In my opinion it is a little tacky to drive a muscle car without the hood installed, but in the case of this car, I might make an exception! You are looking at a real-deal vintage race car. This 1968 Dodge Hemi Dart was campaigned across the north east as “Mister Ed” and saw most of its mileage a quarter-mile at a time. It is now for sale and can be found here on eBay with a current bid over $70,000 and the reserve hasn’t been met yet. The car has bounced around from the Midwest to east coast and is now located in Florence, Massachusetts. Take a closer look at this awesome car.
Here is a vintage photo of the car as it was campaigned in the 60s and 70s. According to streetmusclemag.com, “Even in typical street trim, the high performance variants of the Dart were stout performers due to their favorable power-to-weight ratio and short wheelbase. But it wasn’t until Dodge decided to shoehorn a 426 Hemi into the engine bay that a true legend was born, yielding a factory-built racer that could scream into the 10s right out of the showroom. While these cars were not intended for street use, and came with a disclaimer stating such, Chrysler did set them up to meet street legality requirements.”
Like most vintage race cars, the original engine and transmission are no longer with the car. It wasn’t uncommon for racers to build engines, swap them, sell them, break them and start all over again. The engine currently in the car is a 1968 426 cubic inch Hemi that features 13.5:1 pistons, original Holley carburetors on top of a Don MacCallum intake. The internals include a high lift cam, Landy rockers and is lubricated by a 10-quart oil pan. The rear end features 5.38 gears!
Minus the roll cage, the interior appears to be mainly stock. The seller admits the car hasn’t been raced in quite a while and will need to be freshened up and gone through before it can go down the track again.
The ad says all the original body panels are still with the car including the lightweight front bumper and doors. The windshield wiper and side-view mirror holes have the original block-off plugs, which is really cool. Hopefully, this race car will see new life again. Maybe the buyer will re-paint it in tribute to “Mister Ed.” What do you think the future will be for this car?
Wow that’s a tuff one – with that 4sp it was up against the best. Looks like a deal under $90,000 if your in the market – looks like he will trade for a 2018 Challenger !
A horse is a horse, of course, of course…unless it’s a ’68 Dodge Dart Hemi.
I wonder how high the front wheels lift on take off…5.38 gears, 4 speed, full on race Hemi, in a short wheel base light weight Dodge Dart.
Makes you wonder how they didn’t flip themselves onto their roof.
I’ve seen them drag the rear bumper at the track, has to be a wild ride
ive seen them scrape the rear bumpers, climbing the gears
Nice. Kinda wish I had 100k to burn
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing one of these up close on multiple occasions as there’s a guy up the road from me who owns one. For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to stand next to one of these uncorked monster lightweights when it’s fired up take my word for it, they are beasts. I’m not sure how many ever made it from the track to the streets in factory trim, but one would have to possess a high level of “testicular fortitude” to attempt it imo.
This is a really cool car. Nothing beats an nostalgic race car with real history. However, this cars days as a competitive race car are long over. NHRA runs a Super Stock class specifically for early Hemi’s, they are purpose built cars which only share the basic silhouette of the originals. The future is this car will be car shows and possible exhibition passes at nostalgia races. It’s survived intact and unscathed, which has earned it a pampered life of leisure going forward.
Steve R
Saw this run as a kid. Still recall what these animals sounded like after 50 years…made me a MOPAR guy for life over all the other US brands. Nothing makes the ground shake like a Bad Ass HEMI. Nothing.
Wish to God that I could convince the boss that this is a needed form of therapy, but she is wiser than she used to be. Damn.
No comments about it not having the original water pump yet? I had forgotten (along with many other things) that these were factory builds. While it could be relegated to a life of showroom tours and exhibition passes at events, I would hope a future owner would be part of the historic drag race association events and let it stretch its legs. Great car with great history.
Love it. Had the chance to see one closeup back in the later 70’s. One of those friend of a friend situations: OPEC had happened and this guy (I think) inherited a house and big shed and he was an engineer with no family. He had picked up quite a few Hemi cars for maybe 10 cents on the dollar including a factory Hemi Dart and had them stuffed into his shed. As awesome as it was, the glove box (yes it did have one) had a sticker to the effect: The warranty was the car would start when first delivered to the customer, end of warranty.
Can only imagine…..Hemi with a clutch.Yes to wheel-stands.
They were NOT street legal had no VIN number just a plate that said race use only…
Very frickin COOL! What a beautiful old race car. Can you imagine how fast that shift to second gear comes after launch, boy you had to be ready for that! I would have to agree it’s racing days are over but what a neat car!
Just curious what the rpm’s of a 426 Hemi were going through the lights with a 5:38 gears.
Our ’61 Pontiac with a 4-speed, 4.88’s and a 30″ tire was close to 7K thru the 1/4. I have not seen many Hemi’s blow up, if built right they ran tough all day. The 4-speed was a weak point….Sox/Landy went thru many.
I had the opportunity to drive a factory ss/a light weight Hemi Cuda for a friend for a few races. He was tuning it for the owner. The owner was from Ohio and we lived in SC. Ran it at several tracks in SC,NC and GA. Those were the good times.
Think this ran at Dover Drag strip, cant remember the owners name but was under the care of the Marchese brothers and M&M Speed and custom in Poughkeepsie, NY. Good to see it survived!
Cheers
GPC
Gaspumpchas, there is an older blog online from 2014 that really goes into this particular Dart. The third owner was Tony Chickery who in fact ran this Dart a whole bunch at…..Dover Dragstrip, how about that!! Several classes ’73 it was M/P.
A list of owners:
Ed Knesevich (OH) theee Mr. Ed
Frank Madden(KY)
Tony Chickery(NY)
Frank Yokem(CT)
Frank Dudash(MI)
Terry Thurman(MI)
Norbert Knorr (MI)
Thats up to 2013-14, another person had bought it at the time of that blog.
At one time the Dart was painted black with orange and yellow stripes, more interesting to all the gear jammers was Tony’s inability to shift it very well and switched to a Torqueflite, hahaha. More pictues of it online as well. Hope this helps.
hey Troy thats one great history lesson! I remember the car as a 13 year old who rode his bike up to M&M Speed and custom, and they were the mechanics when Tony Chickery owned it. Amazing history and amazing that it survives as Mr Ed (Willlburrrr)! Just annother great thing about Barnfinds.com!!!
Cheers
GPC
Richie Marchese tells me that M&M speed spent about 5,000 1969 dollars on the car plus what Chick put it in. Warms my heart that this beauty made the circuit and survived. RIP Tony Chickery.
Cheers
GPC
I’ll tell ya one thing, it’s not the kind of car just anyone can pull the trigger on and I’m not talking about a bidding war. The hit off the line must be unreal in itself, front tires come up and the Dart, or it’s sister ’68 Hemi Cuda super stocker, accelerates with such a tremendous force… and the screaming thunderous Hemi at full song will flat out scare the life out of most folks who would attempt to handle it. Just idling it sounds like being in a trash can with a bunch of brats hitting it with sticks! Yapity-Yap-Yapity Yap!!! The whole car shaking and shuddering along with the 426.
It’s cars like this whether track or barely legal that people never forget,,, and usually just from spectating. I’ll stop it now, my hands are starting to shake
I always thought Hemi Darts had straps for the windows. This has a hole for the crank and no strap. It would be cool to see if the asymmetrical rear suspension was still there. Great car!
I believe I have Super 8 movie footage of this car running at Riverside Drag Strip in Proctorville, OH ( southeastern part of the state ) in the early 70’s . Unless there was another Dart running around named Mr. Ed.
It’s the same car. The second owner (Frank Madden) was my brother-in-law. I’d love to see that movie. I used to go to Riverside with my dad before I could drive.
John,
I can’t recall if those films were among those that I had digitized a while back or not. This winter , like every winter, I try to get around to finding and organizing my memorabilia. If you want, you may check in with me every so often to check progress. I would enjoy knowing someone who knew the car was getting to see my footage.
That would be great! I’ll do it. I bet we’ll see Earth Shaker, Offspring, Charlie Betz Camaro too :) Thanks for keeping the memories alive!
” Hemix ” owner was Ray Snowden.