Well, It's Story Time Again...
by Dan Burger

Cowboys used to tell stories 'round the campfire or down at the saloon. Gearheads still tell 'em 'round the parts washer or ... down at the saloon. If anyone tells a better tale than a cowboy, it's probably a car guy. One of the best reasons for being in the garage with other car guys (besides the beer and the girlie calendars) is the passing around of good tales. Here's one of those that makes you walk away shakin' your head and thinking of cars you coulda bought and didn't and those you shoulda kept but sold.

Dean Hauenstein is a young guy, but an old gearhead. He was too young to legally drive when the biggest and the baddest musclecars first hit the streets. But he was just the right age to be greatly impressed and to formulate an allegiance to Mopar musclecars. His first 40-hour-a-week job was working for the local Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge dealer.

He had owned several musclecars and was skilled at coaxing extra horses out of a variety of engines when the events that would shape his story fell into place.

"A friend of mine, Merle Begley, and I were out cruisin' in his '70 AAR Cuda. In a small town not far from home, we pulled into a Dairy Queen where a car show was happening. Before we even got out of the car, this young guy - 16 or 17 years old - walks up and starts talking about what a cool car Merle's '70 Cuda is. He was really excited about Mopar muscle-cars."

We've all seen someone like this kid - an overeager young pup wagging his tongue a mile a minute. Typically he gets the icy cold stare, or possibly some more blunt clues that his incessant chatter is becoming a nuisance. For whatever reason it didn't happen that way this time. Sometimes patience is rewarded, and in this case the prize was substantial.

"After we talked about car stuff for a while, the kid reveals that he knows of a nearby barn where some musclecars and parts are stored. We were interested, but both Merle and I initially figured it would be a wild goose chase leading nowhere or maybe to a pile of junk. But who wouldn't say something like: 'Oh, yeah? Where would that be?'

Well, the kid described an old run-down farm on a road that was familiar to Merle, so we went and checked it out. The owner was a raggedy-looking old guy be the name of Hatfield. Inside the barn was a 1970 Challenger coupe, a 1970 Barracuda convertible, a '69 Dodge Super Bee hardtop, and an array of parts - doors, fenders and odds and ends.

Most of us have dreams of being in similar situations. But actually being there is a situation that calls for some creative thinking. What will this guy want for these 20-year-old cars and parts? They weren't in great shape, but they certainly weren't junk. Dean conferred with Merle and told him how much money he could afford to spend on the deal. They decided to make an offer on the entire contents. Merle told Hatfield that for $1500 he and Dean would haul it all away. Hatfield nodded in agreement.

For his $500 investment, Dean got the Super Bee - a 440 Six pack car - and Merle took all the rest. At the time he was happy with the deal he had gotten on a repairable big-block musclecar, but as he found out about Super Bees his excitement accelerated to something more like euphoria. This car would definitely be worth a total restoration effort.

"I had done quite a bit of engine work on performance engines and had rebuilt cars without a concern for how the factory built them, but I never did anything that could be considered a complete restoration before," Hauenstein said. This one had the potential to be something special. The car was basically complete but not without problems. And as Hauenstein was to find out, there are many unique parts to the Super Bees that sometimes make authentic restorations harder than Chinese algebra.

An encounter with some sizable object had smashed the left front fender and pushed it into the driver's-side door. That was the beginning of the parts-searching process. It didn't take too long before he found two NOS front fenders at Mitchell Motors in Columbus, Ohio.

Other than the collision damage, the body was very solid and straight. "Not a rust hole in the body," Hauenstein said. During the restoration he separated the unit-body from the K-frame - sandblasted the K-frame and the underside of the body.

After sitting in that barn for who knows how long, the worst damage was caused by the rats and mice that had made the Super Bee into a combination bed and breakfast and entertainment center. The headliner and seats were in tatters, insulation on the wiring was chewed, and the instrument cluster was apparently designed as the rodents' outhouse. The complete dash assembly needed to be restored, and Hauenstein's diligent searching eventually uncovered a set of NOS gages.

"The main sources for parts," Dean said, "came through traveling to the Mopar Nationals, checking the dealership sources and the Chrysler parts network, and following up on classified ads in Hemmings. At one swap meet I saw a guy with a sign on his back that said '440 Six Pack Parts For Sale.' He sold me the special air cleaner, which is really tough to find for $125. I think you'd have to pay $600 for that today, if you could find one for sale." In the attic storage area of the dealership where he worked, he found a set of rare wheel-well moldings. When the car came out of the barn, the fiberglass hood, which was unique to the 1969 Super Bee Six Pack, was missing. The ongoing parts search only uncovered one replacement - a cracked and broken original that was repaired to like-new condition. Reproductions were available, but slight differences from the original can be noted by discerning eyes.

Hauenstein overhauled the matching-numbers engine replacing only the crank and the harmonic balancer. The Super Bee runs hard, but not often. On the day we photographed the car, Dean treated me to a blast down the airport runway we were using as an appropriate photo location. In the course of a year, he estimates the car is only on the road six or eights times. His restoration, completed in 1993, still looks fresh - like the car was just driven off the showroom floor. Although the parts he tracked down seemed expensive at the time, they are all incredible bargains in the current market as Super Bees and all musclecars become increasingly scarce. And that $500 purchase price, well that's a story that will be told and retold over the years and, like a 440 Six pack Super Bee, it will get better with age.

The Super Bee buzzed into Dodge dealer showrooms in 1968 as a mid-year model. Out of the gate, it was only available as a two-door sedan, which was fitting for its image as a budget racer. The two-door post cars, because they were structurally stiffer, were preferred by the serious street racer anyway. And the basic Coronet trim was perfectly acceptable. No bucket seats or console were offered. It came with a bench seat. Standard power was supplied by a 383 Magnum engineer (335 horsepower) and a four-speed transmission. Heavy-duty suspension, heavy-duty clutch, and large-diameter drum brakes were part of the package. The options were few but they were significant. The collector's favorite would be the dual four-barrel Hemi engine (426 cubic inches and 425 horsepower). If you weren't a gear-slammer, you could choose the rugged and quick Torqueflite automatic transmission.

The Super Bee name was a slick fit into the Scat Pack performance-equipment marketing theme Dodge was utilizing at that time. Scat pack cars prominently featured bumble bee stripes, which signaled this car was built for speed. Bumble bee stipes were also used on Dodge Dart GTS and Charger R/T cars beginning in '68.

Things got juicier in 1969 as new options became available. A fresh air induction system, which the marketing guys called Ram Charger, added a little power and a lot of bravado. A hood with twin scoops channeled cold air directly into the carburetor via underhood ducts. The system was put into action via driver-operated controls that opened the doors within the scoops. Ram Charger was standard on all Hemi-engine cars from 1969 to '71. It was optional on all the other engines from '69-'71. A more stylish hardtop coupe also came on-line in '69. The 383 and the 426 were joined at mid-year by a third high-performance engine that quickly caused a buzz on the streets. It was the 440 Six pack - a 390-horsepower giant that also ground out 390 lb.-ft. of torque. (Our feature car). Along with the power came an aggressive new look provided by a fiberglass hood with a gapping air scoop in the middle. The functional scoop brought full-time cold-air induction to the Six Pack, a three two-barrel carburetor set up. The hood was held in place with pins on four corners. In appearance, this was the most intimidating Super Bee of all.

In 1970 the Coronet-based Super Bee was redesigned. Most of the attention was focused on the new split grille and front bumper design. Most enthusiasts were not fond of the redesign. "In a lot of people's eyes the styling on the '70 Coronets (including the Super Bee) is butt ugly," said Greg Rager, a Mopar enthusiast and recognized authority. "In other people's eyes the bee-wing grille design is highly symbolic of the Super Bee, and therefore very desirable. But the majority rules and, therefore, the desirability and collectibility of the '70 model - regardless of options - is lower."

The interior of the '70 Super Bee remained virtually identical to the previous cars. The Dodge Charger ralleye gages were now standard in the Super Bee.

Because the Bee was literally an economy-priced musclecar, Dodge made a move to keep it affordable in 1970 by introducing a heavy-duty three-speed transmission. This not only kept the price down (even lower than the previous year), it also provided an insurance break that was important to the budget-minded buyer. It was a good move then, but collectors prefer the 4-speed or the automatics.

In the Super Bee's final year of production, the Coronet no longer was a separate model, so the Super Bee became Charger. (Photographed here). As always the car was sparsely equipped, in this case like the base-model Charger. The Super Bee logo that had always been on the rear quarter panels in previous years, was now on the hood. The bumble bee stripes that had been standard were gone in favor of a different striping pattern. (Stripes were always an owner-delete option, but the Super Bee logo was not).

A few changes were made in the engine department. The compression of the standard 383 Magnum was lowered for better compatibility with unleaded fuel, and a new engine option was introduced in mid-year: the 275-horsepower, 340-cubic-inch Magnum V-8. The Hemi and the 440 Six Pack remained as options. The three-speed manual transmission was also standard issue.

In terms of Super Bee collectibility, Rager noted "the most valuable are the Hemi cars. This is true with any Chrysler cars. The next most valuable are the 440 Six pack cars. The hood scoop and the steel wheels make this a really sinister-looking car. Whether it is four-speed or automatic is really a personal preference. Individual tastes always play a big role in value determinations".