The 1960s were a wild and crazy time for Detroit automakers, who were building bigger and badder muscle cars, drag racers, and concepts in an attempt to one-up the competition. The concepts in particular let engineers and car designers go off-the-wall bonkers, coming up with some truly game-changing ideas and looks that influenced production vehicles for decades to come.

While the 1968 Dodge Daroo may never have influenced an actual road going car, it is hard to deny its attention-grabbing appeal. Redline Dodge brought this badass concept to our attention, and a little bit of history to boot.

It turns out this ridiculous concept car actually started life as a 1967 Dodge Dart GT convertible, a capable if not particularly flamboyant Mopar muscle machine. But once Chrysler delivered the Dart into the hands of the self-proclaimed “King of the Kustomizers” George Barris, all bets were off.

Barris hacked off the droptop roof of the Dart, lengthened the front end 17-inches for a beak-like nose, and chopped 10-inches off of the rear for a sleeker look. Barris then added a wraparound window, fake side exhausts and intake stakes, and finally christened it “The Daroo”, which in ye olde Angle Saxon supposedly means “dart.”

The Daroo proved so popular with crowds that it got a green paintjob and a second run at the car show circuit after its initial unveiling in 1968. Today, the original Daroo is alive and well in a private collector’s hands. Too bad Dodge isn’t likely to rekindle the spirit of the original Daroo with a new radical Dart-based concept. Ah, the good old days…