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I am fairly confident the car was sold new in the Central Valley of California, perhaps Fresno Dodge, but the original owner remains unidentified. I am interested in knowing how this car came to be since the 440 4V was never intended to be installed in the '71 SuperBee. Did the original owner order a Six Pack engine with A.C. and settle for what the factory supplied? Owner no. 1 probably has some great information he could share, but I've failed in my attempts to locate him.
OK, to the story... the second owner, Shirley DeJean of Fresno California, bought the car from Fresno Dodge in January of 1972, a used vehicle just one year old. She told me the car's flashy purple paint and stripes weren't exactly what she had in mind but the salesman talked her into a test drive, after which she was sold. Shirley maintained and cared for the car carefully until 1979 when she bought a new Cadillac with power everything, she suffered an arthritic condition and the Super Bee's non power assist drum set-up was becoming a chore to drive. She garaged and drove the car sparingly after acquiring the Caddy.
About 1982 or 1983, Shirley's nephew, a high school student in Fresno, asked her to sell him the car and after much pestering, she reluctantly did. She signed over the pink concerned that he might be stopped in a vehicle he did not hold title to. In essence she gave the car away, never receiving any money for it. The Dodge then suffered some abuse and sustained the typical hot rod modifications. During my telephone visit with Shirley she recalled with detectable anguish, "One night they took it to a friends house and put on open headers!" She related pleasant memories also; many times the Dodge had hit the road as her transportation between Fresno and Sacramento and she stated that it was a "fine road car" and that it had "plenty of power." She loved the Bee and spoke fondly of it, never intending to lose possession, making future events in the cars' history somewhat unfortunate.
Foreward to 1985, as a high school car and daily transportation in the hands of a young man, the Bee is nearing the end of its street driven life. During a blast to Las Vegas, Shirley's nephew blew a tire in the desert and the car had to be towed. (This event damaged the trailing edge of the front left fender, we replaced it.) He could not pay for the service and eventually a lien was filed and the tow company took title. It seems he was too embarassed to tell his Aunt Shirley he needed three hundred bucks, which she would gladley have paid, to get the car back and by the time she found out it was too late. When the tow company later went belly up, their inventory became property of Valpe Auto Wrecking in Mojave, Ca. including the well worn SuperBee. From there for the sum of $1000 Sherman Triscuit of Lancaster became the fourth owner and began a restoration, mostly disassembling the car and collecting required parts. Sherman spent a sizable amount of money on the Dodge.
In time Sherman lost interest in the project. He sold it to Mike Shea of Selma, Ca. When Mike also decided to sell the Bee, my brother and I had been talking about getting together on a car project. With second hand information I went to look believing it to be one of the 99 Six Pack cars built in '71. I was disappointed when I discovered that it was "only" a "U" code SuperBee until Mr. Shea explained to me how unusual the car really is. So in October of 1995 Russ and I purchased a bare shell and two "Suburban loads full" of new and original parts, along with the numbers matching engine and transmission and began the restoration, completing it (more or less) just in time to attend Chrysler Performance West's Spring Fling in VanNuys Ca. Our goal for the day was just to make the 300 mile round trip to L.A. and back without mechanical troubles, while enjoying a relaxing day at one of Californias premier mopar events. We made the trip no problem, but as a side bonus came home with a first place trophy in our class!
The Bee lives in my garage at present and is a "fair weather" cruiser. In California periods of fair weather can come along any time of year, but today it's raining so it doesn't look like I'll be taking the Bee out for a cruise this weekend
Jeff
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