1968 Dodge Hemi Dart 426 Muscle Car Of The Week Video Episode 308 V8TV
V8 Speed and Resto Shop is hiring a fabricator! https://www.v8speedshop.com/jobs
Do you want to build custom cars for a living? Click the link!
1968 Dodge Hemi Dart 426 Muscle Car Of The Week Video Episode 308 V8TV
There were about 80 1968 Dodge Darts factory built with the 426 Hemi V8, and this one is a very well known example. Mickey Weise started off drag racing a big-block Camaro back in the day, but when the 426 Hemi cars were passing him at the big end of the drag strip, he eventually made the move to Dodge, first in a bigger ‘65 A990, and finally taking over his partner’s ‘68 Hemi Dart that we see here today.
Hemi Darts are a special breed, for sure. They were pulled from the Hamtramck, Michigan assembly line as unfinished 383 powered Dart GTS cars, then were sent to the Hurst
Performance Research Facility for the option code LO23 conversion into the lightweight drag strip warriors you see here today. They were designed to compete in the white-hot NHRA Super Stock drag class, and were put on a healthy diet to remove excess weight wherever possible. The new fenders and hood were fiberglass, and the doors and bumpers were submerged in Nitric Acid, a process which thins and lightens the steel panels. Glass was swapped for lexan panels, and the standard Dodge van seats were swapped after the interior was gutted of everything from the radio and heat to sound deadeners and even window regulators. The weight savings was substantial, as a Hemi Dart tipped the scales right at 3000 lbs.
The quarter panel wheel openings were enlarged to accommodate oversized racing slicks, and the work was done quickly and fairly crudely. The rear leaf springs were moved inboard to make even more room, and the Dana rear axle was stuffed with 4.86:1 gears when coupled with the 727 Torqueflite automatic transmission like this car has. Manuals were also built, but the 2600 RPM stall converter in the strong and reliable torqueflite made for consistent passes, and minimized the risk of over-revving the Hemi while wrestling with the New Process 4-speed manual.
The cars were delivered in gray primer with the fiberglass parts in black gelcoat, allowing racers to paint them as they wished. This one evolved from being painted gold and white - the beginning of a candy-red paint job, but they ran out of time after spraying the gold base and didn’t get the red done in time. After a few seasons, it was completed in red and white with some cool lace graphics, but today has been repainted solid red and white.
Hemi Darts were powered by the 12.5:1 compression race 426 Hemi V8 engine, complete with dual 4-barrel carbs on a cross-ram style intake manifold.
These cars did what they set out to do, and Mickey recalls going 10.19 at 132 in 1972. Chrysler backing dried up at that time, so Mickey stored and eventually sold the car, but got it back in the 1980s and ran it again until 2000 when it landed a spot in the NHRA Museum in Pomona, CA, and also a Hot Wheels car tribute. 50 Hemi Darts were slated for production, but sources say there might have been 82 actually built. Today, Mickey’s Dart is a revered rock star of The Brothers Collection.
#426 #HemiDart #Musclecar
1968 Dodge Hemi Dart 426 Muscle Car Of The Week Video Episode 308 V8TV
SUBSCRIBE: https://goo.gl/RIkdDS
http://www.musclecaroftheweek.com
V8 shirts, hats, and more:
https://v8speedshop.com/shop/
-
3:14
V8TV
10 months ago1970 Oldsmobile 442 W30 Convertible in PLUM CRAZY at 2022 MCACN Show Muscle Car Of The Week
287 -
57:49
Man in America
14 hours agoWEAPONIZED Disasters & LAND GRABS: the Blueprint Exposed by the MAUI FIRES
53.9K46 -
1:14:51
Flyover Conservatives
1 day agoDinesh D’Souza’s Shocking Film: Exposing the Real Threats to Trump and America; Will America be Saved or Destroyed? - Drew Allen | FOC Show
81K13 -
7:52
Price of Reason
17 hours agoJoker 2 Review - Folie A Doo Doo! (No Spoilers)
53.3K16 -
54:52
LFA TV
22 hours agoElon Musk: This Could Be America’s Last Election | Trumpet Daily 10.2.24 9PM EST
77.4K14 -
3:11:23
Mostly Sports With Mark Titus and Brandon Walker
13 hours agoMostly Sports College Football Dynasty League | Week 12 Session 1
88.5K1 -
59:13
The StoneZONE with Roger Stone
11 hours agoThe Triumph of Vance & Humiliation of Walz – W/ Catturd | The StoneZONE
73.9K51 -
4:31:59
Tundra Gaming Live
11 hours agoThe Worlds Worst Horror Streamer Has Heart Attack Playing ReVeil
52K8 -
1:07:14
Sarah Westall
10 hours agoUN & WHO: Forced Vaccinations and Internment Camps, Common Law Solutions w/ Christopher James
66.1K13 -
1:54:23
2 MIKES LIVE
11 hours ago2 MIKES LIVE #124 News Breakdown Wednesday with Special Guest KEVIN CARTER!
51.5K5