Mossy 1964 Dodge Dart Gets First Wash in 30 Years, It's Ready for the Rat Rod Life

And that's a cool thing if you ask me. Buying derelict cars for parts is almost as good as having them recycled (after they go to the crusher, of course), but it's also an opportunity to see all sorts of interesting experiments come to life.

Take rat rods for instance. It's like a massive upgrade over a sleeper because you get to ride in a seemingly rusty shell that draws juice from a beefed-up V8. And it's bound to win hearts at car events and pull quick quarter-mile runs at the drag strip.

Then we have enthusiasts that buy rusty old cars just for the fun of making them run again. These people will eventually flip or dismantle them, but hey, this way we get a lot of cool "will it run" and "first wash" YouTube videos. This one, for instance, is about a 1964 Dodge Dart that spent about 30 years in a driveway.

What's so special about it? Well, it's a station wagon version and you don't see that many of them nowadays. People usually save two-door versions of the compact, but YouTube's "Sleeperdude" is a big fan of wagons so he decided to park a grocery getter next to the coupe he saved earlier in 2022.

Yes, this wagon is pretty much a rust bucket that will never get to see a frame-off restoration, but the fact that it still runs after sitting for 30 years is amazing. With all that moss covering its body gone after a proper cleaning (its first since it was parked 30 years ago), the Dart finally looks like a car you could get into for a drive around the block.

I don't know about you, but I do like the looks of the 1963 and 1964 Dart, so I'm hoping this wagon will eventually become a rat rod with something hotter under the hood. Being a wagon and all, it sure is a nice canvas for a racing parts hauler.