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. No production table is needed 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: this prototype was driven, not mothballed as a pure clay-adjacent prop. That is useful diligence and a condition 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. As a countable factory one-off, production and survival score near the top; 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, scored a little lower 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. The $25–30k estimate does not feed the rarity score, which measures scarcity and history, not price.

Sold: Mecum Nashville Lot S235, $23,100 on 26 September 2026.

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. See Mecum Lot S235 for the published result.