1971 super bees

[cooldude]

I just wonder why it was really necessary for the Super Be line to be discontinued?

I mean  really, it was on top of the styling and  performance scene in 1969, and gone by 72.

Looks like they could have used some other platform for it than the B body, or something to save the brand, you know?

While were on the Super Bee line...what was the deal with the Bee theme anyway?

The Roadrunner I get, it was a cartoon character on saturday mornings. But the Bee theme? Where did that come from?

[68RT440]

I've always been a fan of super bees, particularly 69-70s. I've heard that the super bee came from the fact that the car was a B body...So it was a play on words in a way...

[JB400]

Dodge wanted a cartoon car like Plymouth had with the RR, thus the Super Bee was born, and a symbol of the Scat Pack.

Do not know for sure, but I'd assume it was a combination of corporate bean counters and economics that killed the Bee.  Muscle car sales were going down after 71.

[VegasCharger]

I mean  really, it was on top of the styling and  performance scene in 1969, and gone by 72.

Didn't the Super Bee start in 1968??

[RallyeMike]

I just wonder why it was really necessary for the Super Be line to be discontinued?

I mean  really, it was on top of the styling and  performance scene in 1969, and gone by 72.

Looks like they could have used some other platform for it than the B body, or something to save the brand, you know?

While were on the Super Bee line...what was the deal with the Bee theme anyway?

The Roadrunner I get, it was a cartoon character on saturday mornings. But the Bee theme? Where did that come from?

Actually Super Bee was far from top of styling and performance. It was Dodge's cheap performance equivalent to the very successful Roadrunner. It had less trim and doodads typically compared to other B-bodies and came with the 383 standard rather than 440. If you want to talk top styling and performance for B-body it was Charger and GTX all the way.

Not knocking the Bee's. I love them. they just were not top of the line.

[polywideblock]

same thing killed the super bee that killed off all "performance models ","insurance company's" 
and it was called a super bee because it was a" super" B body dodge had to have what Plymouth had (roadrunner) a cheap entry level performance car

[crj1968]

same thing killed the super bee that killed off all "performance models ","insurance company's" 

Exactly- that and raising gas prices... people couldn't hardly give away big block cars in, what, the mid to late 70's? 

[F8-4life]

I"ve always prefered super bees over roadrunners generally speaking. But the roadrunner was always way more popular, and in 1971 they dropped the coronet coupes (2dr hardtops) all together thus making the switch to a charger based "bee". By 1971 the writing was on the wall, I'm sure Chrysler knew the market for a stripped model high performance 2dr taxi was changing for the worse (for many reasons) and the roadrunner was enough to fill the shrinking market. Keeping the bee around at that point would be hurting plymouth.

[hemi-hampton]

If all the reasons for axing the Super after 71 are true then why did they keep the GTX going till 74? LEON.

[6bblgt]

1972-'74 GTXs are "RM" Road Runners with an engine OPTION & two sets of emblems
GTX represented style & performance (GTX was probably someone's "pet project" at Plymouth & fought hard to NOT allow it to die) 

the "RALLYE" OPTIONED Charger replaced all versions of the performance Dodge b-body coupe & hardtop from 318 to 440
the "SE" model Charger represented all versions of the personal luxury Dodge b-body from 318 to 440

[cooldude]

I think that this makes me suspect that Chrysler execs didnt have the Cordoba body line really thought out, by 1972.

I wonder what they thought would eventually replace the current B bodies of the early 70s? Had they even began to think about the Cordoba styled cars by then, or were they just groping in the dark, canceling the Super Bees on a knee jerk reaction, and not giving much thought to the future??

I mean, I think the name Super Bee might have inspired more sales than the tamer names like Cordoba or Mirada?

Looks to me like there could have been room in that body style line for the Super Bees.

Hmm,makes me think that the execs really hadnt thought things through very far in the early 70s.  

[6bblgt]

US spec.
1968 Super Bee = 7,841
1969 Super Bee = 25,994
1970 Super Bee = 14,137
1971 Super Bee = 4,325

"MUSCLE" died hard & quick - there were very few interested in purchasing a "NEW" musclecar in the mid-'70s to the early-'80s the market just wasn't there

if you look at a car that survived - MUSTANG - look at the performance models/engines available VS. production numbers - the "big 3" were in the business to sell cars (same argument for 4-dr Chargers)

[Troy]

US spec.
1968 Super Bee = 7,841
1969 Super Bee = 25,994
1970 Super Bee = 14,137
1971 Super Bee = 4,325

"MUSCLE" died hard & quick - there were very few interested in purchasing a "NEW" musclecar in the mid-'70s to the early-'80s the market just wasn't there

if you look at a car that survived - MUSTANG - look at the performance models/engines available VS. production numbers - the "big 3" were in the business to sell cars (same argument for 4-dr Chargers)

Just to add to this, a little history...

Motor Trend's Car of the Year:
1968 Pontiac GTO
1969 Plymouth Road Runner
1970 Ford Torino
1971 Chevrolet Vega
1972 Citroen SM

A couple years later in 1974... the Ford Mustang II was Car of the Year and the best sellers included the Ford Pinto, Plymouth Valiant, Chevy Vega, and AMC Hornet.

Troy

[JohnnyBee]

Yep the Vega was the car of the year for '71, but what did they put on the cover? A '71 Super Bee and some friends!!
http://www.71superbee.com/Magazines/

[cooldude]

US spec.
1968 Super Bee = 7,841
1969 Super Bee = 25,994
1970 Super Bee = 14,137
1971 Super Bee = 4,325

"MUSCLE" died hard & quick - there were very few interested in purchasing a "NEW" musclecar in the mid-'70s to the early-'80s the market just wasn't there

if you look at a car that survived - MUSTANG - look at the performance models/engines available VS. production numbers - the "big 3" were in the business to sell cars (same argument for 4-dr Chargers)

But muscle made a come back in the mid to late 70s. Take the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" for example. Those Trans Ams were quite popular. Or we could look to the Rockford Files, and so on, and those cars sold pretty good. Even the base model,low performance Camaros ofthose years sold well.

Muscle did make a come back in the 70s, and Chrysler just timed the market wrong, read the market wrong, and got out just at the time that it was time to get back in.

They did sort of have an offering, the Magnum,which was a pretty cool car. But it lacked the muscular mystique and styling of the old Chargers. It was basically a Cordoba. Even the 1975 Roadrunners just sort of lacked the individuality of style that set them apart from the muscle cars like the TAs.

And that was exactly backwards from the Chargers.

The 1st and 2nd generation Chargers looked like performance cars, even if they were just low performance, base models.

But...The Cordoba based cars didnt look like performance cars, even if they were, for that time.

Now I did see something about the proposed 1975 Barracuda,that was canceled. It did look the part. I think it would have sold well, if it would have had the chance.

[sccachallenger]

1972-'74 GTXs are "RM" Road Runners with an engine OPTION & two sets of emblems
GTX represented style & performance (GTX was probably someone's "pet project" at Plymouth & fought hard to NOT allow it to die) 

the "RALLYE" OPTIONED Charger replaced all versions of the performance Dodge b-body coupe & hardtop from 318 to 440
the "SE" model Charger represented all versions of the personal luxury Dodge b-body from 318 to 440

Yes! all 440 Road Runners these years had GTX badges, still pretty cool cars!
Most of the options E bodies lost after '71 remained available on B bodies, at least for a little while longer.

[RallyeMike]

But muscle made a come back in the mid to late 70s. Take the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" for example. Those Trans Ams were quite popular. Or we could look to the Rockford Files, and so on, and those cars sold pretty good. Even the base model,low performance Camaros ofthose years sold well.

Mid-late 70's muscle car = decal-plastered, 185 bhp disco machines. Sold ok, but not a come back of muscle.

I'm thankful that Dodge let the Bee die with dignity rather than what they did to the Charger line 

[71 Bee Man]

Same thing happened here in Australia.......all the performance lines were dropped I. Favour of smaller vehicles, and comfort vehicles. The problem he basically started when a motoring article started what was basically a scare campaign (inadvertently) by referring to the crop of "Supercars" coming through as "bullets on wheels".
Everybody went ducking for cover. And of course the fuel crisis didn't help.

I'm quite happy with my 71 Superbee though. It survived.