Asked to give some input on the NEW 2007 Charger Super Bee

[JohnnyBee]

A Columbia College, Journalism student, contacted me, to write an article on the 2007 Charger Super Bee. This is what I have come up with.

The Super Bee was a budget muscle performance car on a base model. The only year the Super Bee was on a Charger was 1971. It was moved from the Coronet to the Charger in '71, because the Coronet was only offered in 4-door or wagon. But the Super Bee still represented a low-cost, high performance package. This was also the last year of the Super Bee. No American muscle car nameplates were ever on a four-door sedan. Cheap and fast.

The Super Bee is the third of the "retro" names that has come back on the Dodge Charger platform. (R/T, Daytona, Super Bee)

Chrysler said they don't want to build "retro" like some others. Yet they use one of the biggest Muscle Car name and slogans "Charger Fever".

In '74 the Charger was going more towards the "luxury" market with the SE/Brougham. It was still a sports car (2 doors) with some comforts. Then in '75 it was all luxury and no style, a copy off of the "Cordoba".

Yes, this new Bee has some "Super" performance, with a 6.1-liter HEMI V-8 producing about 425 hp. and 420. Ft-Lbs of Torque. This is about ¼ more than the 5.7-liter HEMI.  It's even rear-wheel-drive. But this is a luxury car, a flashy Chrysler 300, competing with the Cadillac and BMW with some special logos on front and rear fenders.

Will anyone buy it as a 4-door? Will it be base priced under $20,000?

I hope that the new Charger will change and morph as did the '66 with fast back style to the 2nd or 3rd generations. Then, YES I could see me in a NEW SUPER BEE. Strip it down, lose two doors and keep it fast.

[bull]

I hope that the new Charger will change and morph as did the '66 with fast back style to the 2nd or 3rd generations. Then, YES I could see me in a NEW SUPER BEE. Strip it down, lose two doors and keep it fast...

... and call it something other than Charger" would have been my final shot. Even with two doors it's still not a Charger. Other than that it was a good write up.

[hotrod98]

If they just spent a few bucks and a little time to lose those two doors, people like me would go directly down to my local dealer and buy a new charger. Just doesn't make sense. I refuse to buy a 4 door car.

[TruckDriver]

I think your responce was good. I also agree with Bull. That is the some of the problem that kills most of todays so called "proformance" cars, is there all high cost - all option cars. I think that Ford has it somewhat right with the Mustang in the sence, you can still at least get a lower optioned cheaper 6 cylinder based car. Not everyone can afford the high optioned cars. They need to reintroduce striped out low option cars again. Of course, I'm probably thinking to hard again too

[bull]

If they just spent a few bucks and a little time to lose those two doors, people like me would go directly down to my local dealer and buy a new charger. Just doesn't make sense. I refuse to buy a 4 door car.

It would be a lot cheaper to run off 100,000 "Coronet" badges than redesign the car. Door count is just one issue anyway. I think it's just plain homely, no matter how many doors.

[sixpack70]

Mitsubishi has it right with their lancer RS. Its cheaper than the standard car, stripped of options weighs about 100lbs less. Is faster by .3-.4 seconds in the quarter mile, but doesn't fare as well at the track because of lack of aerodynamic help and suspension.(how many boy racers actually put their car on the track? They always drag race.) The next model up is the evo VIII for 3500 more and the top model is 7k more! Ford decided to strip their cars down and make the cobra R's, but then boosted the price by about double. The new ford racer costs 45k. A bit steep if you ask me.

[89MOPAR]

No American muscle car nameplates were ever on a four-door sedan.

Hmmmn - GM sure made a lot of 4 door Chevelles. [ SS]
and Ford made a lot of 4 door Torinos  { torino Cobra}
and Chrysler sure made a lot of 4 door Coronets [ R/T].......

[WM23N1]

A real slap in the face to any REAL WM code charger super bee owner. You can sprinkle sugar on shit but you still have shit.

[Dodge-Charger]

That was a good reply, I like how you threw the Real SuperBee out there. 

The Luxury part came into play in 73 , that is when they considered the restyling of the Charger

[65post]

I think the new charger - super bee is UGLY ! but not as ugly as the new Imperial concept.Someone in the head office is not listening .Maybe if they gave it a little more AMERICAN muscle !

[Nacho-RT74]

In '74 the Charger was going more towards the "luxury" market with the SE/Brougham. It was still a sports car (2 doors) with some comforts. Then in '75 it was all luxury and no style, a copy off of the "Cordoba".

as stated by Dodge-Charger, yes Brougham package didn't appear on 74, but also was earlier that he said... was in 72. First only available on SEs, but latelly also available on Hardtops/Coupes ( Mine is hardtop and has the Brougham package from a 74 donor in Canada ). Included:

-Cloth & vinyl seat with fold down center armrest, or vinyl bucket seats with plush carpet, or cloth & vinyl bucket seats with plush carpet.
-Electric clock
-Deluxe steering wheel with partial horn ring
-Simulated wood-grained trim and soft trim
-Padded door trim panels
-Added sound insulation


The donor seats had the "aztec" cloth interior with vinyl.

[mopar1]

Not even Trump and all of his apprentices do anything w/t this super bee.
It's a fake and totaly mis represnts what this Charger nameplate stands for.

The sad thing is I probably would have bought one if it was called something else.
This car would have met my families needs perfectly.I also loved the fact that it is
rear wheel drive. I couldn't do it, especially being an owner of a 71 Charger R/T .

It would be nice if Chrysler could admit to their mistake and build a modern day
2nd generation Charger that would make us all proud.

They can do it, we can help.

[Crazy Larry]

Well, Dodge seemed to get the "reto styling" down with the Challenger concept so it is not out of their grasp to create a classic-future looking muscle car.

Now, if they could only match a Charger design body line to body line like they did with the Challenger - that would be a cool looking vehicle.

Great response by the way - agree 100%