Plymouth introduced the Road Runner as a mid-size muscle car in 1968. It caught on quickly, so Dodge rolled out their Coronet-based version mid-year, the Super Bee. Not quite as cartoonish as its Plymouth counterpart, it was equally powerful yet sold in smaller numbers. The first generation was produced from 1968 to 1970 and the car was then retired after 1971. This beautiful ’70 Super Bee looks like it has been treated to a restoration, though the engine is not original. Needing nothing, this Mopar is in Ontario, New York, and is available here on eBay where bidding stands at $41,811 with an elusive reserve.
In its third year, the budget-minded performance machine, the Super Bee, received a significant refresh in styling, as did the Coronet. This included a twin-looped front bumper that gave the car an even more aggressive stance. Production output for the 1970 Super Bee was down from the year before but didn’t lose as much ground as the Road Runner. Dodge sold 15,500 copies that year, down from 27,700 but double that of the abbreviated 1968 introduction. At work were rising insurance premiums which were beginning to taper demand for hot and racy automobiles.
This Super Bee wears factory B5 Blue paint, but it looks too good not to be refreshed, including the white “C” stripes. We’re told this is a rust-free car, but that may not apply to the trunk floor which has already been replaced. The body-colored wheels are a nice touch with the “dog dish” wheel covers (wearing new Coker redline tires). Most of the discussion about the car, which also has a gorgeous interior, is on the mechanical side.
At 67,000 miles (?), we’re told the 383 cubic inch V8 block is a period-correct and rebuilt replacement, and the engine has been treated to some upgrades, including the heads, valves, a mild camshaft change, and other parts. The 727 automatic transmission has been redone with a stall converter and shifter kit added. The gas tank is new, and the brakes and suspension have been gone through. This could be one of the nicest Super Bee’s around, restored or otherwise.
If this Super Bee was a song….”Me, i’m Supa Fly, supa dupa fly…I can’t stand the rain.” Pretty Mopar.
Went for a 3.54 gear ⚙️ nice combo w the great 383 and Torq-flite 😎 🐝
It is actually a 3.55 in a 8 3/4 rear end, which this car has.
I say YES PLEASE!!! I’m not really a MOPAR guy, but I always loved the Super Bee.
“emoji Stan” at it again!
Very nice but bench seat, auto, not original motor. I think this one’s just above top dollar (IMO). If it’s not original, find a good body and build it the way you want it. Would be about the same price when all is said and done. Again, just my opinion.
I don’t think that’s the right air cleaner either and it should be finished in wrinkly black paint. Pretty glaring error on such a nice car.
I don’t think that’s the right air cleaner either and it should be finished in wrinkly black paint. …and the battery hold down? Pretty glaring errors on such a nice car.
I had a Super Bee. A beautiful car until you looked straight from the from. But I liked the way it ran. That bumble bee look never impressed a lot of people. But the rest of the car was perfect.
I love the look from the front on the 70 Bees. They just look angry and I always say if you look in the rearview mirror and saw that mean front end closing in, you get out of the way!
It’s a pretty car (however I am biased, my first car was a ’70 Coronet 500). Does anyone have thoughts on the white seats with no head rests and with blue door panels? Usually a white interior was white with a black dash and accents, however I have seen white with red, green, and blue accents. Still, the door panels usually were white as well as the armrests and some other bits and pieces. Also, it _needs_ disk brakes to be driven on today’s streets. As a kid I saw so many of these in junkyards, wrecked, and never understood why until I realized most of my friend’s Fords and GMs had disks from the factory.
I had new one same color.Ordered it with blue bucket seats,console,AC,PS,383,Auto,Stripe delete.Only had white circle bee on rear.Still miss it every day.
I love Mopar muscle, but it still drives me crazy that they didn’t put the engine on the centerline of the body. Don’t know why it bugs me like it does, but when the hood goes up, it’s the first thing I see. lol
Melton,
I have a 68 Barracuda that I have owned for 42 years. I never noticed that, and I will check that out when I get home tonight.
My 1968 Barracuda is all original with the 318 V8. The engine is 3/4 of an inch off-center towards the right side. As stated below, the steering and master cylinder are on the driver’s side (as we all know). The left side exhaust manifold appears to stick out further from the engine than the right side exhaust manifold. They are not mirror images of each other.
Looks like it would balance out the driver’s weight, suspension-wise, and maybe give more room in the footwell for 3 pedals.
I just assumed it’s to provide a little extra clearance around the steering sector, clutch bellcrank, etc. It’s extra noticeable (to me at least) when you poke a tunnel ram or blower through the hood.
Clearance is already an issue on these with the steering, especially with power booster and larger box, so it would be even worse if the engine were more to that side.
The battery hold down looks like a auto parts store cheapo . After that got my attention noticed other minor things like plug wires just laying around and not neatly routed . The air cleaner is not close to original. The car is sitting at 41000 below the reserve? Little things count ,especially when looking for big dollars on a car . Just saying. Nice car but maybe just to much money?
More room to run exhaust manifolds around the steering box?
I’m vague on the details, but living in upstate New York, my mother had to junk her 70’s Dodge Dart because the unibody had rusted out around the front end. It was maybe 7 years old, but only had 19,000 miles on it.
Just to be on the safe side, I would have this car inspected before buying it.
I had new one same color.Ordered it with blue bucket seats,console,AC,PS,383,Auto,Stripe delete.Only had white circle bee on rear.Still miss it every day.
Surely Dodge made a Super Bee with A/C didn’t they? I’ve been thru certain hell down south here & I know my dad had a 69 GTO with A/C so it is possible in the GM realm for sure but if I was spending that kind of money my hot rod better be cool! Nice looking car for sure
Once you see it, it is hard not to notice that the driveline is over to the right at least an inch. I always assumed it was to make room for the steering shaft and steering box. And while you have the room the power brake booster can be a bit bigger. I am curious if right hand drive A body cars in Australia and South Africa have the same offset or the opposite offset. Can anyone here provide some assistance?
OK, here I go. Has anyone else wondered why the high powered special package cars from “the Mopar boys” didn’t come from the factory with the in dash tachometer? My 71 GTX 440 came with the gauge package in dash.
Maybe they started to pay attention to the GM and Ford houses. Heck I don’t know. It’s just one of those things that I always scratched my head on.
“This included a twin-looped front bumper that gave the car an even more aggressive stance”. As a guy who owned a ’69 Super Bee that twin-looped bumper sucked!!!!!! Just my opinion.
Thanks Charles.
68 and later mopars had a tach in dash. From what I read no manufacturer’s factory tach was accurate enough to depend on and usually an after market unit was installed that were reportedly more accurate than the factory tachs. There were numerous places tacos were attached like in dash or on the console or hanging under the dash lip as they were in 67 Chevelle SS models.