Rust-Free Survivor: 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee
With no known rust and its original engine and transmission still in place, this 1970 Dodge Super Bee is a car that is ready to be driven and enjoyed immediately. It is not a car that is subtle but is one that is sure to grab plenty of attention wherever it goes. It is located in Ontario, New York, and I listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding is now sitting at $18,400, and the first piece of good news about the Dodge is that it is being offered in a No Reserve auction.
I love it when manufacturers get creative with paint names, and being finished in a color called Banana, Dodge was no exception with this Super Bee. The paint doesn’t look bad, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the car has undergone a repaint at some point in its life. This is particularly apparent in the engine bay, while there is also significant yellow overspray on the underside of the car. Speaking of the underside, that appears to be clear of any rust issues, as do the panels. There is some bubbling under the Black vinyl top, and this will need to be investigated. The general lack of rust really isn’t that surprising, because the Dodge is said to have spent the vast majority of its life residing in sunny California. The owner is pretty honest about the fact that apart from those bubbles, the panels also wear some Bondo. The Super Bee isn’t perfect, but it would certainly appear to be a good, driver-quality car.
Decoding the fender tag makes for some interesting reading because it indicates that the Dodge originally featured black interior trim, air conditioning, power windows, and a 2-watt AM radio. All of these items are still present, except for the radio. This brings me to the most disappointing aspect of the interior. The original radio has been removed and a double-DIN stereo has been installed in its place. In addition, the door trims have been cut to fit aftermarket speakers. If the next owner is seeking originality, it would certainly be possible to reverse these changes. It’s just disappointing because the installation of the stereo all looks to be a bit rough from what can be seen in the single interior photo. The dash pad is cracked, and the cover on the front seat is also starting to show some signs of cracking. The rest of the interior looks to be quite good, and it would certainly be possible to live with it as it currently stands.
There’s good news when you open the hood of the Super Bee because it’s a numbers-matching car. The engine is the relatively bullet-proof, 383ci V8. The Dodge also features a heavy-duty A-727 transmission, power steering, and power disc brakes. With 335hp on board, the performance figures for the Super Bee still stack up well, even 40-years after it left the showroom. A 0-60 time of 6.4 seconds and a ¼ mile ET of 14.6 seconds are certainly competitive times in today’s motoring climate. Being a car that is ready to be enjoyed immediately, the owner says that it does run and drive really well.
With a paint job this bright, this 1970 Super Bee is by no means a subtle car. If you take the stereo out of the equation, it is a very original car, and restoring it would not seem to be a big job. It ticks two very important boxes when it comes to considering a restoration project. The first is that it is rust-free, while the other is that it is a numbers-matching car. It is well worth a serious look, and it will be interesting to see what it will eventually sell for.
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Comments
It looks nice and has some very desirable options such as AC and power windows. It needs a thorough inspection, bubbles under the vinyl top IS RUST. The phrasing, no visible rust, is more of a warning than a description. The picture of the passenger side quarter panel shows what looks like bondo where these cars typically rust. It may not be nearly as rusty as most Mopars featured on this site, but I’d be wary that potentially significant rust repair has been previous performed. I’d also ask for more history, the California plates it wears are recent.
Steve R
Has very minor issues compared to some of the big rust buckets we see here. No doubt the new owner has gotta like yellow as there’s a lot of it here. Nice ride.
I’ll be fair and not criticize the performance figures posted here, depends on what source(old magazines) was used but the best numbers Always came after loosening the belts, removing the air filter and lid, bumping the timing, fiddling with whatever carburator was there, an so forth. Of course, some of these things had to be reversed for normal street operation.
Numbers matching and a fender tag would be worth restoring. I didn’t like the front of the 70 dodge when I was younger now it’s one of my favorites.
One of the best front ends ever in my opinion!! The tail end kind of matches the front!! Great design!!
A lovely thing! Like it lots.
It’s not a pretty face – but it’s darn cool! Matches the bee-theme perfectly, so does its ass and of course it colors too! Though I’m not a player on the Pentastar playground I must admit this is nothing but an impressive design! 👍
Police car versions of these look like they wanted to eat you…it was a great front end in that respect. Would love to have an evil sedan version of this!
Definitely looks like mud in the quarter panels but that is not uncommon in cars of this vintage…any cars actually its just a cheap fix
A stock radio are not hard to find. Buy one and keep it in the trunk to please others if you like, but i’ll keep the after market one to be more useful. Rust under the vinyl top is a norm as the lower quarters the same, if it has not been kept in a garage its whole lifetime. Still a nice car as is. Too bad it’s not a 440 or better.
A 440 would bring more money but the 383 is a better driver for most people; it has plenty of power.
Love the color
Love the car
The color was called Top Banana , but this yellow isnt that color ; its a little too yellow , unless the pictures arent giving a true version of the paint