The Dodge Super Bee (’68-’71) never earned the gravitas that its corporate cousin the Plymouth Road Runner possessed. Maybe it was considered an also-ran and tried to trade on its Dodge namesake, a venerable brand that was a notch up from a Plymouth in ChryCo’s pecking order. But this car was mostly the same as its Plymouth competitor – just rebadged. The last version, such as this 1971 example, always seems to receive short shrift and ends up, unfortunately, as forgotten. That’s a shame as Dodge was trying to keep the performance car business going at a time when forces were working to silence it. Let’s see what Dodge’s last Super Bee was all about by reviewing this Lebanon, Pennsylvania domiciled example. It is available, here on Facebook Marketplace for $8,000. Thanks to Dawson H for this tip!
As with the Road Runner, Super Bee sales were strong in ’69 but slid considerably in ’70 and even more so in ’71. Since the Dodge Coronet two-door hardtop/coupe was axed for ’71, the Super Bee was moved to the new Charger fuselage body and realized production of approximately 5K copies. Today’s example is finished in what appears to be Hemi Orange, a popular selection for ’71, and is topped off with a disappearing black vinyl top. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing disappearing as rust has settled into the quarters and is forcing this Dodge into a weight-reduction plan. The driver’s side footwell has been ravaged as well though the trunk pan (the seller calls it “mint” – I wouldn’t go that far) and lower fender legs still show as sound. There’s only a comprehensive image of the rear, and it’s missing its roll pan, so it’s difficult to make a value judgment about the overall exterior condition of this Dodge. There’s at least one Magnum 500 wheel helping to hold up this Super Bee but that’s not the case on the driver’s side front while the passenger side is not visible. Speaking of the passenger side, it would be nice to get a glimpse of that, along with the hood.
A non-running, non-original, 300 gross HP, 383 CI V8 is occupying the engine room, and as is often the case, it’s attached to a TorqueFlite automatic transmission. Whether or not the engine is seized is unknown, there is little information provided regarding the powertrain. As is typically the case, the air cleaner assembly is not present.
We are told that the black vinyl interior is original and it has its foibles with split seats, front and back, cracked dash pad, and a gravity-bound headliner. None of the included images are thorough and of course, there’s an object of some sort occupying the passenger seat while there is no image of the driver’s seat included – probably is immaterial. There is an optional center console with a “slap stick” (?) shift in place but it looks like the slap is missing from the stick. All of these issues, coupled with the receding front floor, means a major interior redo will be in order.
Final assessment? The stilted partial images make a judgment call difficult. Couple that with the complete unknowns surrounding the engine and this Super Bee may be worth a seller inquiry but it’s hard to be definitive beyond that. Considering “Mopar Mania”, one might consider $8,000 to be a reasonable price of entry but I have to imagine Big Bucks will be involved beyond that, wouldn’t you agree?
8 k not with that reat quarter rust. At least not me.
Author calls it a super bee ? It is clearly a very crunchy last ditch Charger . Not worth 8000 maybe 800 .
It is a Super Bee…do your research. And, although it is a project, it is worth a whole lot more than $800, lol.
A pic of the fender tag would have been a big plus on this car.
Yeah I was hopeful when first saw this one. But the photos kill the 8K asking price for me too. See another 20K easy to make this presentable, maybe add another 7-10K to make it pristine. Just can’t make the math work on this, a shame.
Well they need to give me $8,000 to take it!😂 Too much work to be done. I can only imagine under the Bee what it would look like being from Pennsylvania or any N.E. state! What a shame it looks like this. 🙄
Don’t be so hasty to judge. It’s a pretty rare and valuable car. A lot of people would completely disagree with you.
Another (M)ostly (O)ld (P)arts (A)nd (R)ust. After reading it the only thing that sounds like it’s original to the car is the rust.
Hmmmm…I’ve owned a lot of Mopars, and a lot of GM’s, Fords, and AMC’s and I can tell you that this one is a lot more desirable than most of the others. By the way, rust was not limited to only Chrysler products. All cars would rust out depending on where they lived and how they were taken care of.
I am not necessarily a mo par guy, but do love vintage cars from this era or time frame. While visiting this site ( which I do love) all I hear is too much rust,Cars over priced, and numbers do not add up. Hey, I do get it! However, for the majority of car lovers, you are looking at a time gone by era, that is never coming back, and a shrinking market ( every day ) of inventory. The cars are just not available anymore, the pics provided on this site illustrate, the bottom has been reached! Unless you are very wealthy or just received a inheritance, you will probably never own one of these cars in great condition, without spending, 50k or more. With that being acknowledged, 8k is cheap to start with. Even as you rebuild, the car continues to go up currently, and in the future, basic economics. That is the reality!
Here is why some of us complain. We realize all of the obvious: like the cars are old, not made anymore, shrinking supply. The issues are several fold here though. 8K is still a bit of money, especially to someone who remembers being able to buy the same car brand new for 3-4 K less than the current seller wants for his “rare” pos. That reasoning may not make sense but it is reality…I remember my Grandpa bitching about the price of eggs, bananas, etc. 50 years ago yet he also realized the reason prices were higher was the labor costs had gone up.
A lot of folks want to own/restore the cars of their youth of course, but people and tastes, fads change. many old cars from the 1950s and before will never bring the amount invested to restore them. A bitter lesson is learned when trying to sell the 62 Valiant 4 door (of your youth) and realize no one wants to pay the 8K you spent, and the time to do it all because tastes and times have changed. Not all cars go up in value, times and people and prices change, that’s why a restoration should always be seen as a labor of love vs an opportunity to make a killing on flipping a car for profit.
A wasted old shell of a car is like a dog turd. You can find an old turd or a newer turd if you look hard enough, but in the end it’s still a turd. And the old turn is not worth more just because it’s old, it’s just old period.
8K is still a lot to pay for a turd, a lot of us just think folks are nuts now with the greed, and too much greed destroys every good thing. We love the cars and the hobby of preserving them, but the perception of value has been distorted by greed and lack of ethics. The sport or hobby of car collecting, and restoration/preservation went from being a labor of love to a multi tiered corporate industry. It didn’t use to be this way, that’s why we complain.
The comments are just usually someone saying that based on reality, I would not pay the asking price for this one.
No offense to anyone here, I am a huge MOPAR fan/owner from 69 Bee to Vans…but the point is we all don’t see things the same always.
Ralph, even a old turd had value, as fertilizer! I do respect your comments on this site. However, if you compare the price of 3-4 thousand dollars when these cars were brand new (50 years ago) to todays prices, you are not far off the original cost! They are not NEW but for the grace of sheer luck, they do still EXIST! The market back then was saturated with these cars. Todays market, these cars do not exist, end of disclaimer! You are paying for a rare object, that barley is still available, at a good price without paying 50k or more to have. Please be very happy the opportunity exists at this current time to buy an affordable car from this time frame, because in 5 years even paying 8k for one of these cars will no longer exist. Take care.
They just need get out there head 8,000 because this car has rotted floors in panels
Hey Raymond, can you direct me to all of the other Super Bees and Road Runners that are in the same relative condition as this one that are less money? I’d like to buy them all.
A good price point on this car would be $4K-$5K. Non-numbers engine hurts it a bit but, this is a great entry-level Mopar for a kid or someone that’s just getting into the game. This would be a cool one to get running and drive it as you go. I did the same thing in high school with a 4-speed, Air Grabber Road Runner that was equally as rusty. Fixed one rusty area at a time and drove the S#!+ out of it. Launched bias-ply burnouts every afternoon in front of my high school. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.