When it comes to cars, whether performance trumps looks or vice versa is all a matter of personal opinion, but if you can get them both in a single package, well, that really eliminates the conversation entirely., doesn’t it? 

This 1968 Plymouth Barracuda that’s being offered for sale by the team at Rick Jones Race Cars is most certainly that. You see, this ‘Cuda was custom built by the world-renowned builders at RJ Race Cars with showstopping looks and street-ability all around, but what really makes this thing impressive is that they’ve stuffed a legit 500 cubic inch, naturally-aspirated NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Hemi powerplant under the hood, producing more than 1,300 horsepower and with a quarter-mile lap of 6.70-seconds at over 205 MPH to its credit. 

Looks? Check. Power for days? Check. Needless to say, this is the whole package and then some.

The former Super Stock A/Automatic Hemi car was commissioned by and constructed for Monte Bailey, a good friend of the RJ Race Cars team, three years ago, but sadly, Bailey passed away last December before the car could be completed. With the car now complete and ready to run, it’s being sold for Bailey’s wife.

Atop the one-time Pro Stock bullet is a set of Book Racing Holley carburetors, fed by a Magnafuel four-port fuel regulator, with the power transferring back to the custom Ford nine-inch hear end housing through a Coan Turbo 400 transmission and converter, shifted by a B&M Pro Bandit ratchet shifter.

The chassis itself is comprised of a tubular A-arm front suspension with a custom-built K-member in the front, with a four-link rear suspension with Strange Engineering shocks on all four corners helping get the power to the ground, be it on the street or the strip, out back. The Rick Jones team has added a host of killer components to the car, including a chrome diagonal link, chrome wheelie bars, Mark Williams 40-spline axles and spool and third member, polished Lamb dual caliper rear disc brakes, and Strange steel front disc brakes.

A full, custom polished exhaust setup was built to make the car adequate for street and strip duty which, complete with polished Borla mufflers, exit out through the sides just forward of the rear wheel opening. 

The ultra-clean exterior of the car comes compliments of a House of Kolors ‘True Blue Pearl’ paint job completed by S&D Enterprises, covering the fiberglass lift-off hood and oversized Hemi hood scoop and is set off by freshly polished and/or chrome trim pieces, including the bumpers, door handles, and window lips.

Inside is an all custom, carbon fiber weave interior, with carbon fiber-look Auto Meyer gauges to match, along with late model Dodge Viper seats, Simpson five-point Cam-Loc belts, and a full stereo system, even including a subwoofer box. 

Adding to the drivability of this classic is a 10 gallon Jaz fuel cell and a pair of 14V XS batteries, along with a polished transmission cooler and a large 56mm radiator to keep things running cool at the stoplight.

The price, as you might expect, is certainly befitting of such an across-the-board badass car such as this one, at $169,900. But if you demand the best of all worlds with spectacular looks and a powerplant that no one else this side of a Pro Stock field can say they have under their right foot, that’s the cost of bragging rights.

To learn more about this Barracuda or other cars — new and used — for sale by the Rick Jones Race Cars and Quarter-Max team, log on to rjracecars.com.