1968 Dodge Dart 426 Hemi
source: Wikimedia
The Dodge Dart that you may see skirting around suburbia today is, we’re sad to say, not a Dodge Dart. It’s a Fiat economy car marketed for a young and frugal audience – your average Millenial (and no, that off-center vinyl stripe does not add 50 horsepower to its tiny lil’ engine).
That’s a shame because the real Dodge Dart was perhaps one of Mopar’s greatest creations. It was a compact, younger brother to the big-n’-bulky Chargers and Challengers, but it boasted as much – if not more – power and performance. “Legendary” is a word often found thrown around haphazardly, no thanks to today’s meme culture. We’re confident that the 1968 Hurst Hemi Dodge Dart truly was a legendary vehicle.
The iconic code L023 is arguably one of the fastest factory muscle cars of all time. Yes, that argument holds true even against the Cobra Jets and other Hemis on this list. Funnily enough, the L023 Dart actually rolled off the factory floor as nothing more than a chassis – no engine, no trans, and no exhaust, shifter, or driveshaft. Inside, the chassis was void of seats and other accouterments.
That’s all because Hurst took the L023 and quite literally hammered the massive 426 Hemi into its engine bay. The Hemi motors that went into the L023 were no “typical” 426’s, either. Instead, they were built and shipped by Chrysler’s Marine and Industrial Division, hand-picked by technicians.
These iron behemoths measured a 4.25” bore and 3.75” stroke. A mild street cam helped control 12.5:1 compression inside aluminum heads. All that air was sucked in by a cross-ram eight-barrel intake. This particular setup also likely constitutes the most egregious and willful underrating of any engine on this list. Laughably, the motors were said to produce just 425 horses. Realistic figures pegged the L023’s powerplant at close to 550 horses.
Once Hurst managed to brute-force the 426 into the L023, they took care of the drivetrain and interior, too. The ’68 Hurst Dart came with Hooker headers and an optional TorqueFlite automatic or A-833 four-speed manual trans. Hurst took power-to-weight seriously, installing fiberglass fenders, hoods, and thin-gauge bumpers. Inside, the spartan interior of the L023 provided no distraction. Simple yet still beautifully appointed, the ’68 Hurst Dart was one of the purest performance monsters ever produced in the muscle car era.
A stunning muscle car as a simple base model, the Dart’s Hurst-Hemi special edition is a go-fast demon, stripped of all worldly appointments, left with nothing more than enough power and such little weight that it would easily kill any man arrogant enough to mash the pedal without extensive concentration and track experience.
