For a recent Vintage Review post on the 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda 340, I actually found a different set of photos of the same model in a different, louder, and more controversial “High Impact” color: code FM3, which Dodge called Panther Pink and Plymouth named Moulin Rouge. I didn’t use them in the other post, but they’re too good not to share.
Before I draft Vintage Review posts, I try to find decent color photos that correspond, as closely as I can manage, to the original test car. This is sometimes easier said than done: If a car is fairly rare, it can be hard enough to find photos taken by someone who’s ever held a camera before, much less matching a particular specification or color. When I did the Car Life ‘Cuda 340 post, I was sorely tempted to use the FM3 car seen above — it’s also a 340 with TorqueFlite — but I decided I didn’t watch discussion of the actual road test to be hijacked by arguments about whether or not a muscle car ought to be pink. (Everyone complains about how there are no colors on modern cars anymore, but as soon as you show something in screaming fuchsia or Kermit the Frog green, they suddenly start pining for good ol’ silver and gray …)
1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda 340 in FM3 Moulin Rouge with black vinyl roof covering, backlight louvers, and J81 Go Wing spoiler / Mecum Auctions
However, if ever there were cars that cried out for extroverted color choices, it was the 1970–1974 Chrysler E-bodies. Making a fashion statement is the main reason to drive one of these cars: They aren’t terribly comfortable and they don’t handle or ride very well, and while they’re fast in a straight line with the hotter engine options, they were undoubtedly cop-bait when they were new, and are now worth too much as collector’s items to indulge in any serious displays of speed. With their assortment of rare cosmetic options (like the Moulin Rouge car’s backlight louvers, decklid spoiler, and strobe-effect tape stripes), E-bodies most lend themselves to what someone I used to know termed “Barbie dress-up,” whatever colors you prefer.
1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda Hemi convertible in FY1 Lemon Twist with Shaker hood, inverted hockey stick stripes, and rear fender call-outs / Mecum Auctions
If you’re not very familiar with these cars, a word or two of introduction may be in order: Starting in mid-1969, Chrysler Corporation began offering an array of special “High Impact” paint colors with vivid hues and silly names, like Go Mango (paint code EK2). They were an extra-cost option, although it was pretty cheap: just $14.05 in 1970 and $13.85 in 1971, equivalent to around $120 in 2025 dollars. Not all the High Impact colors were available at the same time, and some were a lot more popular than others. (The bright yellow of the Hemi convertible seen above, which Plymouth called Lemon Twist and Dodge Top Banana, was one of the more frequently seen.) Chrysler didn’t necessarily expect that many people would order these colors, but each High Impact car became a kind of rolling billboard — if you saw one in traffic, you’d certainly notice it, whether you liked it or not.
Moulin Rouge (paint code FM3), which Dodge called Panther Pink, was a mid-year introduction for 1970 models, available from February 1970 along with another new color, Sassy-Grass Green (paint code FJ6), which Dodge called Green Go. There were also new body-side tape stripe options for each color, introduced at the same time. Here’s the Chrysler-Plymouth Product Information Bulletin announcing the new options. (These scans are from MoparCarGuy; I split them into separate images and sharpened up the contrast to make them a little easier to read.)
Here are the cars with the new stripe options:
1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda 440 in FJ6 Sassy-Grass Green with Shaker hood and lime daylight fluorescent side stripes / Mecum Auctions
1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda 340 in FM3 Moulin Rouge with pink daylight fluorescent side stripes / Mecum Auctions
These colors were quite rare. A calculation of 1970 Barracuda production (based on an incomplete review of contemporary shipping records) indicates that there may have been as few as 293 Sassy-Grass Green cars and 255 Moulin Rouge Barracudas that year. (According to the above bulletin, the new colors weren’t available with color-keyed elastomeric bumpers, which the green car now has, but who knows?)
Incidentally, the name “Moulin Rouge” doesn’t have anything directly to do with pink: It literally means “Red Mill,” since the once-notorious Paris cabaret from which the name was lifted had a red windmill on the roof:
The original Moulin Rouge Music Hall in Paris, 1914; the building burned down the following year and was later reconstructed, reopening in 1925 / Rare Historical Photos
There’s a school of thought that says if you’re going to buy a loudly colored muscle car — especially a pink one — it ought to have one of the hottest available engines. People did order High Impact colors on milder base Barracuda and Gran Goupe models with sixes or 318 V-8s, but the ones that draw most attention today are brightly colored ‘Cudas or AAR ‘Cudas (and I suspect that over the years, a lot of the less-valuable base cars have become ‘Cuda “tributes” or restomods). The Sassy-Grass Green car is a ‘Cuda with the 440-6 engine, Shaker hood (a hood scoop built into the air cleaner assembly sticking through a hole in the hood), TorqueFlite, and Super Track Pak with 4.10 axle.
There was at least two FM3 Hemi cars, and a couple with the 440-6, including this one, whose engine has been tuned for about 540 hp:
However, because the Car Life road test in the Vintage Review post was a ‘Cuda 340, I picked out the Moulin Rouge listing because it too has a 340 and TorqueFlite:
It also contrasts its eye-popping paint job with a rather sober black vinyl interior, with console-shifted TorqueFlite and the $24.60 Rim Blow steering wheel:
Because the 2017 listing for the FM3 ‘Cuda 340 is shy of interior photos, I also pulled a couple from a 2023 listing for a different 1970 ‘Cuda (this one a 383) with the same color scheme:
Likewise this trunk shot:
I didn’t use any of the exterior shots of the car pictured because while it has the “inverted hockey stick” stripes (as did the Car Life test car), it also has very prominent “383” fender call-out decals, which give the game away. Even so, both the Moulin Rouge 340 seen here and the FF4 Lime Green Metallic car I actually used for the Vintage Review post have some cosmetic options the Car Life tester didn’t, in particular the J81 rear spoiler, which I think might not have been available on the Barracuda until after the road test appeared on newsstands.
I don’t think I would have ordered most of these colors on a new E-body: The idea of paying an extra fee to do uncompensated marketing and promotion for Chrysler Corporation rubs me the wrong way, and with a new car, one does have to consider issues like resale value and insurance, as well as the whole “ticket-seeking missile” problem. Today, though, why not?
I wouldn’t want an FM3 ‘Cuda as my only car (for a variety of reasons, many of them having nothing to do with the color), but nothing about these cars is restrained or subtle, and loud colors are as much a part of the image as big block power, so why not wear it proudly?
Related Reading
Car Show Classic: 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Gran Coupe – The Broughamiest ‘cuda Around (by Tom Klockau)
CC Capsule: 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda Convertible – Fancy Some Bubbly? (by Tatra87)
Curbside Classic: 1970 & 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda – Woulda And Shoulda (by Tatra87)
Vintage Car Life Road Test: 1970 Plymouth Barracuda ‘Cuda 340 – “At Least The Stylists Did A Good Job Of It” (by me)
Nobody did color like Chrysler of that period! I remember seeing these colors when they were new, but rarely.
I ran into some of the high-impact colors again last year – Dodge re-introduced modern versions of some of them on the final Chargers. There were still quite a few high-impact color cars available, and also cars painted black/white/gray/red. Trying to find something in between was not that easy.
Didn’t Chrysler offer some of these colors on the first-generation Neon, too? I remember seeing Neon coupes in that vivid green.
The Neon version had more yellow in it, and you could get it on a sedan as well, and not just in theory as might have been the case with a Moulin Rouge Valiant in 1970.
I don’t know if it was considered a High Impact colour, but I definitely recall seeing four door Valiants, and Dusters, painted in a factory bright blue. Very eye-catching, and memorable. It looked especially nice on the Duster.
Highly similar to Richard Petty’s famous blue.
This is the first time I’ve even heard of the fluorescent side stripe options, let alone seen them; I think that they’re the cherry on top of the high impact color sundae! I think I could live/be happy with the Sassy Grass Green ‘cuda!! 🙂
Dear Aaron, great essay on this era of hideous colors. You remark that you would not have bought this car at that time. I say that at the time of this car being on the market, you would have been the young man who would have delighted in the feature where marketing for Chrysler would not occur to you. I am assuming that in 1970 you were younger than twenty-eight years of age. This car was painted for the likes of youth. In 1970, I was 27 years of age and too conservative to consider such a color. I was not mainstream. Keep the fun articles coming. Maybe you can research the yellow and purple that were offered on the 1970/1970 full sized Plymouths. I would love to know how many of those were sold!
Sold or built?
Production numbers by color for C-bodies are difficult to come by.
I appreciate the kind words, but I wish that you would not make these sorts of assumptions, which are not accurate and make me a bit uncomfortable.
I will always remember the Sunday paper supplement in September 1969 showing the color chip ‘Cuda. It was a fantastic era to live through if you were young enough to avoid the draft.
I’ve seen a Dodge Hemi Challenger version in a magazine in this color where the original owner tried to buy it from one dealer and he refused to order the Panther Pink so he had to go to another dealer..
color chip Cuda brochure.
This was a beautiful design by Chrysler in the early ’70s. I preferred the look of the Challenger, but both were well proportioned designs. When I actually rode in one as a high schooler, I remember being unimpressed by the cheap feeling of the plastic dash components (switches, etc). But everyone was cutting corners then (see Paul’s infamous ’71 Chevy screed), so I guess it was apropos…
As one might imagine, even though it was a mid-year introduction, Moulin Rouge/Panther Pink didn’t last long. Although it was still technically available for 1971, it was special order, only.
OTOH, Sassy-Grass/Green Go continued through 1971 as an RPO. It’s often confused with the similar, one-year-only Sublime/Lime Light, which is more of a yellow hue, while Sassy-Grass has a more green tint.
While some deride the wild High Impact colors (and names), they were surely more safe and easier to spot on the highway. Of course, that goes for being easier to pick out for moving violation citations, too.
And I would have bet that those 1970 strobe stripes were not RPO, either. Because of the somewhat odd location further down the beltline, I thought they were some bad, aftermarket take on the 1970 AAR ‘Cuda strobe stripe but, evidently, they were applied in that manner at the factory.
Chrysler threw every musclecar gimmick extant at the wall to see what would stick for the 1970 E-body, that’s for sure.
Technically, any color could be a special-order color, but FM3 was not singled out to be such in 1971.
I was familiar with the E body “high impact” colors but was unaware they were also available on the Belvedere and Valiant. I kept reading through the reproduced dealer guide expecting these to be only available on high-performance coupes or something, but no, it appears you could order a Sassy Grass Green or Moulin Rouge Valiant sedan if that’s what you wanted. Anyone know how many were built?
I noticed that, too, and wonder if it was possible to get a High Impact color as an RPO on ‘any’ A- or B-body model.
The coupes are understandable, but was it actually possible there were Valiant sedans and/or Belvedere station wagons painted that way from the factory? I don’t recall ever seeing one.
I’m just the sort of guy who would walk into a Plymouth dealer and order a 198 Slant Six/3-on-the-tree Valiant sedan in Moulin Rouge.
According to the numbers I have, none were built in the U.S. It’s possible there were some in Canada or export orders.
Steel wheels must be orginals
I believe most of the special colours were available on Dusters, my buddy’s big sister had an otherwise plain jane one in Sassy Grass green. I once nearly bought a rough ’71 340 Duster in Moulin Rouge, but repainting these properly was a big job and I couldn’t stomach the colour.
Perhaps the Duster is what they meant when they said “Valiant”, I’ve certainly never seen a sedan in any of these colours.
My Dad had a ’71 Satellite Sebring for a company car, and while it was a plain yellowy beige, it’s typical Mopar quality meant frequent trips to the local Plymouth Chrysler store.
I recall seeing a regular Barracuda in Sassy Grass green, and it was there for a long, long time. I doubt many of these colours were ordered for stock!
I typically do not like a vinyl roof, on any car. Especially, any car with supposed muscle car credentials. However in this case, the black roof helps prevent this ‘Cuda from looking too pretty in pink.
A vivid orange was offered on the base 2016 Dodge Dart. Very similar to the high impact Go Mango.
I rented two Darts on two different occasions, during the summer of 2016, and they were both orange. Under-powered with the base engine, but I was a fan of the last Darts.
I think the pink would have pared better with no vinyl top and louvers. There is already a lot going on with the pink, tape stripes and rear spoiler.
Id also have gone for white vinyl on the interior. Not a big fan of cheap black vinyl interiors. Btw.is that how most muscle cars were optioned, with black vinyl?? Seems like anybody that restores a Nova, Chevelle or Camaro automatically defaults to that. Rarely will you see a cheap Chevy(or muscle mopar) with a colored interior.
The production numbers posted are for all Barracudas and not just ‘Cudas.
Oops, quite right — I’ve corrected the text.