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Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Sinitro] #3120486
02/10/23 03:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Sinitro
Keep in mind..
The grilles in 69 mostly were made of metal by going to plastics in 70 they had multiple issues for endurance..
Mainly the grille mounting points under stress would develop cracks. Early plastics did not hold up well for exposure to the sun...

Just my $0.02... wink


Plastic won't hold up very long on any car but let it float in the ocean and it will last millions of years.


I am not causing global warming, I am just trying to hold off a impending Ice Age!



Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: topside] #3120517
02/10/23 05:52 PM
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Originally Posted by topside
It's all conjecture unless someone who was involved & responsible for the decision can comment, but:

The '71 seem grille - and tail lamps - seem the most expensive to make, and Chrysler was generally always trying to cut costs.
Yearly updates, and several treatments being designed, likely contributed to '70-'70-'72 facelifts.

Personally, I like the '72 grille & rearend treatments the best, and feel the '71 is indeed a bit heavy on decoration.
But I wouldn't be likely to kick one of any year out of the garage.
I like that folks have their own favorites, as I've said many times before; it would be boring if we all liked and drove the same thing.


I'll try to get a comment from some old retired Chrysler guys. Personally, I MUCH prefer the styling of the 1970 to the 71. I thought the design of the 71 B-Fishes were too busy compared to the clean styling of the 1970. I absolutely love the front parking lights on the 70's, and the whistle they made when driving by.


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Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Sunroofcuda] #3120535
02/10/23 07:21 PM
02/10/23 07:21 PM
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I like the 71 slightly more than the 70. Also wish 71's came in sublime green or lemon twist.

71 with the dual headlights and billboards may be a little less likely to be confused as a Camaro with less knowledgeable car people. Sit in the stands at the races or a car show and listening to someone call a 70 Cuda a 69 Camaro is always entertaining. Doesn't seem to happen as much with the Challengers, but those Plymouth E bodies trip them up for some reason.

Last edited by Neil; 02/10/23 07:25 PM.
Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kudakidd] #3120554
02/10/23 08:50 PM
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The 1971 Barracuda grill was kind of panned in the press at the time.

Grills changed often, reference 1968, 1969, and 1970 Charger.

In the 1970-71 Chrysler Parts Collision Parts catalog a basic bare 1971 Barracuda front grill listed for $ 45.85. It was available in White, Tor-Red, Blue, Green, Bronze, Red, Avocado, Yellow and Plumb.

In the same catalog the basic bare 1970 Barracuda front grill listed for $ 25.45 for the center piece, and $ 5.10+$ 3.00 for each side of the headlight pieces.

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Redbird] #3120556
02/10/23 09:00 PM
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I thought the cars styling was done years in advance. If so, that would rule out some of the answers.

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: mopars4ever] #3120573
02/10/23 09:59 PM
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WRT E-Bodies overall: Plymouth was "recognized" as the Performance model, while Challenger was for "Styling".
They were targeted to different age groups overall. Challengers were always Challengers regardless of the build.
But Barracudas became 'Cudas with a performance build.

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: PhillyRag] #3120581
02/10/23 10:17 PM
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Originally Posted by PhillyRag
WRT E-Bodies overall: Plymouth was "recognized" as the Performance model, while Challenger was for "Styling".
They were targeted to different age groups overall. Challengers were always Challengers regardless of the build.
But Barracudas became 'Cudas with a performance build.


But weren't the Chally R/T's the Cuda of the Challenger pack?

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Jim_Lusk] #3120583
02/10/23 10:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Jim_Lusk
Up until that time grilles and tail lights changed every year in every body style. Starting in 1972 the changes were more subtle (if there were any changes). I suspect the bean counters jumped in in 1973 to limit changes as the handwriting was on the wall as far as Chrysler's future financial struggles...

That's my take on it...

iagree

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kudakidd] #3120591
02/10/23 10:51 PM
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Someone or a lot of people probably said "it looks like a Challenger now" and that hit someone too hard not to change it. twocents

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Neil] #3120597
02/10/23 11:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Neil
I like the 71 slightly more than the 70. Also wish 71's came in sublime green or lemon twist.

71 with the dual headlights and billboards may be a little less likely to be confused as a Camaro with less knowledgeable car people. Sit in the stands at the races or a car show and listening to someone call a 70 Cuda a 69 Camaro is always entertaining. Doesn't seem to happen as much with the Challengers, but those Plymouth E bodies trip them up for some reason.

I had a 70 Cuda, Ed funny car body I made into a door car, about 4” narrower. It had the Mopar decal at top of windshield, some dude came over and asked why I had Mopar on a Camero? He was kinda pissed when he realized it was a Cuda. We laughed at that all nite!

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: ChryCoGuy] #3120600
02/11/23 01:12 AM
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Originally Posted by ChryCoGuy
The '70 only lasted one year as well, not to mention each and every year before that. Seemed like '72 - '74 was when Chrysler started to figure out that they could amortize tooling costs over 2 or more years to save development/manufacturing costs.

I would guess (after all, we can only guess unless somebody who was 'there' can tell us the real story) based on how development cycles went and lead times required for styling approval, engineering drawings to be finalized, and tooling to be created in time to refit the factories in the summer of '71, that the '72 grille was decided long before reaction to the '71s, for better or worse, was known.

I would expect that it wasn't reactionary to sales, but that's not to say that it couldn't have been fast-tracked based on reaction to magazines' negative press. It's hard to be sure, but I agree that it is odd that they went to quad headlights for only one model year. Maybe Dodge complained that it looked too much like Challenger? There was a Dodge/Plymouth in-house rivalry happening at the time.


Back at that time, Ford and Chrysler got their designs hashed out about 6 months before a model change so they didn’t pay the tooling companies any overtime or rush charges. Gm did everything last minute.


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Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: cudaman1969] #3120610
02/11/23 03:56 AM
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Originally Posted by cudaman1969

I had a 70 Cuda, Ed funny car body I made into a door car, about 4” narrower. It had the Mopar decal at top of windshield, some dude came over and asked why I had Mopar on a Camero? He was kinda pissed when he realized it was a Cuda. We laughed at that all nite!

How is it that people still can't spell "Camaro" ?

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kern Dog] #3120624
02/11/23 10:01 AM
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How is it that people still can't spell "Camaro" ? [/quote]

I suspect because nobody cares enough or spells it enough to know how to spell it.

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kudakidd] #3120649
02/11/23 12:16 PM
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My first reaction to the 71 grille was that I thought the 70 grille was a lot better looking. I preferred the 72-74 over it as well. Over time I came to love it. Maybe it's like a cult classic movie that few people like at first, then over time lots of people come to appreciate it?

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: wjb123] #3120695
02/11/23 02:23 PM
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I love the 71 Grille design in both the Barracuda and Challenger. It is my favorite for both models.
I also prefer the 67-69 Barracuda in coupe/notch form versus the fastback.

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kern Dog] #3120725
02/11/23 05:19 PM
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Here's one response so far from the "old breed:"


The Stylist for the 71 front 10 “ was Don Hood. He may have been responsible for more but I know that for sure. Don did a large aggressive rendering of the 71 in color and this painting hung in Dick Macadam, , head of styling, office until he retired and Delarosa came in. He called Don and told him he better come and take it before he left Chrysler, which Don did. I believe this painting became the inspiration for those surreal aggressive posters MoPar had in the early 70s.

My point here is that if the VP of design liked it enough to leave it on his wall so long he must have thought highly of the design. Don moved to Texas in 1980 and remained a close friend till his passing a few years ago. You can google Don Hood designer to learn more. He did a presentation at Lawrence Tech about 10 years ago.

Marv Raguse


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Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Sunroofcuda] #3120728
02/11/23 05:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Sunroofcuda
Here's one response so far from the "old breed:"


The Stylist for the 71 front 10 “ was Don Hood. He may have been responsible for more but I know that for sure. Don did a large aggressive rendering of the 71 in color and this painting hung in Dick Macadam, , head of styling, office until he retired and Delarosa came in. He called Don and told him he better come and take it before he left Chrysler, which Don did. I believe this painting became the inspiration for those surreal aggressive posters MoPar had in the early 70s.

My point here is that if the VP of design liked it enough to leave it on his wall so long he must have thought highly of the design. Don moved to Texas in 1980 and remained a close friend till his passing a few years ago. You can google Don Hood designer to learn more. He did a presentation at Lawrence Tech about 10 years ago.

Marv Raguse


Don Hood also did the second image and it was done before (8-68) the first image that was done 9-68. Does this mean someone else wanted a four headlight grille or just that moods and preferences changed for Mr. Hood? Seems styling was the reason and not the cost IMO. As far as costs those mean more to the marketing department as to how much they have to increase the base price and position to the other manufacturers. The bean counters also have to answer to the marketing department. The bean counters don't care they'll make the customers pay with baking it into the base model pricing. If costs were an issue between four or two headlight grilles then the Challenger would have had two headlights also to cut costs IMO.

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Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: A12] #3120730
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The difference I see that most stands out is eight (8) grille openings versus six (6). Those grille openings were a signature of the Barracuda/Cuda and easy to spot when one was coming toward you or in the rearview mirrors.

Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kern Dog] #3120741
02/11/23 06:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Kern Dog
I love the 71 Grille design in both the Barracuda and Challenger. It is my favorite for both models.
I also prefer the 67-69 Barracuda in coupe/notch form versus the fastback.


My thoughts exactly on all that.


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Re: Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year? [Re: Kudakidd] #3120809
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Originally Posted by Kudakidd
Originally Posted by PhillyRag
WRT E-Bodies overall: Plymouth was "recognized" as the Performance model, while Challenger was for "Styling".
They were targeted to different age groups overall. Challengers were always Challengers regardless of the build.
But Barracudas became 'Cudas with a performance build.

But weren't the Chally R/T's the Cuda of the Challenger pack?


You missed the point: they were still called "Challengers"

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