1966 Ghia 450SS

In the 1960s, a few of the remaining custom coach builders continued to demonstrate their ideas and skill with a number of one-off concepts, using a  production-based chassis on the speculation that they could sell the design. These cars were displayed  at the major auto shows in Turin, Geneva and Paris, hoping to attract lucrative commissions from a manufacturers, as well as sales from the wealthiest private clients. Ghia displayed the Fiat G230S Coupe, based on Fiat's 2100 sedan chassis at the 1960 Turin show.

 Burt Sugarman working as a salesman at a Beverly Hills Import car dealership, owned by Johnny Carson and some other heavy weight producers (before Burt himself  became a major producer) saw the Ghia-bodied Fiat G230S Coupe on the cover of the latest Road & Track and was so enthralled with the modern lines by the then young designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.  He contacted Ghia in Turin. Sugarman convince Ghia to build a limited-production convertible based on the Fiat design. Sugarman wanted a car with American mechanicals with a powerful V8 engine. The complete drive-train of the Plymouth Barracuda Formula S was chosen. He then formed a new company, Ghia of America. This resulted in the 450 SS and the car was branded as a Ghia. Only 52 cars were built. This is one of the alleged surviving 26.

Driving the Ghia 450SS.

 I first drove one in 1972, I too had loved its looks, although at this point and time designs were moving in the short trunk long nose direction. You can not argue with the room and comfort provided by this car in comparison to some of its other contemporaries. There was secure feeling knowing that  mechanical parts could be found at every gas station in North America. Mechanical parts for some exotics in those days could cripple the car for months.  That out of the way I shrugged it of my list due to the automatic transmission. The great sound from the engine was not backed up by great acceleration. It was not what I expected of an Italian built car. I reminded my self it is a Barracuda in a real nice Italian suit. I can appreciated now much more than my speed crazed 20 year old version.

A Fishy Story Or How Plymouth Got The Jump And Lost The Race To Ford.

By Miguel Caparros

The 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang was the first Pony Car. Chrysler Plymouth did their best to try to steal the thunder of the April New York Worlds Fair Introduction, by releasing the Plymouth Valiant Barracuda on April first, two weeks before the opening of the Fair. Chrysler did a great job incorporating the large glass fast back onto the mundane Plymouth economy car and actually created a niche for the car.  It was not until 1965 with the introduction of the "S" package that the Barracuda was actually taken seriously as a performance car. Plymouth was ahead of the curve in SCCA Road Racing and the Barracuda was always in the running in the early Trans Am Series.

It was not until the 1967 introduction of the second generation A body Barracuda that the car was taken seriously by the enthusiast. With a truly fresh design and the addition of a coupe and convertible to the fastback, sales were brisk but nothing in comparison to the Mustang and the Camaro Firebird duo from GM. For such a low production numbers, Chrysler gave its buyers every thing from the legendary 225 six to the ground pounding 2 four barrel 426 Hemi V8.

In my opinion the best balanced of all the "Cudas" was the1968-69 340 powered fastback. Find a nice one of those with the S package, a "6 pack" intake and carburetors, some modern tires and suspension and you would have a butt kicking very usable street, track and show car. Although the 3rd generation of cars with the big block power are very celebrated today. The second generation A bodied cars were the most graceful with well designed lines with little or no gimmicks.

1970 saw the introduction of the 3rd generation Barracuda along with its brother for Dodge, the Challenger. By far the most aggressively designed of all the pony cars, they were also the biggest. The need for space for the big block motors led Chrysler to build their new Pony cars on the "E" platform shared with the full size Belvedere and Coronet. In racing Dodge and Plymouth Super Bird aero cars were the cars to beat in NASCAR and on the drag strip that duty fell to the Cuda, and Challenger. In 1970 the hottest racing series was not NASCAR, it was the SCCA's Trans Am Series. With the win on Sunday Sell on Monday mind set all the manufacturers had official and un-official road race teams. The crowds were huge with some venues having as many as 70,000 attendees. The #48  Plymouth Cuda AAR (All American Racing) with Dan Gurney, Sweede Savage and Sam Posey. A friend of mine bought the ex Dan Gurney/Sweede Savage car and I had the opportunity to flog this car at Infineon Raceway (formerly known as Sears Point, California) My first reaction was, "my god, this thing is huge" and that it was. It felt wider than any thing I ever drove on  road course and only exceeded when I drove Ken Epsman's 1963, Mercury Marauder with no power steering. Check out Sam Posey's Road & Track article of his reunion with the sister to the car I drove and his original 1970 race car.