1969 Dodge Hemi Super Bee Hardtop

“Sting like a Bee” was a famed motto of boxer Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), and if the yellow and black paint on this Dodge Super Bee is not fair warning, those Hemi hood scoop tags tell the tale. Until the Six Pack versions arrived in the spring of 1969, one could buy Dodge’s budget muscle machine with only two engines: the standard 383/335 HP and King Kong, the notorious 426 Hemi seen here. A hardtop version, this is one only 54 produced that year with the Hemi and A727 transmission driveline and it has been in the current owner’s care since 1999. It’s the result of an older restoration done by Classic Express Inc. in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a mechanical inspection and tune were recently completed by Smothers Supercars in Talala, Oklahoma.

The car hosts a matching-numbers 426/425 HP Hemi V-8 engine beneath the Ramcharger functional twin scoop hood. There its dual inline Carter AFB 4-barrel carburetors feed hemispherical cylinder heads, with the 26-inch radiator, wire hose clamps and underhood airbox bracing all visible. The A727 TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic transmission is followed by an 8.75-inch rear end with 3.55 final gearing. A Hemi order meant heavy-duty suspension parts and underpinnings were standard.