The 426 Hemi was introduced to the world in 1964, and it made its presence known in the motorsports world by taking victory after victory at Daytona. By 1966 it was added to the showroom floor, and the 426 Street Hemi would become one of the most revered and recognizable powerplants in automotive history.

Yeah, that’s 572 cubes of elephant power. Not for the faint of heart.

Since then, we’ve seen it stuffed into plenty of Mopars, and even in a few non-Mopar vehicles – because Hemi. There were other Hemis available in earlier years, but nobody really paid the first generation Hemi as much attention as they did the second generation Hemi – nicknamed the elephant because of its gargantuan size. Some say that from the front, the massive cylinder heads make the engine look like an elephant head silhouette, and the name stuck.

One of the first vehicles to get the Street Hemi was the 1966 Dodge Charger, and other B-body cars followed. In 1968, two Super Stock (SS) cars from Mopar – the Dodge Dart SS and the Plymouth Barracuda SS – received the 7.0 liter hemispherical powerplant for drag racing. It wasn’t until the 1970 model year that the E-body Barracuda received the 426 Hemi, and a year later was the last year for the Gen II Hemi.

Add just a little color to Poe’s Barracuda and it will look close to the Sox & Martin car from the late 1960s.

Less than 100 1968 Barracudas were prepped for Super Stock with the B029 code. These cars were stripped of radios, heaters, sound deadening, rear seats, and seam sealer to save on weight. Further reduction included fiberglass front panels and hood, and the front seats were replaced with lighter seats.

These small pony cars dominated the drag strip, and were often seen in their heyday with the popular red, white, and blue paint scheme from the team of Sox & Martin. How can you pass up a small car with a big engine?

Poe’s Power Trip

When Stephen Poe of La Verne, California, was trying to figure out what to do with his own 1967 Barracuda that he bought off of RacingJunk.com, there was only one choice for him: a Hemi. His Barracuda originally had a 440 cubic inch Hemi conversion to the RB block, but he knew that he wanted to put a true Hemi engine in as the motivation to get this street driven Plymouth down the road with some authority.

This build was done right, make no mistake about that.

If you ask him why he wanted the biggest, baddest engine in the Mopar world, he responds, “How many of these do you get to see?” Now, to a Prius-driving tree hugger, that might not be a valid answer, but to a true musclecar fanatic with Pentafluid flowing through their veins it makes all the sense in the world.

But instead of just dropping a Hemi onto the Barracuda’s chassis and calling it a day, the whole car was planned out from front to rear, and very little was spared – such as creature comforts. With this build the only intention was to have one of the wildest street cars – an award that this mean ’67 Barracuda has taken in at a local car show.

Stage V components help this beast put out some power!

Planning the build meant getting a parts list together and contacting an engine builder, and for that he went to Superior Automotive Engineering of Placentia, California, and the new build began on the 4.50 bore 426 Hemi block, bringing the total displacement to 572 cubic inches. The rotating assembly consists of balanced and polished Eagle crank and rods, and Ross pistons that have been thermal-coated on the skirts and the top of the pistons.

The intake is a cross-ram design with a pair of Holley 770 cfm carburetors, and once the fires have been lit the TTi Exhaust headers scavenge the burnt gases and puts them through an exhaust fabricated by A-1 Muffler of Santa Ana, California. Backing this beastly elephant is a 727 Torqueflite from Ma Mopar with a reverse valve body and a trans brake. This all helps get the beast up to speed, so slowing it down takes the assistance from a set of Wilwood disc brakes at all four corners.

To help keep the car planted, a set of coilover shocks up front control the launches while a CalTracks rear suspension helps the Dana 60 do its job, sporting 4:30 gears spinning a Detroit Truetrac differential. The Centerline wheels are wrapped with Mickey Thompson tires, with massive 295/65R15 drag radials providing the sticky to the pavement. To keep track of the engine’s vital statistics, a slew of gauges help Poe stay on top of things.

All Business, All Fun

The car was gutted, and that meant getting rid of the rear seats and the front inner sheet metal. The factory seats were tossed to make room for a pair of racing seats, surrounded by a full cage with five-point harnesses for both pilot and co-pilot. The interior did retain some of the vinyl trim, such as the doors and the dashpad, but the rest is custom built and made to make this street machine look more like a dragstrip brawler. A couple of Auto Meter gauges keep the systems in check, with the speedometer down out of the way and the tachometer up front and center, with a shift light, of course.

This car was built to go fast, and looks the part. On the street, it feels like you’re on your way to the staging lanes.

The rear was tubbed to make room for the Mickey Thompson drag radials, and inside of the rear is a lot of custom metal work that makes the car look every bit the street machine that it is. The control center is all business, with switches to power up the system before launch, and to control certain functions like the cooling fans, water pump, fuel pump, and ignition. There’s no denying that this car means business, but Poe certainly enjoys playing with it on the street.

But none of that would matter if it didn’t have the hardware to back it up, and the 572 cubic inch Hemi under the hood makes this car an amazing beast. The Hemi was built with the best of intentions; going big meant doing it right and lots of time and effort went into this build. Poe did about half the work himself, and even though the car is driven regularly, he still maintains there’s a long way to go until he’s completely satisfied with it.

If you hear a rumble in the streets of La Verne, California, and it just doesn’t let up – you can tell it’s Poe’s Intense Blue 1967 Barracuda because it arrives with lots of warning… and leaves with lots of jaws dropping. Check out more of the orphan and the elephant in the gallery below.