In 2018, Dodge unveiled the Challenger SRT Demon, a drag-ready road car, but that wasn’t the carmaker’s first attempt at this. Fifty years prior, in 1968, the company unleashed the LO23 Hemi Dart, a car that’s still considered one of the most outrageous limited-edition, factory-built, street-legal drag racers ever made.
We use the term “street-legal” loosely here, as even Dodge discouraged driving this monster on public roads.
Mecum Auctions, one of the world’s leading car auction houses, reports that a handful of Dodge Hemi Dart Super Stocks were made. Many were crashed, making it seriously rare and sought-after today.
Evolution Of The Dodge Dart
Classic Industries, one of the leading restoration parts companies, states that the Dodge Dart was launched in 1959, starting out as an affordable full-size car, turning into a midsize model in 1962, and then a compact in 1963.
In its compact form, there wasn’t much to be excited about. Only one V8 was offered in 1964, a 273-cubic-inch mill producing a rather underwhelming 180 hp. In 1965, it grew slightly more powerful, offering 235 horses.
When the fourth-gen Dart arrived in 1967, it remained a compact car, but Dodge answered gearheads’ prayers with sporty-looking two-door hardtops and convertibles with proper V8 engines under the hood.
Granted, the base model still had a 170-cubic-inch slant-six, but the 1968 GTS was fitted with the new high-output 340 cubic-inch V8 as standard.
In 1968, Dodge built a special drag-race version of the Dart, the LO23 Hemi Dart, powered by the legendary 426 Hemi V8. This ultra-lightweight, factory-built race car made the GTS seem tame.
Birth Of The Dodge Hemi Dart LO23 Super Stock
In 1968, Dodge introduced a limited-option Dart, code L023. Street Muscle Mag, the internet’s most popular muscle car magazine, reports that Dodge sent about 80 Dart GTS hardtops to Ferndale, Michigan-based Hurst Performance, where they were considerably reworked and turned into barely road-legal NHRA Class B Super Stock drag racers.
Based on the A body, the Dart was Dodge’s smallest coupe, and Hurst shoehorned the most powerful engine under its hood — a race-spec 426 Hemi with 425 hp. A power figure that’s most likely severely underrated.
The engine was mated to a choice of 4-speed manual or 3-speed automatic transmissions. Cars with the manual had a Hurst floor-mounted shifter as standard, a Dana 60 heavy-duty axle with a 4.88 gear ratio, heavy-duty clutch, steel bell housing, and special torque shaft and pivots.
For the automatics, Hurst installed the 727 TorqueFlite 3-speed with 8-3/4 inch large stem pinion center section with a 4.86 gear set, and a 2,600 rpm high-speed torque converter. They also gave it a floor-mounted Hurst shifter for manual shifting.
It wasn’t just the powertrain that made the Hemi Dart LO23 Super Stock special. Hurst and Dodge’s engineers also went to extreme lengths to make the already svelte car as light as possible.
According to Dodge Garage, an enthusiast site owned and operated by Dodge, the hood and front fenders were fiberglass. The doors were acid-dipped, the bumpers were thinner, and the windows were swapped for polymer ones.
Non-essentials, such as carpeting, window cranks, center console, radio, heater, sound-deadening, and armrests were also thrown in the bin during this process.
In fact, the interior mainly consisted of a pair of bucket seats from a Dodge A100 van and a steering wheel.
These insane weight-saving measures paid off, though. When it was ready, the Dodge Hemi Dart LO23 Super Stock weighed in at a mere 3,020 lbs. Combined with the Hemi’s power output, it was a force to be reckoned with.
Hemi Dart Performance
As mentioned, the Hemi Dart was created mainly for the drag strip. Hot Rod Magazine, one of the biggest authorities on American car culture says that while the Hemi Dart did adhere to road regulations, Dodge sold it with a non-warranty disclaimer, stating it was not for street use, but “supervised acceleration trials,” a fancy way of saying it’s a drag racer.
Dodge’s engineers designed the Hemi Dart to reach speeds of 130 mph in less than 11 seconds, with quarter-mile times in the 10-second range.
However, AutoEvolution, one of the world’s leading car sites, reports that several owners bested those numbers, with some crossing the finish line in just over 9 seconds.
Dodge Hemi Dart Price
With only 80 examples produced in 1968, the one-year-only Hemi Dart is excruciatingly rare, especially since numerous were crashed during races.
Rare Cars, a YouTube channel focused on creating automotive documentaries on rare and unique cars, says the Hemi Dart had a $4,200 price tag when it was new, roughly $35,000 in today’s money. That’s ridiculously cheap compared to the latest and greatest Dodge Challengers. However, back then, most cars cost between $2,000-$3,000, so it wasn’t exactly a bargain — especially since it was fairly useless as a daily driver.
Today, you can forget about finding an affordable Hemi Dart. Prices for cars in great condition hover around the $500,000+ mark.
For that reason, you’ll probably never see one on the road or track, and most are now resigned to a life in exclusive collections, where they’re polished and cleaned meticulously, but never driven in anger.
