The Plymouth Barracuda is a two-door pony car that was manufactured by Plymouth from 1964 to 1974. The first-generation Barracuda was based on the Chrysler A-body and was offered from 1964 to 1966. A two-door hardtop (no B-pillar) fastback design, it shared a great majority of parts and bodywork with the Plymouth Valiant, except for the huge and distinctive wraparound rear glass. The second-generation Barracuda, though still Valiant-based, was heavily redesigned. Built from 1967 to 1969, it was available as a two-door in fastback, notchback, and convertible versions. The third generation, offered from 1970 to 1974, was based on the Chrysler E-body, exclusive to it and the slightly larger Dodge Challenger. A completely new design, the two-door Barracuda was available in hardtop and convertible body styles. First generation (1964-1966) 1964 During development of the Barracuda, one of the worst kept secrets was Ford's plan to introduce a new sporty compact car based on the inexpensive Falcon chassis and running gear (which was eventually released as the 1964 1/2 Mustang); the extent of the other changes was not known. Chrysler stylist Irv Ritchie sketched a fastback version of the compact Valiant. Budgets were limited due to research and development of the Chrysler Turbine Car, but the company's executives wanted to have an entry in this emerging and potentially lucrative sporty-compact car market segment, beginning by syphoning off some of the Chevrolet's Corvair Monza's sales. Plymouth's executives had wanted to name the new model Panda, an idea unpopular with its designers. In the end, John Samsen's suggestion of Barracuda prevailed. Based on Chrysler's A-body, the Barracuda debuted in fastback form on April 1, 1964. The new model used the Valiant's wheelbase and the Valiant hood, headlamp bezels, windshield, vent windows, quarter panels, doors, A-pillar, and bumpers; the trunk and some of the glass was new. Utilizing the same hybrid design approach as Ford did turning its Falcon into the Mustang significantly reduced Plymouth's development and tooling cost and time for the new model. The greatest effort was put into creating its distinguishing rear window, a collaboration between Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) and Chrysler designers that created the largest ever installed on a standard production car to that time. Powertrains were identical to the Valiant's, including two versions of Chrysler's slant-6 six-cylinder engine. The standard-equipment engine had a displacement of and an output of ; the option raised the power output to .