What’s Kevin Hart’s 40th birthday present to himself? A Hellcat-swapped, carbon-fiber, 1970 Plymouth Barracuda restomod.
This is not just any resto-mod muscle car. It’s the Menace – a fully custom creation by SpeedKore Performance Group. SpeedKore builds some of the most bad-ass muscle cars to be seen, regularly inducing jaw-muscle weakness at car shows like SEMA.
The Menace is no exception. It looks like a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, but there is hardly anything left from the original vehicle.
It’s a classic design with a carbon fiber twist
The exterior updates are subtle, preserving the classic design of the original 1970 Barracuda, however, most of the sheet metal is gone.
It’s replaced by carbon fiber panels front and back – hood, fenders, bumpers, mirrors. Most notable is the hood with massive and totally functional air scoops. It’s finished in clear carbon, which extends on top of the fenders, mirrors and below the windows.
There plenty of clear carbon around the bumpers, inside the engine bay and inside the cabin too.
If you think it’s too much, remember these guys built the award-winning, 1970 Dodge Charger “Evolution” with 100% carbon fiber body.
The weight savings from the body offset the extra chassis reinforcement, heavier engine, heavy-duty drivetrain and suspension components. So, the Barracuda weighs around 3,400 pounds which is pretty good for today’s standards.
The rest of the car is painted in Lakeshore Blue which looks gorgeous and classy and fits the period of the car.
The aggressive looks are produced by the lowered suspension, massive HRE S101 wheels wrapped in Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.
At the front, we’ve got 19×10 inch wheels with 245/35X R19 tires. At the back, there are even bigger, 20×12 inch wheels with 245/30Z R20 rubber on top. It needs all of that contact patch too, because under the carbon hood lies a real beast.
The real Menace is underneath the hood
If you think it’s gorgeous on the outside, wait until you see the engine bay. All the cables and hoses are neatly tucked inside carbon fiber molding, leaving the supercharger and block exposed in all their glory.
The old 7.0-liter V8 HEMI has been swapped for a modern 6.4-liter engine. It’s equipped with a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger, a SpeedKore cold air intake and custom fabricated headers and exhaust.
Thanks to some top-notch tuning by HP Tuners the V8 produces 720 horsepower, available at 5,800 RPM and a similar torque almost from 0 because it’s supercharged, not turbocharged.
Its mileage is probably criminal, but thanks to a ZF 8th-speed automatic transmission and some 1,000 pounds of weight advantage, it will smoke modern Hellcats left and right.
Cutting edge tech wrapped in retro styling
Inside, the car ‘Cuda is 100% custom. SpeedKore gutted the original interior, 3D scanned the bare shell and built a brand new one.
It’s very modern, but designed to feel period correct. Black leather and white stitching is a timeless combination and if it wasn’t for the carbon fiber, you wouldn’t think too much about it.
The dashboard is made from carbon fiber with a machined aluminum instrument cluster, housing the most important gauges. It’s completely different from the original, but because they kept it minimalist and skipped the unnecessary distractions found in modern interiors, it looks almost retro. The pull switches really help dial in the right atmosphere.
The central console features a handful of controls as well as a gear selector knob instead of a traditional lever. It’s an automatic anyway, so might as well save the space.
Overall this 1970 Plymouth Barracuda is absolutely amazing. SpeedKore really know what they’re doing, and Kevin Hart will be the most awesome owner if he shared some running footage with us.
Until then, enjoy this walk around from 2017 below.