What Made The Lo23 Hemi Dart So Fast (and So Rare)

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The compact yet fire-breathing LO23 Hemi Dart is 1 of nan landmark models from '60s-era Dodge. It's an A-body drag-racing typical that began life arsenic a 1968 Dart GTS hardtop, already an unthinkable instrumentality tin of 275 aliases 300 horsepower, depending connected whether it's fitted pinch a modular 340-cubic-inch small-block V8 tuned for ratio aliases Mopar's 383ci big-block motor designed to present precocious performance. With a spot of Hurst Performance magic, it turned into a celebrated resistance racer that rips.

Dodge adapted nan LO23 Hemi Dart for National Hot Rod Association Super Stock, which required cars to measurement nary much than 6.99 pounds per horsepower. As a result, nan LO23 included a raft of weight-saving measures to make it arsenic lightweight arsenic possble. Instead of alloy hoods and fenders, nan Hurst-built Dart featured fiberglass hood and fenders. It besides sewage acid-dipped alloy doors pinch bladed broadside model solid held successful spot by adjustable seatbelt straps alternatively of modular model regulators. And it sacrificed a batch of amenities, including rear seats, halfway console, armrests, sound-deadening material, extracurricular mirrors, heater, radio, and carpets. The result? A well-engineered car that ended up weighing astir 3,000 pounds.

It was a occupation good done, but Dodge wasn't rather done crafting prodigious power. The engineers threw successful a cross-ram race-spec 426 Hemi motor – a Jalopnik readers' favorite — spitting retired 425 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque. That overmuch powerfulness successful specified a compact, lightweight car brought important acceleration gains, pinch nan stripped-down Dart taking astir 10 seconds to clear nan 4th mile.

By nan clip Hurst Performance vanished modifying Dodge Hemi Darts for Chrysler astatine its installation successful Madison Heights, Michigan, location were 80 of nan musculus cars successful total. So nan LO23 is simply a uncommon and sought-after collector's car that requires heavy pockets to ain whenever it becomes available. In their original forms, these cars waste for hundreds of thousands of dollars, evidenced by 1 car tracked by Classic, which fetched $200,000 nan past clip it changed hands, successful 2023 — a important summation from the $4,500 nan L023 primitively sold for successful 1968.

If you tin get clasp of one, it should typically travel pinch beforehand disc brakes — nan L023 Hemi Dart was nan first Dodge package to connection this characteristic — and either an A-833 four-speed manual aliases 727 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission. You'll besides find that nan regular beforehand seats successful nan Dart GTS person been replaced, pinch lighter Bostrum seats borrowed from nan Dodge A100 van (each weighing 24 pounds) taking their place.