The 1968 Dodge Hemi Dart was a factory fever dream — just 80 cars built with a raw 426 race Hemi and no warranty, capable of quarter-mile times in the 10-11 second range. This tribute Dart takes that same defiant spirit into Pro Street territory, a build style popularized in the 1980s that mimics a Pro Stock drag car while staying street legal. Tubbed rear ends, narrowed axles, and wheelie bars separate a true Pro Street car from an ordinary hot rod. Under this one’s hood sits a 605 cubic inch Hemi big block that dwarfs even the original Hurst-built cars.
This 1968 Dodge Dart has been highly modified, top to bottom, Â and now is powered by a huge 605 CID (9.91 Liter) Hemi big block which puts out 836.8 hp (624 kW) and delivers 752 lb-ft (1019.58 Nm) of torque to the wheels. There is no radio though, the exhaust rumble is all you will need to hear.
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Back in 1968, Dodge built exactly 80 Darts so extreme that the factory refused to warranty them, dropping a raw 426 Hemi race engine into a compact economy car body just to dominate the drag strip for one season. This car isn’t one of those 80 — it’s something stranger: a modern tribute that takes that same reckless idea and multiplies it, stuffing a 605 cubic inch Hemi big block under the hood of a Dart that was never meant to carry anything close to that kind of power. The build style has a name — Pro Street — and it comes with its own unwritten rulebook about tubbed rear ends, narrowed axles, and wheelie bars borrowed straight from real drag cars. What survives from that original 1968 factory experiment, and what’s pure fantasy bolted onto a 1968 shell?
The 80 Factory Cars That Started It All
On February 20, 1968, Dodge released a limited option coded LO23 — the Hemi Dart — assembled by Hurst Performance. Rather than the milder Street Hemi, it used the raw, cross-ram 426 CID race engine with no factory warranty, built specifically for drag racing. Period reports credited these cars with reaching 130 mph in under 11 seconds and running the quarter mile in the 10-11 second range, with some accounts claiming times as low as 9-10 seconds.
What ‘Pro Street’ Actually Means Under the Skin
Pro Street emerged as a popular custom car style in the 1980s, built to imitate the look of a Pro Stock race car while staying street legal with a full interior. A genuine Pro Street build typically combines at least two of three signature modifications: a heavily built V8, a narrowed and tubbed rear axle wearing oversized tires with wheelie bars, and a roll cage. This tribute Dart channels the same defiant spirit that made the original Hemi Dart notorious, just dialed up with a 605 cubic inch Hemi big block that dwarfs anything Hurst ever bolted into a factory car.
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