When it comes to B-Bodys, David Brennan of New York is a true enthusiast of them all. Over the years, David has owned his fair share of B-Bodies, including a pair of jaw-dropping 1971 Plymouth Road Runners that we recently featured. Besides 1971 both Plymouth and Dodge B-Bodies, another one of David’s B-Body weak spots happen to be 1970 Dodge Super Bees.

“I attend the Mecum Auction every year in Harrisburg, PA. This past August, I went to the auction with absolutely no intentions of buying anything. I got myself a bidding pass as usual but I was mainly interested in seeing the vintage drag car collection that was going to be going across the block. On that note, I browsed the collection of vintage drag cars and man were they beautiful. I’d kill to own every one of them!” says David.

As he proceeded to view the auction list on his phone, one vehicle stuck out in particular; a 1970 Dodge Super Bee. While he told himself that he wasn’t there to buy anything, this Super Bee had him thinking. Rocking it’s factory EK2 Go Mango paint with a very rare V02 coded painted white roof, the car was truly an odd ball and David really loved the look. David shares, “I needed to see it so I quickly walked down the hall to where the car was parked.”

He continues to say, “At first glance, I was very impressed with the Super Bee. The body was laser straight, the paint was absolutely brilliant and the black steel wheels, dog dish hub caps and factory N96 Air Grabber just brought the entire car together! On top of that, I loved that it was a coupe and had some great options like the black C-stripes and hood pins. I was originally pretty curious about the white headliner and white upper door frames being correct when I first looked at it but it all turned out to be factory spec. Upon inspection, the fender tag verified all of the car’s unique options.”

Being a self-proclaimed sucker for a nice B-Body on steel wheels, the more David looked at it, the more he needed to add it to his collection. Needing to know more, David crawled underneath the car to inspect it and was impressed that the floors and frame were just as nice as the top of the car. The black vinyl bench seat interior was all new from Legendary and looked great. Under the hood, the 383-4 barrel engine while not the original, was freshly rebuilt by Ed Miller and period correct. “The engine is very healthy. There is just something about a Mopar big block with a Purple camshaft and a 3-inch exhaust system,” shares David.

With the Super Bee in his mind, David and his family proceeded back to the auction block to watch cars go across the block and see what prices were like. David noticed that the Super Bee had a strange run time; it was scheduled to go across the block at the end of the day earlier in the week. David says, “A couple of other Super Bees went across the block while we were watching and the prices were much greater than I really wanted to spend. I was definitely starting to think that this car was going to be far out of my price range.”

Thursday night came along and the Super Bee was scheduled to go across the block shortly. David anxiously waited in the auction crowd for the car to come up and he couldn’t help but notice the auction crowd was thinning out quite a bit. “Despite originally coming with the intention of buying nothing, I knew I needed the car. I knew the car was being sold at no reserve so I decided to set a price in my mind of what I would be willing to spend on it, especially with the buyer’s premium on top of the sale price. That’s sometimes the real killer. Right before the car was about to come across the auction block, I made my way up to the front,” he shares.

The Super Bee was one of the last ten cars to roll across the auction block that night and David had noticed on top of the auction crowd thinning out, he also noticed that prices were significantly down. When the Super Bee finally come up onto the auction block, it was announced that it was a 1 of 1 special order car. David truly thought this would drive the price up beyond his price point. Almost instantly, the price shot up to almost the exact number that he was hoping to spend. It didn’t take long to reach that number however it then stalled right there.

David says, “At the last minute, I threw out a bid on it and hoped for the best. There was absolute silence. I looked around to see what was going on as I thought someone had outbid me but I had missed it. The next thing I knew, there was a camera in my face congratulating us on winning the bid for the car. If you’ve never been to an auction and won a car, I can truly say it’s amazing how fast it all happens when you’re there in person. I was beyond excited with purchasing the car and the price point I got it for. It was a total win-win.”

On the way back home with the Super Bee, David spent quite a bit of time researching the car and some of it’s options. “While doing research, I stumbled across an ad for the car from when it was sold to someone prior to the auction and much to my amazement, the price in that ad was much higher than what we paid for it. When you list a car at auction with no reserve, you are taking a big risk. Sometimes it works out well and sometimes it doesn’t. After reaching out to the person who was selling it in the ad back then hoping for more information on the car, he was happy to provide me with the original owner’s information as well as photos of the car back in the 1970s when he owned it.”

Since getting the Super Bee home, David shares that he really doesn’t know what his plans are for it. “I’ve owned a couple of 1970 Super Bees and it’s absolutely one of my favorites that I’ve had. It’s a truly beautiful example of a B-Body and a total pleasure to drive. The unexpected purchases always seem to be the best!”

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