Posts Tagged: Dodge Dart
Only around 80 of these Hurst-built Hemi Darts ever left the Hamtramck factory in 1968, stripped to the bone for one job: winning NHRA Super Stock races. One surviving example just turned up at a South Dakota drag strip running a 9.20 at 146 mph — except its owner pulled the rare original 426 Hemi for something even bigger. Here’s why that was actually the right call.
A stranger’s dashcam happened to be rolling at exactly the wrong moment for this 1969 Dodge Dart GT, catching a violent rear-end failure loud enough that viewers say they had to rip their headphones off. The comments dug up two competing, detailed theories for what actually broke — and both are worth knowing before modifying your own muscle car’s rear end. Watch to see it happen.
A 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger spent decades hidden in a garage before anyone heard its 340 run again. Chrysler rated the small-block at just 275 horsepower — enthusiasts have spent 50 years insisting that number is a lie. Here’s what happened when this rough, unrestored survivor finally came back to life.
Dodge built only 80 Hemi Darts in 1968, turning a humble compact into a six-figure drag-strip legend almost overnight. But a deep dive into the Dart’s full history reveals the real bargain hiding in plain sight: the ordinary Slant-Six version, famous among owners for outlasting engines twice its horsepower. Here’s what separates the unicorn from the daily driver, and why knowing the difference matters before you buy.
While Pontiac was inventing the muscle car with the 1964 GTO, Dodge was building the opposite: a Dart GT convertible with a 225 Slant Six, a pushbutton automatic, and fuel economy nobody advertised. It was not fast, and it was never meant to be. Read on for why the Slant Six Dart may have been the smarter buy in 1964 and why these cars are quietly becoming collectible on their own terms.
George Barris Built Mannix a ‘Subtle’ Muscle Car in 1968 — Then It Vanished Into a Field for Decades
A George Barris-customized 1968 Dodge Dart GTS convertible spent years chasing criminals on TV’s Mannix before disappearing into obscurity and eventually turning up dilapidated in a field. Automotive reporter Dave Kunz tracked it down, confirmed it by its hidden Barris touches, and restored it to its on-screen British Racing Green with the original 340 V8 still under the hood. Jay Leno takes it for a drive to find out why this compact GTS could out-hustle flashier detective-show muscle cars of its era.
Six V8 muscle cars share one thing in common: real pedigree, and a price tag that still starts with a one. While Hemi Cudas and Boss Mustangs keep climbing past six figures, these cars have been quietly overlooked — including one viewer’s own 1973 Nova, bought new for ninety-nine dollars a month. See which cars the collector market hasn’t caught up to yet, and why that window may not stay open much longer.
The 1967 Dodge Dart looks like a simple facelift year buried in Mopar’s compact lineup, but underneath that new sheet metal Dodge quietly reengineered the chassis to accept engines the old Dart never could. Wider front track, respaced frame rails, and a redesigned K-member set the stage for the small-block street fighters that would make the Dart name legendary just a couple years later. Add curved side glass, a new dual-circuit brake system, and 154,500 units built, and this transitional year deserves way more credit than the glory-grabbing GTS versions usually get.
A vintage Dodge Dart with a Chrysler 340 under the hood lines up against a modern C5 Corvette, and the comment section had already decided who wins before the video even loaded. One viewer calls it over before it started; another shares the story of nearly buying a 340 Duster for $1,000 back in 1975. Watch to see if old-school Mopar muscle really does settle the argument.
For years the Dominator Dart made its reputation on a nitrous-fed Hemi, exactly the way street racing reputations were traditionally built. Then Joe Woods tore the whole combination out and replaced it with a 632-cubic-inch big block Chevrolet and a pair of 88mm turbochargers. In a Mopar. Read on for why a die-hard Dodge racer walked away from the setup that made his name, and what a 1967 A-body brings to the fight.
Dodge’s Dart Demon nearly launched under a name far ruder than anyone at Chrysler intended, and a stripped-down Dart Sport later embarrassed a Corvette’s top speed on a magazine test track. Between a 50-unit, unpainted 426 Hemi drag car and a dashboard full of push-buttons, the compact Dart quietly carried more oddball engineering than any car its size had a right to. Read on for the full thirteen-year story.