1964 Plymouth Barracuda Landau / Targa Prototype

Auction lanes are full of tidy first-gen Barracudas. This is not one of them. Mecum’s Nashville lot frames a 1964 Plymouth Barracuda Landau / Targa Prototype — a Chrysler design-studio car whose roof was cut so stylists could try a Landau-style removable panel between the windshield and the surviving fastback glass. Production 1964–66 Barracudas were fastbacks only. The open car did not arrive until the 1967 convertible. Path C does not need a 500-unit table when the object is a documented factory one-off exploring a body style that never reached the ’64 order books.

Public lot identity includes VIN V442728177, a 273 small-block, automatic, gold exterior and gold interior, white soft insert over the Landau aperture, AM radio, and 14-inch wheels. The odometer reading — 52,446 miles on Mecum’s advance sheet — matters editorially: this prototype was driven, not mothballed as a pure clay-adjacent prop. That is useful diligence and a condition honesty note, not a Rare Machines certification of matching numbers beyond what the seller and block present.

Significance is industrial, not race-grid. Chrysler’s early Barracuda brief was answering Mustang with a Valiant-based fastback; the Landau/targa study asks whether buyers wanted sky without waiting for a full convertible program. Period coverage and the Mecum consignment language agree on the design-study purpose. We do not invent which studio chief signed the work order, which clay model preceded it, or a celebrity first owner. Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage collection context appears in secondary preview pieces — treat collection narrative as supporting color until papers meet the car.

Score 88 — Rare-enough, not Ultra. Production/survival clears Path C at near-ceiling for a countable factory one-off; specification is the unique roof package on first-year Barracuda hardware; provenance is design-studio plus driven life, without a works championship stack; documentation is strong for a public VIN and lot package, with a haircut until studio files are verified in person; market scarcity is real for this configuration; condition points reflect a used prototype rather than a zero-mile vault piece. Estimate band ($25–30k) is market noise relative to rarity scoring — we score scarcity and story, not hammer fantasy.

Status: Live catalog — Mecum Nashville Lot S235, 26 September 2026. Re-verify before newsletter send.

Watcher’s checklist

1. Confirm VIN V442728177 against title and any Chrysler design-study paperwork presented with the car.
2. Inventory the original Landau/targa roof panel — Mecum notes it accompanies the sale.
3. Do not confuse with later production Barracuda convertibles (1967+) or street customs with chopped roofs.
4. Inspect how the Landau cover and remaining fastback glass actually seal and latch.
5. No-reserve + modest estimate ≠ low diligence — prototype identity is the whole plot.
6. Re-check Mecum Lot S235 status before you act.