lead just past an '1/8 of Mile', then the 383 Road Runner would start to come
on at the end, but would always come up short about a 'Car Length'.
 
1968 NHRA Indy Nationals Class Winners

The 68' '383' Road Runner and 68' Barracuda 340 'Formula s" would both
be classed in E/S or E/SA.

indy68-1.jpg
 
mikedevore said:
I drove a friends 1968 383/auto RR that had a ton of miles & smoked like a frieght train.
It was stock, but it was very fast.
My other friend had a '68 Super Bee 383 -4speed with headers. That RR would clean his clock.

I also drove a 1971 383/auto RR that was very quick. it had 50k on it & was stock.
Those are two that stick out in my mind that ran real well.

Some 383's were just always a tick faster than most others.

Every '68-'71 340 A-Body I drove were very impressive in stock form.
No one isn't saying the 383 is a dog, just needed some of the right stuff to make it go.
One thing about it, Plymouth couldn't build Road Runners quick enough.

This may be hear-say, but I was told than the 340 & the HEMI engines were built by Chyrsler's Marine division.
Now this could make the 340 a better performing engine that the standard run of the mill 383 if this was true, since the 383 was going into a budget Muscle car.
The debate will go on.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on every 340 running like a scalded dog. It's one of the reasons I have always raced small blocks. Every single 340 car I have ridden in has been incredibly quick. That's one thing I'm sure of. This is a good discussion. I just wish we could settle it with nice examples of each car. After that's the real fun of a conversation like this.
 
ok, i'll add my "two cents" thoughts here with a story from "the old days." when i was in my junior year in high school at john marshall in glen dale, w.va. (1971) i bought a "barely used" 68 340 formula s, 4 speed fastback barracuda from a mechanic and original owner at glen dale motors, the local plymouth dealer. "gabby" the mechanic had installed an edelbroc high-rise manifold, a holley 750 double pump, hooker "fender well" headers, and a 3:91 rear gear. with open headers and slicks, this car turned consistent mid to low 12's. i street raced a lot then and consistently beat by at least one car length 396's (non-375hp versions), Z/28's and every 383 road runner/super bee that came around. sorry to the ford guys out there but there were NO fords of any type that were even as fast as the Chevy's - let alone my "rapid transit" barracuda. one night i even beat a yenko camaro because the young steel worker who had just bought this legend incinerated the tires every time we line up. there was only one car in moundsville, w.va. that seriously threatened my cuda's race record and that was a 69 stage IV 455 4 speed GTO Judge with a 4:33 rear end owned by jim stroup. it was a beautiful dark blue car and the night we were to race, the w.va. state police showed up to ruin the show. i think i could have beat that Judge but we were never able to find out. as to a 340 vers a 383, in my opinion, the small block will always come out on top. oh, and one other thing, i currently own a 68 340 4 speed fastback formula s cuda and a 69 383 4 speed fastback formula s cuda. maybe i'll line them up some day and see which one wins.
 
Not to jump away from the discussion.

But my mother bought a new 1970 Duster 340 - 4-Speed with the standard 3.23 Sure-Grip
off the 'showroom floor' from Mahopac Chrysler-Plymouth in May 1970.

A few months later, after the 'break-in period', my father took it out for it's 'Maiden Voyage' at Dover Drag Strip.

Ran a best of 14.41 @ 97 MPH, and won a Class Trophy in 'G/S'.


I saw it, and can atest, that no 'stock' 383 Road Runner 4-Speed could ever do that with 3.23 Gears.
 
In my opinion, the Road Runner was a great marketing car.
A low cost Muscle car with good potential.
It worked well for Plymouth from a profit standpoint.
I would think the profit margin was better on the RR than the Barracuda.
Maybe someone could chime in about that.
This could be the reason for low sales of the Barracuda, all the marketing seemed geared toward the RR.
That being said, I wouldn't be ashamed to own a Road Runner at all.
 
The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner was an Advertising Agency's Dream.....

Plans, were to build only 2500 for release in October 1967.

1.jpg
 
69 Cuda 440 said:
Not to jump away from the discussion.

But my mother bought a new 1970 Duster 340 - 4-Speed with the standard 3.23 Sure-Grip
off the 'showroom floor' from Mahopac Chrysler-Plymouth in May 1970.

A few months later, after the 'break-in period', my father took it out for it's 'Maiden Voyage' at Dover Drag Strip.

Ran a best of 14.41 @ 97 MPH, and won a Class Trophy in 'G/S'.


I saw it, and can atest, that no 'stock' 383 Road Runner 4-Speed could ever do that with 3.23 Gears.
Click to expand...

I have seen stock 383 Road Runners with 3.23s do that all day long.
 
69 Cuda 440 said:
In a Dealer Match-Up of Plymouths's two most popular 1968 Street Musclecars.

1968 Barracuda 340-S Fastback
340 /275 HP
Car Weight #3110 lbs.

1968 Road Runner 383 {Pillared Coupe}
383/335 HP
Car Weight #3424 lbs.

...
Click to expand...

Those would be completely stripped option-wise to get to those weights. I still think the Barracuda fastback is too light. Window and fold down seat adds weight to those.
 
:banghead:
mikedevore said:
In my opinion, the Road Runner was a great marketing car.
A low cost Muscle car with good potential.
It worked well for Plymouth from a profit standpoint.
I would think the profit margin was better on the RR than the Barracuda.
Maybe someone could chime in about that.
This could be the reason for low sales of the Barracuda, all the marketing seemed geared toward the RR.
That being said, I wouldn't be ashamed to own a Road Runner at all.
Click to expand...

Can't believe this tread is still going lol.. Coming of age in the late 70 and early 80s I can say nobody then "wanted" a barracuda, if you were a mopar guy then everyone wanted a road runner, charger, or challenger/ cuda then the 70/71 demon/ dusters. The pre 70 a body's were not on the radar for us young guys back then and even if the 340 a body was a tenth quicker than a 383 RR, we all would want the RR in our driveway. I know this has nothing to do with the topic of this 340 barracuda faster than the 383 RR but still today when young kids are at shows they love the RR it's mopars true purposely built muscle car with no /6 sb or two bbl BB pre 71 of couse.
 
turbodart68 said:
I have seen stock 383 Road Runners with 3.23s do that all day long.
Click to expand...

Not in my neck of the wood's. In the DC area, the best running stock 3.23 cars were in the 14.75/14.90 range. My close neighbor had a column shift 3.23 car he bought new.........14.80's was his best, and spinning wasn't a problem on his car, even with 70 series belted tires.
 
The 1968 Road Runner was a 'sharp looking car'.

But like 'Old Man Rick' can substantiate, a 4-Speed with 3.23 Gears and F70 x 14" Tires was
stuck between 14.75 and 14.90 - even with a good 'performance' tune-up.

Nobody was running 14.50's with a stock 383, 4-Speed and 3.23's from 1968 thru 1971.

I never saw it, and I saw my share of 383 Road Runners at New York National Speedway,
Dover Drag Strip, Maple Grove Raceway, Lebanon Valley Dragway and Connecticut Dragway.

As a matter of fact, most of the guys who brought their stock 383 Road Runners to the Drag Strip
back then never raced them, in fear of embarrassment.

th
 
As a matter fact, most of the guys who brought their stock 383 Road Runners to the Drag Strip
back then never raced them, in fear of embarrassment. LOL come on guy! Your embarrassing yourself.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
As a matter fact, most of the guys who brought their stock 383 Road Runners to the Drag Strip
back then never raced them, in fear of embarrassment. LOL come on guy! Your embarrassing yourself.
Click to expand...

I take it by that statement, that you were maybe 5 years old in 1968,
because you couldn't have been watching the 'Quarter-Mile Races'.

I said 'most' not all of the guys who brought their 383 Road Runners to the Track were
watching, not racing.

1968 = E/S
1969 = F/S
1970 = G/S

The 383 Road Runner was and always will be 'primarily' a durable 'Street Performance Car'.

They ran decent, but they 'never' really scared anybody.
 
69 Cuda 440 said:
Elds,

You can't be all bad, you have a 340 Demon.

Want to trade it for a 1968 383 Road Runner..........
Click to expand...


I would n a heartbeat. 68/69 Radrunner is my all time favorite muscle car. In fact I would like a 383 auto, column shift, bench seat, b5 with blue interior, post car...:headbang:

Mmmm...
 
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