The ’70 ’Cudas you see here are twins. Not identical twins, but fraternal. They look virtually the same inside and out, but there are enough differences that the owner had to have them both.

Earl Smith, the owner, grew up in the Sacramento, California, area, and his father actually sold Plymouths in 1969 and 1970. One day, dear old dad drove up to the drive-in where Earl and his friends hung out in a black-on-black ’70 Barracuda Grand Coupe. He wanted to know if Earl liked it. Did he?

That became Earl’s first new car.

The Plymouth was just a 318 car with a column-shifted automatic, but Earl was smitten. His family always had Mopars. This turned out to be his first E-body, but certainly not his last.

Meanwhile, In Sacramento

Around the same time, in October, 1969, at nearby Fair Chrysler-Plymouth in Sacramento, an order was placed for a Rallye Red 1970 Hemicuda. The Hemi added a hefty $871.45 to the sticker price, but that was just the beginning. Enough boxes were checked on the order form to push the sticker price from $3,164 to $5,201.85 (not including shipping and handling).

This ’70 Hemicuda was ordered new not far from where the current owner grew up. That is part of its appeal to him (Photo by Jim Campisano

Among those goodies were a four-speed manual trans, the Track Pak, power disc brakes, Rallye instrument cluster, six-way manual driver’s seat, rear defogger, center console, AM-8-track with rear speaker, vinyl top, and the Light Group. About the only thing left off was, oddly enough, power steering.

Smith believes the dealer went nuts on purpose to draw attention on the showroom floor. Draw the customers in, then sell them something like it for less. The Hemi car was ordered in October, 1969, and did not sell until July 24, 1970.

If you are keeping score at home, the original owner was Earl B. Hiscox, and the car was eventually fepossessed when he had it. Other owners came and went, including one who supposedly added 383 callouts to the hockey stick stripe for a bit of street racing subterfuge.

The car was repainted in enamel in late 1979, but the body retains all its original sheet metal. The trunk floor is perfect. Our compliments to whoever laid down the new coat of Rallye Red because it does not look 46 years old.

Speaking of the body, this Hemicuda wears a standard Barracuda rear valance with turn-down exhaust tips rather than the rectangular trumpet tips through the valance. According to Smith, this is because California deemed the latter style too noisy for the Golden State that year.

Not only is the body original, but so is the engine. The elephant has never been apart, despite the years of abuse. The A-833 trans and Dana rear are also factory-issue.

Over a period of 40-plus years, Smith devoted much of his time to building a successful business. It was not until he sold his company that he addressed his ever-simmering need to buy a bunch of E-bodies.

Cuda Number Two

Among the options on both cars are the front and rear Elastomeric bumpers, driving lights, and the A-833 four-speed. (Photo by Jim Campisano)

Which brings us to ’70 ’Cuda number two. Like the Hemicuda, it is slathered in Rallye Red, with Elasomeric front and rear bumpers, a Shaker hood, black vinyl top and interior. Power comes from a date-code correct 440 6-bbl. The four-speed and rear are the original pieces.

This fish, built in August of 1969, was in a private collection in Chicago with a couple of hundred other cars. It went through a restoration in 2017, but had not been driven in a long time, so Earl had to do a lot of work to the drivetrain, the engine, and more. The seals leaked, and mechanically the car deteriorated from lack of use.

The 440-6 car, one of 902 440 6-bbl cars assembled with the four-speed gearbox, is lighter on the options, but has some very interesting details. The Pistol Grip four-speed comes out of the floor, but there is no center console. A standard AM radio supplies the tunes, but there is option S83, the three-spoke Rim Blow steering wheel.

Like its fraternal twin, it has the Light Group, Rallye gauges, power disc brakes (check out how different the brake boosters are between the two), and lacks power steering. According to the owner, this makes maneuvering both cars a total pain at low speeds, especially in tight spaces. Both cars have the Collapsible spare tire option.

The standard wheels with poverty caps are on both machines. Look closely at the tires. Note that the tire size is not in raised white letters. This is correct for cars built early in the model year.

Inside both machines, you can see the Carb Air lever under the dash. This allowed you to open and close the air intake from the Shaker in case of inclement weather. Yes, once upon a time, these were just daily drivers.

Interior Features

The Rallye instrument clusters are complete, with 150 mph speedometers, 8,000 rpm tachs, a full complement of ancillary gauges, and a clock. What intrigued us, though, was both tachs featured 5,000 rpm redlines. While this is appropriate for perhaps a Slant Six engine, the Hemi was not even close to peak power at 5,000. Yes, the factory rating was 425 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 490 lb-ft at 4,000, but actual output was typically 455-475 range at 6,000-plus rpm.

The 440 6-bbl was good for 390 horsepower at 4700 at 490 lb-ft of torque at 3,200, according to factory literature, but it too could spin a heck of a lot faster than 5k. Torque on the street was its forte, offering performance similar to that of the Street Hemi, but with fewer tuning hassles.

For ’70, the Street Hemi got a hydraulic lifter cam from the factory for the first time. This eliminated one headache. Vintage road tests of the day, always suspect for a variety of reasons, are nevertheless fun to quote. Hot Rod reported a 13.39 at 108.17 in a Hemicuda with a four-speed. High Performance Cars reported a 13.45 at 105 mph with a TorqueFlite-equipped convertible ’Cuda.

The power brake booster in the Hemi car is about the size of a soccer ball. It is a monster. (Photo by Jim Campisano)

Popular Hot Rodding clicked off a 13.56 at 106.5 in a 440-6 ’Cuda automatic, so as you can see the performance was pretty close, at least in theory. The Hemi undoubtedly had a lot more potential once the wrenches started turning.

This was top-of-the-food chain performance in 1970 for a new car, numbers that were hard to achieve by other stock new cars not called LS6 Chevelle or Stage 1 Gran Sport.

But Wait, There’s more!

Lest you think these are the only E-bodies in Smith’s collection, think again. One of his favorites to drive is a Sassy Grass Green ’71 383 automatic ’Cuda convertible, which we’ve seen. It is spectacular. He bought a ’70 Top Banana Challenger with a 440 for his wife has factory air conditioning. That is in restoration right now.

He also has a ’70 Hemi Orange (EV2) Challenger Hemi car and an In-Violet ’70 AAR ’Cuda 4-speed with a white interior and Elasomeric bumpers, another highly optioned machine with two fender tags. Supposedly, it is one of only two In-Violet AARs with the rubber front and rear bumpers.

Finally, he’s got a ’71 ’Cuda 340/four-speed car in Tor Red, with a Shaker hood and Billboard stripes. There’s another ’71 he’s got his eye on, but it is too early to tell if he’ll get that one yet.

Did you ever notice that the hole in the Shaker hood is in the shape of the Chrysler Pentastar emblem? (Photo by Jim Campisano)

No doubt, the ’70 ’Cudas were amazing cars. With over 50,000 sold that year, it was the third best-selling Barracuda of all time. People routinely pay six- and seven figures for them today, depending on options.

One look at this pair and we know why.