Today, our 1970 Dodge Super Bee receives new front grille inserts, rear window molding, and sail panels from Classic Industries and OER. The grille inserts in this car have been repaired many times after being struck with birds, deteriorated by age, and damaged from people not opening the hood correctly. The original plastic grilles have grown brittle over time, and have faded with sunlight.

Above left: New parts from Classic Industries. 1970 Dodge Coronet grille inserts, rear window trim molding, and rear sail panels. Above right: The original grille inserts are faded, cracked, broken, and sagging.

A New BEEutiful Smile
OER reproduction 1970 Dodge Coronet front grille assemblies are made with gray injected molded plastic, and finished in argent silver and black to appear like the original grilles. The grille inserts come as a pair (PT# MB9910) or you can buy them separately, (PT#2949800) for the right and (PT#2949801) for the left.

Above: The new grille inserts part number (#MB9910). The colors match the OEM grilles painted in argent silver and satin black. 

The Dodge emblem that goes on the driver’s side grille is also available (PT# 2998060) but ours was still in good condition, so we reused it. Removing the old grille inserts were easy via just a few screws. We transferred over the Dodge emblem and inserted the new grilles into the bumper.

Right away we noticed how the new grille inserts do not sag like the old ones did. The grille fit flat and flush against the bumper. New black screws were installed in place of the old rusty ones.

Above: The 1970 Coronet has a Dodge emblem that is attached with two speedy nuts. If a new one is needed one can be ordered from Classic Industries part number (#2998060).

Above: The new and the old grille sitting next to each other for comparison. 

With the new grilles installed, the car has an entirely different look. It was very surprising how much this made a difference in the car’s appearance, and made us wonder why we hadn’t done this earlier!

Above left: The original grille is badly damaged and flops in the wind down the road. Above middle & right: The grille is easily removed and replaced with new screws. We also cleaned the head light while the grille was out.

Finalizing All The Flapping
With all the air flow coming into the car, it always pulled down the molding and also damaged the sail panels and headliner. The original rear window molding was a rubber strip. The one in our Super Bee has not aged well and was in poor condition.

The molding is always being pushed back – even glue won’t keep it in place – especially since we race road courses with this Super Bee and the windows are required to be down on the track.

Above: The headliner is falling apart, and sail panels are damaged from always falling off on track. 

To repair this, we have new black sail panel covers (PT# MB1436101) for the car as well as new plastic molding for around the window (PT# MB1506).

Removing all the worn-out components, we cleaned up all the debris around the area before installing the new parts. The new sail panels come with the correct material already applied to a backing, we just had to install the clips in the proper spot before snapping the panels in place.

Above left: We removed the old sail panel and work the headliner to remove any wrinkles. Above right: The new sail panels come already attached with the headliner material. After installing clips in the correct spots, the sail panels just press into place. 

Before installing the new molding, we pulled the headliner tight again. A hair dryer was used to get the smaller wrinkles out. With the headliner in position, we were now able to install the molding around the window. The molding snapped right into place and also held the headliner down.

Above: The original rear window molding was rubber. The new moldings are plastic and snapped right into place.

Above: New headliner and rear sail panels installed, everything put back together. 

The plastic molding is definitely thinner than the original old thick rubber molding, However, we think this gives it a cleaner look. With the interior looking complete and the outside looking like a new car again, we are ready to head up to the next big show.   

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