If you are prone to feeling heartbroken when you see a classic American muscle car that has been left to go to wrack and ruin, then this 1968 Dodge Super Bee will be enough to bring a tear to your eye. This once magnificent beast has sat exposed to the elements, and with its decay now so advanced, it would only seem to be suitable for parts. It does come with tags and a clear title, and the owner is asking $3,000. It does appear that he is open to offers but won’t entertain any low-ball ones. It is located in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, and has been listed for sale here on Facebook. I do have to say thank you to Barn Finder Mikey8 for referring the vehicle to us.
The Medium Gold Dodge was parked in its current location back in 1991 and has sat under a tarp for the entire time. This hasn’t offered it much protection, and it has deteriorated enormously over the past 29-years. The seller is pretty blunt about its condition. He says that the frame is gone, and given how close it is sitting to the wet earth, this doesn’t surprise me at all. Also, all of the lower body extremities and the floors have developed an appearance akin to Swiss cheese. The seller does say that there are some good upper body parts, but that the Dodge is only suitable as a parts car. The hood and scoop look like they might be able to be salvaged, along with the trunk lid. Beyond that, there will be a few upper trim pieces and the glass that could be saved. The grille and a few badges might also be okay. What I will say is that the buyer might want to remove some of these items from the vehicle before they attempt to move it. I suspect that this is a car that could potentially bend pretty badly or even break when it is dragged from its current location. If it does, then some of those items that I have mentioned could be damaged or broken in the process.
If the exterior of the Super Bee wasn’t enough to make grown men weep, then lifting the hood should finish that process. What we are looking at is a 383ci V8, and in its prime, it would have produced 335hp. In addition, the Dodge came equipped with a 3-speed TorqueFlite transmission and power steering. This combination would have been good enough to send the Super Bee down the ¼ mile in 14.6 seconds. However, that was a long time ago. The vehicle does appear to be mechanically complete, but the condition of the drivetrain is an unknown factor. The seller doesn’t indicate whether the engine even turns freely, but given the level of advanced corrosion that is present on its outside, I probably wouldn’t be holding my breath. There are some additional engine components located inside the car, including an oil pan, timing cover, along with an intake and carburetor.
If you thought that things might take a turn for the positive when we poked our heads inside the Dodge, then you will be sorely disappointed. The rear seat looks reasonable, as do the door trims and rear seat trims. The dash is complete, but that’s it when it comes to the good news. There is no front seat, while many of the components in the dash have deteriorated quite severely. There will undoubtedly be items that can be salvaged and restored, but there will also be a fair collection that will find their way to the trash.
For any lover of American performance cars, this 1968 Super Bee is a sad and sorry sight. I get the impression that the vehicle might have been in a decent state of repair when it was parked. Mother Nature has done her worst with it in the intervening years, and it is now hard to determine just what could be salvaged. I would even place a question mark over whether there are enough salvageable parts left on the Dodge to justify the asking price. What do you think?
I’m sorry, (IMO) $3k for a limited parts car at best is very delusional!
I think he should put a tarp back over it and let it continue on it’s current course of action. It’s almost back to becoming part of the circle of life. The block will take longer eventually being just a transmission shell and some pistons and a smattering of various other small bits hinting at what once sat there.
Maybe save some window trim and send her off to the heavens.
Appeallling color combination. Steering wheel side marker lights? door handles? Besides aforementioned parts… The person (and I’m being kind here, with gritted teeth) had to have known where he was, this is not Arizona or New Mexico. Why in the Sam h€ll did he let the car slip in to darkness… I couldn’t go there in person. To quote Dennis Hopper: Bad things man.
The car does not have a frame. It has a unibody, to which everything on the suspension bolts up.
I have no idea how you repair this. I don’t think you can honestly.
actually, this Bee is completely repairable, everything is availible brand new, floors, trunk, frame rails, everything. it IS worth saving, not many 68 Super Bee’s
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust. It looks like it should be laid to rest next to the Titanic. This is as bad as seeing a former girlfriend who blossomed after you parted ways. The person who let this car deteriorate to this point should be held accountable and severely punished. Anyone else who has a vehicle that they won’t let go of because ” I’ll get to it some day “, take heed. Let somebody who will love it and enjoy it take it. It actually hurts to look at this poor car.
Going to fixer up. Pipe dreams.
The hood and trunk lid are likely gone too ; the dirt and crud fills in the spaces and holds the water in. If it was parked 30 years ago on the East coast, it probably already pretty rusted by then
Lets see, humidty, rain, wet earth, sun shines on tarp. Like a green house. Steam under tarp.
Wella, well done earth worm food.
Owner, if still alive, will get to it because no money.
So, now, it’s worse, so, mo money needed. Woops, He dont got that much.
Wait, he say, when he win lottery, he gonna do it.
I felt like crying if I was 25 years younger I would give it my best. Who could do this? Wow
Still shocks me that these people. Talk about how much they loved there car. But let it rot away so bad and then put a price on it that is unreasonable for anybody. To ev n attempt to do anything with it mean while if he really liked beef it that much. He should take what ever somebody is willing to offer. Just to see it get a chance to come back or at least help another one survive
Cool writing style Joe! Damn cool!
Mark Worman could fix it. Besides it is Mopar take scrap price and add 3000 dollars.
At least seller is honest by not trying to push it as an ‘easy father and son project’
Well we know that a bee 🐝 shortage is upon us.
The Bee has been swatted, stepped with a sledge hammer.
I always a laugh when i hear the owner isn’t sure on the block numbers…..
So with a non matching numbers car and a good chance busted block from sitting ..
What do we have here…..
Scrap metal and a future possible crime of fraud vin number swap and illegally registered…
Walk, run away fast and don’t look back…
The gold sure looks like its original from the factory , but underneath the black under hood paint that it shouldn’t have its red – maybe this car was at one time repainted ? If it was a Hemi car the bids would be sky high for that VIN plate , but a 383 auto , not so much. Other than the questionable drivetrain theres really not much left that you would use on a restoration
Clone aka early replica, as in ‘it ain’t real’. Maybe that’s why so little effort was made to preserve it.
Idiot seller says “please don’t bother me with low ball offers.” Give me a break! Take a zero off the asking.
Draw a chalk outline around it. This is a murder scene.
Here’s an idea, how about asking for a best offer? That seems fair to me.
So in 1991 this was put to rest and left outside under a tarp. WHY?. Even in 1991 the value of classic muscle was on the rise. Have to wonder what is in peoples heads to watch a muscle car that was most likely in restorable condition just rot.
It would have held up better without the tarp.
$3K for a pair of Taillights, I don’t think so…
68 Bees are pretty rare in my opinion, I had a 69 383 AT and my bro in law had a 68 383 4spd, his was tuned and way faster than my stock $500 buy, mid 1970s. I watch for them all the time, and hardly ever see a 68. I like the taillights better, and the front looks good also. His was light pearl metallic, fast car running around Ligonier IN, mine ended up in a junkyard, not sure where his went.
’68 Mopar side marker lights, check.
’68 Coronet triangular tail lights, check.
Super Bee, check.
Rust free body…….can anybody write me a check?
Could be used to create a Norseman replica. Google “cars sunk into the Andrea Doria”
Good parts car, for the $3000.00 asking price. Hub caps look good!!!!
The car once made it’s owner a very proud man the 383 was a really good engine with lots of potential to make more power. It’s truly sad to see the demise of what was once a truly beautiful vehicle.
I don’t even think that the Graveyard Carz folks would touch this one
I’m not a Mopar guy, but there is no excuse for doing this to any car. This is just selfish ignorance!
I can just imagine what the rest of his property is like….HillBilly Haven
I thought Mopar engine bays were the same color as the body? So something doesn’t add up.
Keith, the interior sheet metal is the same as the body color, so I would say the body is correct. Someone painted the engine compartment red. Though many of these “BEES” were red.
swamp find
Looks like he is selling vin tags and a title so someone can
“build” a Super Bee by attaching vin plates to another car. That is the message I see in this posting.
matt
I would offer him $100 just to cut the SB emblem off the tail and frame it. At least that part of the car would be appreciated.
I was thinking this exact thing, minus the hundo.
Many bodies are out there, for a rebody. It’s just not that tough.
The muscle Mopar network is very strong, and parts are easy to get. Try doing the same for a 1917 Studebaker or a 29 Locomobile. Rebuilding the mechanicals is just as easy as a breakdown, machine work, and reassembly. The drama queen approach is a little over the top. Want a 68 Super Bee ? Here’s your core pile of parts. Now go build it.
thank god he put it under a tarp.
How many times over the years do you suppose this guy was asked if he would sell it and responded with….”I’m going to restore it…..someday”?
back in the ’80s there was a ’68 Bee. Sitting in a field.Needed lower 1/4s, and had a 318 in place of the 383. Stopped and asked. THe Father of the owner gave me his son’s #, was working in missouri. Wouldn’t sell, gonna fix up someday. Stopped once a month for a while, called, same story. Then the car got moved. Same thing, stopped and asked. Same story. Then one day it was gone. Couple months later was at a car show, and was talking to a buddy, and the Bee came up. “Yeah I know the guy that owned it, gave him $100 (I had offered $500) and I pulled the front suspension off and junked the body.
GRRRRRR! That’s a hangin’ offense.
OK, two comments. As soon as I saw the oil pan in the interior, the speculation that the motor was not locked was out the window. Secondly, yes, it is a unibody, but there are still 4 frame rails. I had a ’68 GTX that had rust coming through the top of the front fenders, but it was still running and driving in 1987, the floor and the trunk were still whole, but the external sheet metal was toast. That said, having the car completely sand blasted on a rotisserie and rewelded brought back the structural integrity, all 4 frame rails were cracked, it was a completely different car after that. THIS car, I agree, is too far gone, there is nothing to build, this is a VIN tag and a title. I agree with Carlton, by 1991 this car would have had a value.
Yeah I agree on the oil pan in the interior. Looks like it might have a hole thru it, was considering saving car until I saw that. I’ve done a chevelle just as bad but had good mechanicals. That car was probably parked cause it thru something thru the pan.
Hey, all you sharp-eyed dudes, is that a 440 number pad on the front of that motor?
Looks to be a b-block, not an rb. 383 in other words…
Any money given to the owner of this car would just be a waste!! He really doesn’t deserve getting anything for it!! If there actually are car gods then there sending him to the deepest depths of hell for what he’s done!! It might be best to pray to them to forgive the sin of destroying this icon of American muscle!!!
I live about 7 miles from zelienople. It’s a crying shame. I guarantee there are next to no savable parts. Maybe you buy it for the vin but cars that lay like that around here are junk.
The comments I see on this forum lead me to think that most readers are expecting cars to be well prepped for long term storage museum pieces, ready for a cruise-in or car show with a weekend or two of fussing a tweaking, AND they expect the price to alow the buyer to 10x their money for all their effort.
Maybe I come from a different school of thought here, but I do cars for the passion of “this is a car I love”. I don’t care if I am 100x upside down on it, if it is THE car I want. As it relates to this car, … let’s just say the body is truly “toast”. I can think of 20 different people I could call at any given time and tell them I need a decent body core, all the way up to a decent driver, to build a 68 Super Bee on, and within a reasonable amount of time, be loaded up with the trailer to go fetch that donor car.
Now, maybe my take on this is different too, but parts is parts is parts, in my book, and a fender is a piston is a bumper is a body core, in the eyes of the factory …. they were all just parts, glued together to build a product that sold at a retail outlet somewhere. The body is no more the “soul” of the car than a dashboard or rear end …. IF you are meticulous in replicating the exact same part to be exactly original. A rebody is not the same as a clone.
To each their own in our hobbies, I say. But I do ponder how deep some here have ever been in a car to make the comments I often see, and I wonder how many people are into cars just for the bragging rights or money, versus simply for the love of the car/s itself ?
it maybe worth 20 dollars if it has the bill plates and title but thats it , james
I’d give 500 just for the engine core. Maybe more. The high flow manifolds and 906 heads are gold. The block, if not broken, is a good $250. AVS carb ? Crank, rods, all the Magnum-specific stuff … I am not tracking where you are getting to $20.
Burger, the carb on the motor is a Holley, not a AVS or AFB. Hard to tell if it has the raised pad to be a RB block(413,426 or 440).
Burger, My school of thought is this. TIME. I have built my share of rust buckets. I am older now and running out of it. Also after each build a lot wiser.
Yeah you can build a car with not a care in the world for your money and your time and be 100 times upside down. If it had sentimental value maybe. I love cars. Don’t get me wrong. If time and money don’t work then I DON’T see it.
I have a family. I don’t want to be in the garage for a total three or more year project on a dead car then something happens to me and my wife and family send someone in to haul it out when I am gone.
I would buy something now I could drive and make better and enjoy WITH the family. Not be tied up in a folly and my money is in the bank. It isn’t that I couldn’t restore this mess. I could. I don’t have anything to proove.
I don’t feel bad seeing this dead Bee. There are 1000’s of over restored Coronets out there now.One less isn’t the end of the world.
It is cool to see how a collectible car can fall through the cracks. Many forget this was NOT a collectible car when parked. It was just a used car. No need to cry or piss and moan about the owner. It was his car.
I think it would be cool to have to just park in your yard and count the idiots who come and try to buy it! Believe me I bet it would be many
I only toss out my above comments, IF a person enjoys working on their cars. I HATE car shows. I am not about hanging around with a pristine car with the hood up and a bunch of other motorheads milling about. I like to weld and wrench and drive them. So, locking myself in the shop in the evenings all winter is a great answer to a place where we get a solid 4 months of ice and snow and winter. The wife has her stim things and does them in the house. I go out to the shop and do mine. Kids are grown. Work on them all winter, go have fun all summer. If this were THE car I wanted (it’s not, I already have a 66), that’s exactly what I’d do … have fun building it all winter, have fun driving it all summer !
I too have exceeded my project-to-lifespan ratio and have downsized the fleet of to-do’s to focus on the ones I like most. Could probably downsize a bit more, but for now, they are all indoors and I have room to work, so I’ll just enjoy them as captive “barn finds” in my own “barn” (shop). This is supposed to be about fun, right ?
You know right now I have a C3 in my shop that I did a complete frame off on and it’s my second one. I also have a 50 Power Wagon that I went down to the bare frame on and it’s going back together now. I have an Navy OshKosh plow truck that runs drives and stops perfectly but it needs body panels replaced because of rust. I am 58 years old and when I am done with these I am done restoring cars and trucks I end up with so much time and money into them it’s ridiculous. I can afford to buy whatever I want already completed and ready to drive that is what I am going to do!
I live in a rural area, lots of farms. It’s unbelievable what people leave outside exposed to the ravages of four seasons. New four wheelers, snowmobiles, and often cars that were in good condition when originally parked years ago. More often than not, next to or near a barn. I stopped asking along time ago if they would consider selling. The answer is always NO! I don’t get it.
Comet, I get it. I have seen many guys put 35/40 years in working. When they retire they die within a few years.
If you have nothing going on you shut down. I had my eye on a car for many years. Never for sale. Guy was always going to fix it. It was his intent. Having a purpose to get up and having things to do kept him alive until he just didn’t get up one day.
That car project he didn’t touch kept him alive in my opinion. I don’t worry about what I can’t buy in a guys yard. I can always find it on the internet. To each their own.
AMCFAN,
Thanks for that point of view. It helps put things into a different perspective. I’m guilty of having projects “I’ll get to some day” but in reality, some may outlive me. I just wish I didn’t have to drive past these constant reminders.
Lets get real. The seller is peddling a title and VIN plate. It’s up to the purchaser to haul off what’s left of the rotten hulk. Bring an end loader and a dump truck.
Let’s get really real…. Seller inherited this heap probably, now with all they know being a tv show, it’s like a chunk of gold in their eyes as it was to the recently deceased,who didn’t have time to watch tv, maybe didn’t even have one,but they probably did bust their ass each and every day to raise a family,all for the dream of “one of these days “ God bless the person who had that dream. This is of the many reasons satellite tv and the internet have destroyed our hobby!😁
very sad to see a cool car rotting away. the oil pan is from a truck, it will Not fit on this chassis. the depth of rust pits on everything will make a rebuilder replace everything. too costly!!! please stop suggesting saving the “numbers” , its a federal crime. pull the dash and trim and engine, say farewell
Yes, the oil pan is from a Truck or Van (extra Qt.). That being said, I would believe the motor came out of one of them. Mid to upper 70’s.
sad thing he probably drove to that spot. If that car would be restored, it would be as much original as the Mod Top ’69 Bee at Carlisle.
I purchased a nova in the same shape. Completely shot
The engine was soild rust .
The guy should pay someone to haul it out you know the frames shot !!!!!
I’m late to this party, but ’68 Bees are my holy grail (I’ve owned 2 and kick myself for selling both over the decades).
’68 Bees are pretty darn rare – less than 8,000 made).
Y’all know that stripe isn’t original, for example – for what it’s worth, it’s a ’69
stripe (the ’68 had two thicker stripes inside the two thinner outside ones).
That does look to be a 383 under the hood, albeit with the wrong carb
(these came with a Carter, not a Holley) and it has headers instead of the
more desirable factory HP exhaust manifolds.
As much as I’d love a crack at saving this one, I admit she’s too far gone.
As a lifelong Mopar guy, I’d also frown upon a VIN swap as well – not only
is that technically against the law, it’s not cool to do, either – and any good
Mopar guy will figure it out pretty quickly, since the VIN is also stamped in
other places on the body as well.
Hard to hide a fake – and if you want a clone, you don’t need to pony up
for this one’s credentials, eh?
Just a darn shame, but she’s straight up a parts car. The only high dollar
somewhat exclusive parts on her are the grille (same as the ’69 Daytona,
remember!) and perhaps the taillights IF they’re really nice.
Other than that, she’s a Coronet 440 model in trim level.
Cheers,
Ed
’69 Daytonas and ’68 Coronets have completely different grills. I believe you meant the ’69 Charger 500.
That’s what I meant. Thanks and a thousand apologies, Sahib.
Anyone here up to meeting in Durango, Colorado? I arrive Saturday late.
Leavin desert of California as I need a heat break. 112-119.
Want coffee on a cool morning. Area code is Palm Springs. Prefix is the engine size of aa 61 Imperial. 96 0 2. Return calls when not drivin.
I love lots of car makes. GM, FoMoCo, Mopar. Years, 40’s, heavy in 50’s and 60’s to 1971. Mainly Fin Era, 57–61. Muscle, 62-71.
People into cars have the stories I love.
Not taking a trailer. Just for fun.
Oh, the tail lights have nothing to do with Charger.
I had a 69 super bee post car 383 fourpseed no options other then that it was a parts car when I got it but it was just to cool. To let it rot away and be finhsed off as a parts car so I took it and ended up having to put both front frame rails. One apron and radiator support and floor pan and trunk pan. In it wierd but one quarter was perfect other then dents and other just needed lower outer lol. It was still waring. It’s original. Paint I used a satelite that was cut up to restore a six barrel road runner lucky for me what was left was a complete front clip and front floor pan. So I didn’t have much into it at all by time I was done and I sold it pretty cheap and now we’ll hopefully it moved onto a new guy that sees the value in it now and he is on his way to finishing it hopefully or he just took it home. And let it rot away again and all my hard work to save it was for nothing lol but I would try to save that csr if the owner would get readable on price I really would try to save it