By: Andy Caldwell

My 1970 Super Bee was produced by Dodge during a time many proclaim as the pinnacle year of the muscle car era. I acquired it over 17 years ago and it has brought me many years of enjoyment that I would like to share with everyone.

In April of 1984 my dad was looking for a car to have some fun with and since I was on spring break from college I wanted to help. So I read the latest issue of Hemmings Motor News and circled a few candidate cars that might be good deals. One ad in particular was interesting to both dad and me .. It stated " 1970 Dodge Super Bee 21,000 miles, near mint condition, 383, auto, red ext., black int. etc. .." Dad made a phone call to the owner and the next day we were headed out from our Maryland home to Beckley West Virginia. While the owner had stated over the phone the car was nearly perfect both dad and myself were a little skeptical about its condition.. Five hours after leaving Maryland we finally arrived at the home of Mr. Fred Lilly (the present owner of the car..) Mr. Lilly explained that he had bought the car from the original owner who was a 75 year old woman who wanted a car like Richard Petty's (Go figure.. Richard Petty never drove any Red Super Bees..). Mr. Lilly could see the anticipation building dad and me so he led us into a small, dark 2 car garage. When he flipped on the light in the garage all doubts about the car vanished. Right before dad and me was a 1970 Super Bee that looked like it had just come off of the showroom floor. The Super Bee was in unbelievable condition with only 20,850 miles. The original coat of FE5 bright red paint still shined like new and the black bench seat interior was in mint condition. The 383 Magnum and Torqueflite transmission were original and untouched as well. The car also had a "Ramcharger" fresh air system , a 3.91 rear, and hood pins. The car even had its original spare F70-14 Goodyear Polyglas still in the trunk!

It was a "no-brainer" for dad to reach into his pocket, become $3800 poorer and the owner of one neat Dodge. I remember driving back to Maryland behind dad in the Bee' thinking ways to possibly buy it from him if he ever decided to sell it. Lucky me I got my wish about 6 months later. Dad wanted an and all out race car which meant the Super Bee had to go.. I could not bear to see the Bee' go to someone else so I struck a deal with dad and sold my 1972 Satellite Sebring Plus. I then proceeded to use the Bee' as a daily driver for about a year and a half and race it at the local tracks on the weekends. When I first started racing the Bee' the best time I could get out of it with the stock untouched engine and 3.91 gears was a 14.41 at 96 m.p.h. After putting on a set of headers, an electronic ignition, re-curving the distributor, and fiddling with the jetting on the carburetor and I was able to get the car to run a best of 13.96 at 99.6 m.p.h. I had a reasonable amount of success running the Bee' locally and I was fortunate enough to qualify in 1985,1986,1987, and 1988 for the N.H.R.A. Northeast Division ET Bracket finals race at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading Pa. (a result of being in the top 8 in Street Eliminator by seasons end?.). My biggest win with the Bee' was a monthly race known as a the "Top Dog Race" at 75-80 Dragway in 1987. I won $875 , a four foot trophy and drove the Bee' home while the other cars I beat were trailered!!

All the racing began to take its toll on the 383, a thrust bearing had worn out causing excessive crankshaft movement. So I decided take out the 383 and put it aside before blowing it up (little did I know how fortunate I was for doing this at the time..). For 2 years the Bee' sat until my dad offered me a spare 440 engine that was to be used as a backup engine in his 1965 Satellite Super Pro drag car. I took the offer and installed the engine in the fall of 1990. The Bee' was running at this time 12.0's at around 113 m.p.h. with a best being an 11.83 at 114.3 m.p.h. at Capitol Raceway. In 1994 parts breakage finally caught up to the Bee'. After 7 years of racing the original 3.91 rear broke and the next race after I fixed it. I broke 2 connecting rods which thoroughly trashed the 440. The Super Bee sat for another year while I decided what I wanted to do with it. After thinking the situation through I realized the most fun I had with this car was driving it on the street, so I decided to return the car back to its original condition. Returning the car to it's original condition was that not a hard task due to the following reasons? It had only been driven a little over 14,000 miles since 1984. I had kept all the original parts that I had taken off while racing the car (exhaust manifolds, carburetor, pulleys, etc..). Finally the Bee' had always been stored in a garage so the factory paint and interior were still in excellent condition. I began to return the Bee' to its original condition by having the original 383 and transmission rebuilt to stock specifications. I disassembled, cleaned and repainted the engine compartment and any of the original parts as needed. I also made numerous calls to Year One to replace any marginal parts. Finally by December of 1996 with help of a good friend of mine the car was running again with the original engine and transmission for the first time since 1988.

The Bee' was showed with some success after getting it back on the road and in July of 1997 my wife Kris and I moved from Maryland to Melbourne, Florida. We both then joined the Mopars of Brevard in October 1997.

I have to admit that it's a thrill drive this car after all these years and see the "thumbs up" symbols from other drivers who might be remembering a time when cars like this one ruled the street, so I try to drive and show it as often as can. I also get the urge once in a while run it down the strip. I guess that is still a part of me that will never be out my system entirely.

Andy