Introduced in 1968, the Super Bee was Dodge's entry-level muscle car. But even though it was a more affordable alternative to the Charger, it wasn't a huge success. In fact, Super Bee sales were also notably slower than its Plymouth twin, the Road Runner.
Sold through 1971, the Super Bee moved 56,202 units. For reference, Dodge sold over 300,000 Chargers over the same period, and Plymouth delivered nearly 176,000 Road Runners from 1968 to 1971. All told, the Super Bee is one of the rarest B-body muscle cars from the golden era.
The 1971 version is the scarcest. A slow model year for most high-performance vehicles due to high insurance rates, 1971 saw only 5,054 Super Bee roll off the assembly line. Records show that 4,325 of these rigs were shipped to US dealers.
How many of them are still around? Well, that's impossible to tell, but most of them are currently rotting away in junkyards or sitting in barns. The lucky ones, usually restored to various degrees of originality, are either resting in heated garages and museums or crossing auction blocks for $50,000 to $150,000. Of course, it's the rare HEMI cars (only 22 made) that get the six-figure sums.
But as all Super Bees are becoming more expensive, derelict examples are being saved for complete restoration rather than for parts. The black 1971 example you see here is one of those rigs. Taken out of storage sometime in 2023 and recently uncovered by the folks over at "Mopars5150," this Super Bee had a rough life and spent a lot of time off the road.
There's no info about when it was parked, but the engine is stuck, so we're looking at more than 20 years. However, the muscle car is still in good shape overall. There's no visible rust, it's complete (albeit not all body panels are original), and the interior looks rather impressive for a barn find. More importantly, this Super Bee still relies on its original, numbers-matching engine and transmission.
What's under the hood, you ask? This Mopar rocks the most common V8 you'll find in a 1971 Super Bee. I'm talking about the 383-cubic-inch (6.3-liter) big-block. Rated at 300 horsepower that year, it came standard in the Super Bee. It was ordered in 3,858 cars, a figure that includes all three gearbox options available at the time.
This muscle car features a TorqueFlite automatic, which makes it one of 2,889 vehicles built with this specific configuration. The manual versions are rarer, with 766 four-speed and 203 three-speed models made.
The 383 was offered alongside the 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) Six Pack (99 examples) and the 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI (22 units). The 1971 Super Bee was also the only iteration of its kind offered with a 340-cubic-inch (5.6-liter) V8. Marketed as a more fuel-efficient option, it was ordered in 307 cars.
Granted, this Super Bee may sport the most common powertrain setup, but it's scarcer than the official production numbers suggest. That's mainly because it has the optional console (only 40% of the cars got it), and it's an original TX9 black car. I don't have precise figures to run by, but I'd venture to say it's one of fewer than 200 units with the 383/automatic and console finished in this hue.
But it's a great find regardless of production numbers. It's a solid car with a numbers-matching engine, and it's also a one-year gem as far as styling goes. It's one of those classics that's definitely worth restoring.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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