Why Did the '71 Cuda Grille Last Only ONE Year?

Bean counters? Stylists?

There were some reviews back when that were critical of the 71's looks: grille, billboards, etc.
Has to been a more complicated grille to mold nicely for sure: so maybe bean-counters.
Same as for the 70/71 challenger grilles: a molded grille sure is cheaper then the 70 egg-crate one.
Early 70's chrysler was still coming up to speed utilizing molded plastics in their cars.

Huge drop in sales from 1970 to 1971. Plymouth figured the dual headlights hurt sales so they went back to single lights. Dropped from 55,499 to 18,690.

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...

The hotrod mag review I have didnt think much of it. Spoke highly of the 340 version of the car as well over the BB.

Styles changed yearly, it was expensive to make, sales dropped significantly, and the automotive press panned the whole '71 Cuda style change.

Cause everyone knows barracudas only have TWO EYES not four (headlights)

I always thought insurance might have been a factor too? The '71 is a lot more intricate than other years.

The article I saw thought the car was too gimmicky and busy. I figured it was just an isolated review, but I guess not.

I agree to this day. I've owed a 70 since 1974. Always thought the 71 was too busy. I’m not in love with shakers either. Too much work to get to the motor. I think the AAR Cuda is about the best looking car ever made.

Unlike these days, it was normal for cars to be updated every year or two.

And IMO, the '71 is one of the best looking cars mopar ever made, so I guess there's no accounting for taste.

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.

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...

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.

All comes down to sales; as mentioned earlier, there was a HUGE drop in sales from 70 to 71 for Barracuda and 'Cuda.
E Bodies never sold particularly well, even with the decent first year sales. Changes in 71 were likely planned before the 70s went on sale, so this was a planned update and when sales #s fell so sharply, they backed off, made the cars more plain to attempt to appeal to a wider audience and simply kept building them til the stampings wore out.

See Pontiac Aztek for a similar track, albeit 30 years later (they deleted body side moldings and updated a few features, but basically then just built out the car until the stampings wore out). Another instance of sales didn't meet expectations.

Too bad the 68/69 charger and 70/71 cuda weren't built until the late 70's as is. The money spent on the 71 charger alone was likely much better saved, no matter how ugly the 2nd gen would have looked with 5mph bumpers

You have to keep in mind that in that era, designs were pretty much locked in 2-3 years before the cars debuted.
I'm betting on cost-cutting, with a side helping of model-year refresh.

I thought 71-74 Charger sold quite well.

The window vents, exposed wiper arms, flat interior door cards, even that slab dash pad was all dated by 1971

You just made history. I think that's the first time anyone has ever compared a '71 Cuda to a Pontiac Aztek.

I do my best! Similar expectations vs sales, though...:)

JS

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'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.

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.

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.

I thought the cars styling was done years in advance. If so, that would rule out some of the answers.

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?

Someone or a lot of people probably said "it looks like a Challenger now" and that hit someone too hard not to change it.

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!

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

My thoughts exactly on all that.

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

It wa sugly

Interesting to read this post. As a younger person I had more than my share of 70 Cuda's - 7 to be exact. but always liked the 71 better - never owned one. I am Dog Dish, Big Motor type of Muscle car fan but yet the 71's were more about the flash - Shark Tooth type grill, Billboards. but I still think if I get and E body Id get a 71... That would be true for a RR as well... with Dog Dishes.

For the same reason why the Barracuda grille changed every year preceding 1971.