Inside a custom-made 4-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

It all started in 2010 when Dave Walden, owner of ECS Automotive Concepts in Chesterfield, Mo, came across an artist’s rendering of a light blue/gray concept four-door Barracuda hardtop.  After much consideration, it led to him and his friend, Steve Been, deciding to build a real four-door Barracuda based off the rendering.  They kept the faith, but made a few notable modifications.

Researching to find out if Chrysler happened to have created such a concept car the way GM and Ford often did with coupes, Dave came across  Chrysler employee Roger Johnson who claimed to have witnessed a red 4-door Barracuda concept car from 75 feet away during 1969 at Chrysler’s headquarters in Highland Park, Michigan.  After that, Dave decided to build such a car to represent the concept that Mr. Johnson had seen.

According to Dave, “After discussing the possibilities, we concluded it would have to be built from an existing 4-door Chrysler platform”.  More specifically, they needed a roof, A-pillars, and B-pillars from some kind a Chrysler sedan.  The most feasable option that would give them what they needed was a 1971-1974 Dodge Coronet or Plymouth Satellite sedan, which only came as pillared models.  Using a 1972 Dodge Coronet 4-door shell, Walden and Been built the four-door Cuda from scratch during 2014-15 with some help from Rick Bommarito.

“Every component had to be modified to fit this ‘one-of-none’ car,” Walden explains in his blog.  “Even after finding those pieces, they still had to be cut apart and altered to accommodate our design.  They no longer exhibit their original shapes or factory composition. Many of the changes that were made are drastic yet unnoticeable at a glance.  Not one exterior panel will fit any other Chrysler-built vehicle. The team even had to alter the door hinges to work with the custom doors.”