1964 Dodge Models: The Complete Year Guide

1964 was the year Dodge stopped apologizing. After the awkward downsized 1962 cars that cost the brand sales and dignity, the 1964 lineup arrived with clean Elwood Engel styling, a full-size flagship that actually looked full-size, and a drag strip secret that would embarrass every V8 in the country. Dodge climbed from eighth to sixth in industry sales that year and moved over half a million cars. Here’s the whole roster — what each model was, what it cost, what made it tick, and what one will run you today.

Table of Contents

• The quick reference table
• The 1964 story: Engel styling and a Hemi in the weeds
• Dodge 330
• Dodge 440
• Dodge Polara and Polara 500
• Dodge 880 and Custom 880
• Dodge Dart
• The 1964 Dodge truck line
• Buying and restoring a 1964 Dodge
• What they’re worth now

The quick reference table

If you just want the lineup at a glance, here it is. Prices are approximate base MSRP when new; the full-size 330/440/Polara cars shared the same B-body platform and the same engine menu.

Model	Platform	Body styles	Base engine	Top engine	Base price (new)
Dart	A-body (compact)	2-dr, 4-dr, convertible, wagon	170 slant-six	273 V8	~$2,000
330	B-body (full-size)	2-dr, 4-dr sedan, wagon	225 slant-six	426 Hemi (race)	~$2,400
440	B-body (full-size)	2-dr, 4-dr, hardtop, wagon	225 slant-six	426 Street Wedge	~$2,500
Polara	B-body (full-size)	hardtop, sedan, convertible, wagon	318 V8	426 Wedge	~$2,700
Polara 500	B-body (full-size)	2-dr hardtop, convertible	318 V8	426 Wedge	~$3,000
880 / Custom 880	C-body (senior full-size)	sedan, hardtop, convertible, wagon	361 V8	413 V8	~$2,900

The 1964 story: Engel styling and a Hemi in the weeds

Two things define the 1964 Dodge year. The first is how the cars looked. Elwood Engel had come over from Ford — he’d penned the 1961 Lincoln Continental — and his influence cleaned up the slab-sided, slightly panicked styling of the early-’60s Mopars. The full-size cars got crisper lines, a more upright stance, and stacked or paired headlights depending on trim. They finally looked like cars a buyer wanted in the driveway rather than cars Chrysler’s product planners had argued themselves into.

The second thing happened mostly out of public view, at the drag strip. Chrysler reintroduced the 426 Hemi for 1964, and the smartest place to put it was the lightest, cheapest body Dodge sold — the stripped-down 330 two-door sedan. No chrome, no carpet, no sound deadening, just a budget shell wrapped around 425 advertised horsepower. The “Ramcharger” cars and privateers turned these plain-Jane 330s into the terror of NHRA Super Stock. The Hemi’s reputation, the one that still sells T-shirts, started in a car that came with rubber floor mats.

That contrast — handsome cruisers for the showroom, a sleeper assassin in the back of the catalog — is the whole 1964 Dodge story in two sentences.

Dodge 330

The 330 was the bottom of the full-size range, and that was its superpower. As the price-leader B-body, it came with cloth-and-vinyl bench seats, minimal brightwork, and rubber floor covering instead of carpet. Most went out the door as fleet cars, taxis, and cop cars with the 225 slant-six or a mild V8.

But order one with the 426 Hemi and you had the lightest possible package for that engine. Drag racers stripped them further — the lightweight 330 two-door is the body that put Dodge on the Super Stock map, and a Hemi-equipped one belongs in any honest accounting of the fastest cars of the 1960s. If you find a real 426-optioned 330 today, you’ve found one of the most valuable plain-looking cars in the hobby.

Dodge 440

Confusingly, the 440 here is a trim level, not the famous 440 big-block engine (that wouldn’t arrive until 1966). The 440 sat one rung above the 330: a step up in trim with more chrome, nicer upholstery, full carpeting, and a few comfort touches the 330 skipped.

Mechanically it shared the same platform and the same engine choices, from the slant-six up through the wedge V8s. Think of it as the 330 for buyers who didn’t want their full-size Dodge to look like a rental. Hardtop, sedan, and wagon bodies were available.

Dodge Polara and Polara 500

Polara was the sporty top of the B-body line. Standard power was the 318 V8, with the 361, 383, and 426 wedges available for buyers who wanted to go faster. Polara gave you hardtops, sedans, a convertible, and wagons, all with dressier trim than the 330 and 440.

The Polara 500 was the enthusiast pick. Limited to the two-door hardtop and convertible, it added bucket seats, a center console, special wheel covers, and unique badging — Dodge’s answer to the bucket-seat sport-coupe craze that Pontiac’s Grand Prix and the Impala SS had kicked off. If you wanted a full-size 1964 Dodge that felt special rather than practical, this was it.

Dodge 880 and Custom 880

Here’s where the 1964 Dodge range gets genuinely odd. The 880 and Custom 880 were bigger than the Polara — built on the larger C-body Chrysler platform rather than the B-body the rest of the Dodge cars used. The 880 existed because Dodge had badly needed a true large car after the 1962 downsizing fiasco, and grafting Dodge front clips onto a Chrysler body was the fast fix.

The base 880 was the price-leader version; the Custom 880 was the upscale one, with the 361 V8 standard and the 413 available. Sedans, hardtops, a convertible, and wagons rounded out the choices. If you’ve ever been confused about why a 1964 Dodge brochure lists two different full-size families, this is why: the 880 is the senior car, the Polara is the mainstream one.

Dodge Dart

By 1964 the Dart name had migrated to Dodge’s compact A-body, and it was the volume seller that kept the lights on. Trim levels ran from the base Dart to the 270 to the sporty Dart GT, in two-door, four-door, convertible, and wagon forms.

The everyday Dart came with the famously indestructible slant-six — the 170 or the 225, the engines that earned Chrysler its reputation for running forever. The big news for 1964 was the new 273 small-block V8, a 180-horsepower option that turned the Dart GT from economical to genuinely fun. The 273 would become the foundation for Mopar’s LA-engine family that ran for decades. According to the Smithsonian’s coverage of American automotive history, compacts like the Dart were central to how Detroit chased younger and budget-minded buyers through the 1960s.

The 1964 Dodge truck line

The cars get the glory, but Dodge sold a deep truck lineup in 1964 too. The D-Series pickups — D100 (half-ton), D200 (three-quarter-ton), and D300 (one-ton) — covered the work-truck range, with the W-Series adding four-wheel drive. The slant-six was the base engine here as well, with V8 power optional for heavier hauling.

Above the pickups sat the medium- and heavy-duty C-Series trucks for commercial buyers, plus the compact A100 forward-control van and pickup, which put the driver right over the front axle in a cab-over layout. The A100 is a cult favorite now — it’s the platform under the “Little Red Wagon” wheelstanding exhibition truck that came a year later. For a year-by-year look at how these trucks evolved, the Library of Congress’s automotive collections hold period materials documenting Detroit’s commercial vehicle output.

Buying and restoring a 1964 Dodge

A few things to know before you buy one of these.

Verify the engine story. The valuable cars are the Hemi and wedge cars, and the cheap ones are slant-sixes — and the gap between them is enormous. A repainted 330 with a 426 badge means nothing without documentation. Check the fender tag and broadcast sheet, match the engine casting numbers, and look for build records. A real 426 Hemi 330 is six figures; a tribute is worth a fraction of that.

Rust is the enemy. Like most ’60s American iron, these cars rot in the lower quarters, trunk floors, rear frame rails, and around the rear window. Floors and trunk pans are the usual horror story. Bring a magnet and a flashlight.

Parts vary wildly by model. Mechanical and engine parts for the B-body cars are well supported — the slant-six and wedge/Hemi engines have strong aftermarket backing. Trim, glass, and model-specific brightwork are harder, especially for the 880 and Polara 500. The Dart, being a popular compact, has the best overall parts availability of the bunch.

The C-body 880 is the bargain. Because it’s less glamorous and shares less with the muscle-car crowd, a clean Custom 880 is one of the more affordable ways into a big, comfortable, genuinely handsome 1964 Mopar — and one of the better-value entries in the whole field of classic American sedans.

What they’re worth now

Values swing hard depending on model and drivetrain. Treat these as rough ballpark ranges for the 1964 cars in driver-to-good condition:

• Slant-six 330 / 440 sedans: the entry point, often in the low five figures for a solid driver.
• Custom 880 hardtops and convertibles: affordable full-size cruising, typically mid five figures for nice examples.
• Polara 500 convertible: the desirable bucket-seat full-size, commanding a premium over the standard Polara.
• Dart GT with the 273 V8: an accessible, fun classic that’s appreciated steadily as a usable weekend car.
• 426 Hemi or wedge cars: another universe entirely. Documented Super Stock and Max Wedge cars trade well into six figures at auction.

The takeaway: there’s a 1964 Dodge for almost any budget, from a slant-six sedan you can drive home today to a documented Hemi that belongs in a collection. Just make sure the badge on the fender matches the metal under the hood — that’s the difference between a fair price and an expensive lesson.