Hood left GM in '68 to join...
Hood left GM in '68 to join the Plymouth Styling Studio. His clay, displayed on May 2, 1969, showed a lower rocker and more radiused wheel openings. The strong ramps on the front fenders and rear quarters impart a balance with equal overhang at both ends.
The End Cometh-In Cincinnati, Ohio
In the fall of 1969, the final '75 designs were approved, and the clays were transferred to a fiberglass body, which was then trimmed to look like a completed car. This prototype was then taken to Cincinnati, Ohio, for viewing by a consumer survey group. The results were not good. "That wild body went to Cincinnati of all places, and it was a disaster," remembers Antonick. "I came back from Cincinnati and realized it was all over; management didn't want musclecars anymore. It was the saddest day of my career at Chrysler." As if an omen, the "Cincinnati car" unfortunately fell off a forklift during transport and was damaged.
The rear study, dated August...
The rear study, dated August 17, 1969, had two different taillamp proposals, where the lamp height was determined based on the height of the rear deck. The tunnel back roof lent itself better to the lower deck height, and we detect a slight hint of "Cordoba" in the lamp treatments.
It was obvious that management had stacked the deck against the Barracuda by using the conservative Cincinnati survey group. If the car had gone to Los Angeles, for example, it would have received a positive rating, which was not what Chrysler wanted. Although the studio was instructed to prepare some "nose jobs" for the current car to extend its life beyond 1974, it was clear to many in the Plymouth Design Studio that the Barracuda's fate was cursed.
Cancelling their ponycar program would prove to be a colossal mistake. The ponycar market enjoyed a tremendous resurgence from the mid-'70s to the early-'80s, and the fact that Dodge and Plymouth were not there to share in the bounty proves just how out of touch Chrysler was. "Unfortunately," observes Cameron, "back then we always went after the basic transportation guys, and left the specialty market and high-level, high-profit items to General Motors and Ford."
By early September, the basic...
By early September, the basic front end had been approved. This clay shows the large grille opening and sloping fenders, with a slightly recessed hood line that includes a pronounced wind split.
Would the radically redesigned '75 Barracuda and Challenger have shared in the revitalized ponycar market? The clays indicate an aggressive, exciting car that would have dated the Firebird and Camaro, making them obsolete. "I think our cars would have been competitive," Cameron says. "We would have kept the market share we had."
A Missed Opportunity
But would the hypothetical success of Chrysler's ponycars have prevented the corporation's bankruptcy? While the question will never be answered, enough factors exist to make a valid argument that Chrysler certainly would have been financially healthier. GM's decision to retain its ponycars proved to be profitable. At it's lowest point in 1973, Pontiac's Firebird sold just 29,951 units. By 1979, sales exploded to more than 211,000 (accounting for two out of every five Pontiacs sold). What makes this all the more amazing is that Pontiac's marketing group recommended killing the Firebird when it was on the ropes in 1972, in favor of smaller, more conservative models. The decision to keep the Firebird ultimately played a major role in Pontiac's survival.
Hood's clay had sharply ramped...
Hood's clay had sharply ramped rear quarters and more fluid front fenders, and the front end is split into two proposals for fender and hood heights. Also note the two different grille and headlamp schemes. The cowl and A-pillar reflect the final design.
The same could be said for Chevrolet and Ford. The Camaro tallied 89,988 units in 1973, climbing to 282,571 by 1979. Whereas Ford's '73 Mustang sold 134,867 units in the last year of its styling cycle. Even the star-crossed '74 Mustang II sold 385,993 copies in 1974, and the new '79 Mustang registered 369,936. Just how much of this volume could have been captured by the Barracuda and Challenger can't be known, but it's a sure bet that sales for both cars would have been more than enough to justify their existence.
This is the infamous "Cincinnati...
This is the infamous "Cincinnati car," the result of marrying the Matsurra and Herlitz/Sampson designs. The clay shows how the inner doorskins, side glass, windshield, and sill could have been carried over from the '70-'74 E-body in order to save money. There's no way this front end would have met the upcoming 1973 Federal bumper regulations, but that couldn't have been foreseen in 1969.
The decline and fall of Chrysler Corporation reads like a classic case of managerial incompetence by an undercapitalized, aging company erring at a critical and unforgiving time. "Chrysler doesn't do anything first," notes Car & Driver. "Instead, it carefully watches what everybody else in Detroit is doing, and when it sees an area of abnormal market activity it leaps exactly on that spot. Because it always leaps late-which is inevitable if it doesn't begin to prepare its entry into the market until someone else already has one-it tries to make up for being late by jumping onto said spot harder than everybody else." In the mid- to late-'70s, Chrysler failed to hit the right spots, and the only salvation was a government bailout.
When the '70s were over, the ponycar had survived, but two important nameplates-Barracuda and Challenger-were gone. If Chrysler had produced a new generation of E-bodies, the corporation's fate might have been kinder. The Barracuda and Challenger would not have saved Chrysler, but it's possible their sales could have softened the blows the corporation suffered in their darkest days of the late-'70s.
 A side view of the "Cincinnati...  A side view of the "Cincinnati car" shows the compromised rear roofline, including the tunnel back and recessed backlight. The combination formal/fastback roofline looks out of place compared to the rest of the bodyline, but to attain the roofline as shown, designers planned to recline the rear passenger seats. Smaller front fender air extractors were approved. |  Here's the post-Cincinnati...  Here's the post-Cincinnati nose job. This photo was taken on October 30, 1969, a few weeks after its disastrous showing. Hood's aerodynamic front end has been grafted onto a '74 Barracuda, and the basic body was carried over. Note the chin spoiler and the overall resemblance to Ford's '70 King Cobra Torino. This proposal was also rejected. |  Hood's front-end proposal...  Hood's front-end proposal included functional air intake scoops. Several approaches were tried, including recessed and hidden headlights, stripes, and decals. Check out the 440 emblem on the header panel. |