Among Mopar muscle cars-and indeed all domestic muscle cars-the Chrysler E-Body is unique among vehicle platforms from the muscle car era. It was the final missile salvo released from the high-octane space-age "go-fever!" era of the 1960s, after which Detroit unofficially closed up shop on the burgeoning performance business. The Mopar E-Body platform was Chrysler's answer to the Ford Mustang and the ponycar market that began in 1964, but by the time the Plymouth Barracuda and Dodge Challenger arrived on the scene for 1970, the ponycar had migrated upscale, and Chrysler was there with the E-Body to show the world the true potential of a more luxurious, more powerful ponycar market segment.
While many automotive historians wax eloquently about the muscle car era and the early contributions that Ford (with the Mustang) and GM (Pontiac's GTO) made toward affordable performance in the 1960s, the contribution that Chrysler made with the Plymouth Barracuda and the Dodge Challenger E-Body is arguably the appropriate bookend to the first generation of the ponycar and the performance decade of the 1960s. With both variants of the E-Body appearing at the close of the 1960s with the 1970 model year, the Plymouth 'Cuda and Dodge Challenger E-Body muscle cars were the most mature muscle car products offered to date.
Chrysler, which was known at the onset of the 1960s for its exceptional engineering, robust unibody construction, high horsepower output, and beefcake powertrains, lacked only a modern hook to bring in a new generation of young customers known as "baby boomers." For 1970, the Mopar E-Body would give Chrysler the final missing piece of the puzzle with a breathtaking pair of body designs built on the E-Body platform, along with a palette of amazing high-impact colors to grab eyeballs and turn heads. The 108-inch-wheelbase Plymouth Barracuda and the upscale 110-inch-wheelbase Dodge Challenger debuted in 1970 to critical acclaim and sales were brisk.
Nevertheless, trouble was brewing, and by the E-Body's last hurrah in 1974, build quantities for each model had dwindled to a trickle (11,354 for the 1974 Dodge Challenger and 11,734 for the 1974 Plymouth Barracuda). In all, just 280,301 examples of the Mopar E-Body muscle car were built in its short, tumultuous five-year production run. The E-Body Plymouth Barracuda and Dodge Challenger had overstayed their welcome well into the fuel shortages, oil embargoes, and insurance premium increases of the 1970s, raising the philosophical question of whether it was better to be first to market like the Mustang, or to observe the segment then refine it for a premium ownership experience. If you're a true blue Mopar proponent, you already know the answer to that one!
One of the more unique aspects of the Mopar E-Body subculture is the fact that there are essentially no boring colors. When it came to its new youth-oriented ponycar, the gloves were off and the high-impact colors were on. By design, any authentic group of Mopar E-Bodies is going to look like a pile of Skittles from an aerial vantage point; with colors like Plum Crazy, Sublime, Go ManGo, Panther Pink, Vitamin C Orange, and Top Banana, looking at a 1970 Dodge or Plymouth dealership brochure had a lot in common with ripping open a bag of Skittles. The only difference was that at Chrysler, you're smelling the tire smoke instead of tasting the rainbow. Fun fact: At the 2021 Holley Moparty, we only found one black Barracuda, one silver Challenger, and no white E-Bodies at all-the rest were all high-impact colors.
With rain coming down in most of the areas around Bowling Green, Kentucky, on the weekend of September 1719, 2021, you knew there had to be a rainbow somewhere, and it was at the Holley Moparty at Beech Bend Raceway Park. Even under dreary overcast skies, the Mopar E-Body muscle car rainbow was well in evidence, its high-impact colors delighting young and old alike. While many muscle cars of the era enticed a younger audience into showrooms, Chrysler really went the extra mile with its curated E-Body color selection; one thing about today's youngsters that certainly still applies is that the kids of all ages still love 'em! See how many Dodge and Plymouth color names you can remember in this spectacular gallery of 1970-to-1974 Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Barracudas from the 2021 Holley Moparty.