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This is quite the Bee-tale....my parents were far too conservative to ever own or let me buy or drive a muscle car. Mostly cause they had seven kids so things were tight and I drove the old family wagon - a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville Station Wagon which we would take the air cleaner off of when we were a block from the house and the old wagon would get up and move. It came with a towing package so it was pretty powerful.
The town I grew up in here in Idaho was pretty small so most of my muscle exposure was to Vettes and Mustangs. I did know a kid who dropped out of school to work on and race cars and he had a sweet GTX and a Roadrunner. In 1995 a good friend (and my boss at the time) announced that he was ready to buy the car of his dreams (the white Challenger from Vanishing Point like the one that is in the new Audioslave video) and why didn't I buy one too? I realized at that time that it is EXACTLY what I had always wanted and my younger brother mentioned that his friend had a Superbee and maybe he would sell it. My friend and I immediately drove out to his house in the country to see it and he wasn't home. We went out in the barn anyway (in Idaho you can do stuff like that - people are a little
more casual) and there it sat with about 2 inches of dust on it and I had no idea what shape it was really in. My buddy and I spent 15 minutes figuring out how the hood popped up and when we got it open, I was pretty excited. I
had to start it so I got in and the keys were in it. I drove allot of old cars in my day and so I pumped it about 20 times and it fired right up and I was immediately in love! The Mopar rumble is infectious! I called the guy later that night and we made a deal. Come to find out, he and his brother had spent 2 years on it and loved it but wanted new snowmachines even more so they sold it to me for a great price DONE!! The dust washed right off and the body was straight as an arrow (no bondo period!) and the paint and decals were immaculate!
I still walk out into the garage every day and fall in love all over again. It never goes out in the winter but we take it to local shows and enjoy it all summer long. My ex-wife never really "got" muscle cars and just wondered why it had to bee so long and about how much room it took up in my garage. When I first met my new wife Carrie, rock and roll was our immediate connection but right after that was Mopar - she drove a Barracuda for several years and loved them all and still can't believe that we have one that is so cherry!
My kids all love it - especially my 5 year old son Chase who calls it the "Supa-Bee". He used to call any pre-80's car a "Supabee" but now is beginning to distinguish Corvettes from Camaros etc. He is hooked too!
My buddy was pretty pumped up when I found the Bee so he looked even harder for his Mopar. In the process, he found a 1970 Olds 442 W30 with a screaming 454 that he bought and then found his white 71 Challenger 440 R/T so he ended up with two. We both ended up very successful in our Mopar hunting. Good luck to you in yours!
It is a numbers matching 1971 Dodge Charger SuperBee 383 Magnum. It is red with black decals and has been restored to original showroom condition. It is an automatic with a bench seat.
This Bee has won several awards in various shows around the region and provides a high level of satisfaction and enjoyment for the whole family!
John Heer
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