dodge super bee

[richcrabman]

hi guys & gelz.

OK i have been going through my model kits,and i have four models that come with super bee badges.one is the new dodge charger super bee,and the others are 68 dodge chargers.

i now there was other cars that where called super bees,and one that had funny looking lights at the front.....probably to look like a bee

so what is the history behind the super bee? could any dodge have a super bee logo on it?

would like to know a little bit more about this little fella!!......................

thanks,

rich

[richcrabman]

Super Bee was Dodge's response to sister division Plymouth's Road Runner. The Road Runner was a surprise success, so Dodge followed the formula to make a similar version of the Coronet to the Belvedere-based Road Runner.

Basically it was a low-content Coronet, with a 383 (or optional Hemi) and most of the heavy duty parts as the more expensive R/T without the luxury features and trim. Road Runner was the same to Plymouth...the low-cost/low-content performance Belvedere below the GTX.

Over time, both the Super Bee and Road Runner added more luxurious trim as standard equipment and options, as buyers liked the race-car image, but didn't want the base-car trim. Later on, when the Coronet line lost the hardtop coupe, Super Bee became a model of the 1971 Charger, then quietly fell out of the lineup.

The "character" of the Bee was just a cartoon logo made up to counter the Warner Bros. cartoon Road Runner that Plymouth used. Later, the entire lineup of Dodge performance cars was known as the "Scat Pack" but the Super Bee itself was always a separate model within that line. Later in the 2000s Chrysler began to trade on the heritage of the name, first with a "Rumble Bee" Dodge Ram pickup, and later the "Super Bee" package for the SRT-8 Charger sedan.

WOW!!....thanks for shedding some light on that mark ....so say i got a 69 dodge charger? could i add say,super bee decals to it? like saying i got an upgrade to people.

rich

[richcrabman]

You can do what you want to make the car look cool (the Charger and other Mopars often had similar...but never the same...graphics to the Super Bees), so working that unique-to-the-Super-Bee logo would be a neat custom touch. Just realize no car ever rolled off the assembly line that way. However, it would be pretty easy to work it into a graphics design that looked like it could have been factory, so there are neat possibilities for sure.

thanks mark,thats the answer i was looking for.....i really do like the super bee logo,is got somthing about it.

rich

[High octane]

Super Bee was Dodge's response to sister division Plymouth's Road Runner. The Road Runner was a surprise success, so Dodge followed the formula to make a similar version of the Coronet to the Belvedere-based Road Runner.

Basically it was a low-content Coronet, with a 383 (or optional Hemi) and most of the heavy duty parts as the more expensive R/T without the luxury features and trim. Road Runner was the same to Plymouth...the low-cost/low-content performance Belvedere below the GTX.

Over time, both the Super Bee and Road Runner added more luxurious trim as standard equipment and options, as buyers liked the race-car image, but didn't want the base-car trim. Later on, when the Coronet line lost the hardtop coupe, Super Bee became a model of the 1971 Charger, then quietly fell out of the lineup.

The "character" of the Bee was just a cartoon logo made up to counter the Warner Bros. cartoon Road Runner that Plymouth used. Later, the entire lineup of Dodge performance cars was known as the "Scat Pack" but the Super Bee itself was always a separate model within that line. Later in the 2000s Chrysler began to trade on the heritage of the name, first with a "Rumble Bee" Dodge Ram pickup, and later the "Super Bee" package for the SRT-8 Charger sedan.

I was going to answer the question until I had read your reply and all your info seems correct as I had also owned a "Bee" back in the day.

[Harry P.]

The name "Super Bee" was actually a pretty clever pun. The cars that got the "Super Bee" name were B-platform cars. Get it? Super B?

[richcrabman]

Wow fellas,lots of interesting facts on the super bee.....and luving the charger R/T:-D

Rich

Oh dave,what's the yellow things on the back springs?

Edited July 7, 2011 by richcrabman

[richcrabman]

Those are "traction bars" which clamp, bolt, or in some cases weld to either the leaf springs or axle itself to prevent axle "wind up."

What happens is under hard accelleration, the axle wants to turn in the opposite direction of the tire in reaction to the tire stressing the driveline. The traction bar rotates with the axle until it contacts either the spring or the underbody/frame to brace the axle and prevent this wind-up. The problem if the axle moves is that it can start bouncing as it rotates, then rotates back, causing a loss of traction.

One of the more popular brands of traction bars, Lakewood, painted their traction bars yellow. These "banana bars" were a staple of 70s hot rodding. They can be other colors (even chrome) but for some of us, yellow is the only color that looks right on certain cars.

God!....am i learning allot today:-)

Rich

[diymirage]

on a unrelated note i once did a custom decal for a superbee for a fellow member and something didnt sit right.

i used a scan of a revell superbee stripe and while following the instructions to apply it i could not get it to look right

i looked and looked and all of a sudden it struck me.....the bee on the decal was facing the wrong way

on the real superbee the bee faces the front of the car but on the revell decal it faces the rear

[diymirage]

in the Monogram based '69 Super Bee kit the passenger side bee does face the wrong way.

not sure what model exactly it was, but BOTH sides were facing the rear end of the car