Given the incredible success of the Plymouth Road Runner, it wasn’t surprising that Dodge responded quickly with its own mid-size budget muscle car. Dubbed the Super Bee (as a nod to its B-body platform), the car rolled out in the middle of the 1968 model year. It would be in production for four years until Dodge consolidated its performance car offerings in 1972. This first-year example is a pillared coupe (the only body style available in ’68) and can be found in Harmony, Minnesota. The Dodge is available here on eBay where bidding has reached $14,500.
The Super Bee’s “power bulge” hood and rear-end body stripes helped set it apart from the Coronet it was based upon. Interior trim level was a notch up from the Road Runner, including carpeting where rubber floor coverings were standard on the Plymouth. There were only two engine choices initially, either a 383 cubic-inch V8 (335 hp) or the optional 426 Hemi. The seller’s car came equipped with the former when new, but the original owner blew that motor up so a rebuilt 440 is now under the hood. The Super Bee never caught on as well as the Road Runner and 7,842 copies were built for 1968 (all but 125 had the 383 powerplant).
This ’68 Super Bee might best be described as an unfinished project. While the paint and body look good, the blue has likely been redone and we’re told there are patches in the lower rear quarter panels and trunk. While crusty, the frame is said to be good except for the passenger torsion cross member having rusted through and needing repair. The interior is partially torn apart, and a new headliner is included to be installed. The back seat bottom has been pulled out, perhaps in search of a build sheet (which is not mentioned), so we’re unsure of the condition of the upholstery. Power windows are a more recent addition.
While it has been refurbished, the condition of the 440-replacement motor is unknown. While it turns over, a bunch of stuff needs connecting and the wiring looks like spaghetti. Rather than drum brakes, it now has disc brakes on all four corners from later model Mopars. Finishing someone else’s work is always tricky, so having to redo some earlier work is possible. A well-kept Super Bee should fetch at least $30,000, according to online sources, but since a 440 engine wasn’t offered in 1968, that might not help this car’s future value.
I guess the frame issue isn’t scaring bidders. It scares me.
I would bet 90% of the old Mopar barn or field finds people are paying big money for have rusted through unibody mounting points in some way or other. No, it doesn’t scare them. Graveyard Carz has made it look easy to fix. It actually isn’t though.
“Much rust?”
“Nah, just around the slots in the frame…makes the car lighter, don’t you know…”
Column shift indicator with a console shift…
Didn’t have Paddles back then
Everything is available to repair the car, but you will be underwater in it at the price it’s at now.
15 big ones so far and the bidding is no where done. I do not understand this. For that kind of money I could lay on the beach in some tropical paradise while pretty girls in grass skirts fan me with palm leaves and feed me grapes. What would you rather be doing this winter? Swearing at the car and yourself for making an expensive poor choice, or smiling and guessing if those pretty native girls wear anything under those grass skirts (and hoping for a breeze so you can find out)?
who needs girls in grass skirts feeding me grapes when I can lay on a cold garage floor and stare at all the rust holes in the frame, of a car I just spent 15k plus for?
Typing from Fort Myers this morning, where the predawn temperature is 75 degrees, you made me think about the video from “Toes”, by the Zac Brown Band.
I see my doppelganger is on tonight. Wonder if he is as ruggedly handsome as me?
What’s up with the dash? And The Super Tuner Is A MUST Stay.
“Proverbs 21:20 of the King James Version of the Bible”
“A fool and his money are soon parted”.
Actually, the gutted inerior is a good thing since the brand new, OEM interior was about the same quality as that of a Yugo.
Seller: “If a few dryer sheets will keep the rodents away, I wonder what 2 whole boxes will do?”