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4/21/07 "The restoration on this Bee continues. What a wife I have. I bought her an Edelbrock Dual Plane manifold for her birthday and an Edelbrock 750 1411 auto choke carborator for our anniversary. Funny I didnt get anything. "
Having a garage full of cars, more than my wife is comfortable with, I just could not pass up this opportunity. I was taking my son's friend home to his house and spotted this big orange dodge on a trailer. I thought great, I will invite them to our Chico Concours in September as the marque is Cars of the Chrysler Corporation.
The next day, doing the same thing, dropping off my son's friend, there are for sale signs on the cars and it is on the ground. I see the SUPER BEE decal . Immediately I wheel the Suburban around as my son starts questioning what I am doing and reminding me, Mom will be once again angry with me and begin questioning my judgment and sanity......I explained this is a potential SUPER BEE and rare car and we have check it out.
I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the number. The voice on the other end asked what I wanted ...."I want to see your car".."Where are you?" "In your front yard." The fellow came out of the house and told me he really did not know much about the car that it was his wife's and her step sons. It had been in storage since 1999. I asked if it ran. He said yes but did not have the key. OK, so now we cant start it. He said oh sure we can...and pulled a piece of wire from his back pocket....lifted the hood and said step on the gas. The big 440 came to life with the traditional MOPAR roar...he said take it for a spin......a little difficult since the steering wheel was still locked. I rolled it forward and backward.
He then stated I could speak to his wife and she could answer my questions. She just worked around the corner. It turns out that I knew the owner 25 years ago used to date her daughter. Alright.... I have an in !!! I made a BEE line to the store ( sorry), we talked, I made her an offer based on confirmation of the VIN and assurance this was not a clone. Well...it was a real SUPER BEE...but was calling for a 383 Magnum...not the 440 indicated on the hood.
I still made the deal. (did not necessarily steal it, but I got a very good deal.) I then spent a couple of hours searching through a ice chest full of a couple of thousand (literally) keys to find the right ones, and drove directly to the lube shop. We changed all fluids and greased everything we could find to grease.
On the way home it stopped running. The carburetor needed serious cleaning and work. I called Triple A....4 trucks showed up to see the car after hearing the call on the radio. One driver of one of the tow trucks chased us down having gotten his son so he could see the SUPER BEE as we took the car to the house.
At the end of the day, we rebuilt the 727 SLAP STIK transmission, determined that there was a 440 Magnum under the hood that was placed there sometime in it's life, cleaned the carburetor, restored the interior, and finally got the trunk open finding more needed parts.
I've had the car for two weeks and still need to change bushings and restore the engine compartment. But it is a driver!
I have 3 nice cars, a Ferrari, Corvette, and 65 Riviera GS, and I used to own antique Rolls Royces......I have never had more attention directed to a car I have driven than this big orange SUPER BEE. The young son has now claimed dibs on the car when he turns 18....to heck with the Ferrari and the Corvette.....he wants the MOPAR!!
Our next step is to pull the 440 and restore it and the engine compartment. Oh yes, and continue to convince my wife this is a really good investment...and that's my story and I'm sticking to it......
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