Rare ‘Bee Joins Performance Display at Gilmore Museum

Recently, Gary Plowman let us know about his ’70 Dodge Super Bee currently found in the “Performance Years” display at the Gilmore Museum (the largest car museum in North America) among several other award winning Mopars and muscle cars. Gary told Mopar Connection, “[the] Gilmore Car Museum was putting together a performance years special display. I was approached and ask if I would be interested in putting it in that display. At the time I was not interested cause I still were a couple of shows I wanted to attend. The following year I decided if they were still interested I would so that is where it sets now and for the next two years.”

The ‘Bee in question is a Lynch Road-built 383 Ramcharger four-speed in “high impact” Hemi Orange (which was an extra cost, and only 969 were painted as such out of the 15,506 produced – and 14,137 were shipped to US dealers, with 4,519 being four speeds). Gary continued, “The car was bought new in Iowa and then made its way to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had just sold a ’67 Firebird that went to our friends up north Canada. I started looking for a ’69 Super Sport Chevelle (because it was the first new car I ever bought). I was searching some old newspaper ads (which were over a year old) and saw the ‘Bee for sale.

“After I bought [my first] SS, the ’70 Super Bee came out and I was kicking myself because I loved it but was stuck with the SS and financially couldn’t go back,” Gary laments. Seeing this as the opportunity to finally get the ’70 Super Bee he had dreamed of, he discovered that the car was still for sale and immediately bought it. “It had a rotisserie restoration in 2010. After the restoration the car was driven to break-in the freshened up motor. It was then thoroughly cleaned and trailered thereafter. The ‘Bee [earned] Stock Concours gold trophy at the MCACN. The car is completely numbers-matching with all the correct date code components. It also was a Top 25 car in The Frankenmuth car show which had over 3000 cars.”

Right now, Gary’s ’70 Super Bee as well as a Hemi Charger, Daytona and other significant Mopars are on display at the Gilmore Museum, located in a massive 90-acre historic campus midway between Detroit and Chicago. Learn more about it here.