Jul
17
Dodge Coronet & Super Bee--Scat City in 1969-1970
By: Patrick Smith
The high water mark for American muscle is often considered to be 1970. One major reason is General Motors finally allowed themselves freedom to install big cubic inch engines in their intermediates. Chrysler, on the other hand had been doing that since 1968 with race program cars like the S/S cuda and S/S Hemi Dart. The problem was the poor old A body wasn't designed to take on a 383 much less a 426 hemi engine. Th engineers redesigned the Barracuda to take the big blocks for 1970. Meanwhile, the B body was set up right away to use 383s, 440s and the hemi without trouble. The Dodge B body was the Coronet and the budget bomber known as the Super Bee.
The Super Bee came out in 1968 as a low entry version of a street machine aimed at the Roadrunner crowd. The engine was a 383 Magnum four barrel set up with the four speed manual transmission. The body was a two door coupe with fold out rear quarter windows and a raised power dome hood. A pair of bumble bee stripes on the rear deck told others you were buzzing for action. In 1969, the Super Bee returned with the 383 and 426 hemi in tow. It sported a new twin barbell grille that made the car look aggressive just standing still. A new mid range engine half way through the year, delivered the promise of brutal, *** whipping power. That was the 440 Six Pack. The Six Pack was a Super Bee signature engine. A whole package was built around it using a matte black fresh air hood, gloss black painted wheels with chrome lug nuts, redline tires,a skid plate and special torque box reinforcements around the leaf spring perches and heavy duty leaf spring suspension with front torsion bars. Inside you got bench seats with a big gnarly four speed shifter.
The 1969 Coronet also had a 500 and 440 trim series, Contrary to many classified ad descriptions, a Coronet 440 model doesn't mean it has a big block. 440 merely designated one up status from the economy "deluxe" model. The biggest standard engine you got in a 440 Coronet was the 318 V8. A 383 four barrel was biggest one you could get in a 440 model and was extra cost optional. I just wanted to clear that misconception being perpetrated in used car ads.
When it came to wheels, Dodge was a little behind the times. The biggest tire was a F70x 15 inch rim which was only for the hemi cars. All other Coronets got 14 inch wheels that year, but the R/T and Super Bee got F70 wide treads at least. The big bore 440 and the hemi cars got the 18 quart radiators while the others had a 17 quart rad. Early 1969 paint colors were modest compared to the spring time. The hottest colors were Gold Metallic, Red, Bright Blue Metallic and Bright Turquoise Metallic. By the spring of 1969, Coronet added Hemi Orange on March 3rd. On April 15th, 1969, Bahama Yellow was added to the 440 Six Pack Super Bee as a promo color.
Other special gear included a Special Scat Pack Package which included air scoop ramcharger hood, hood pins & lanyards, three speed wipers, special hood paint treatment, F70x14 raised white letter tires or F70x14 red line tires. It wasn't really a muscle car deal because you couldn't get it with the hemi or 440 Six Pack. It was more of a muscle car dress up deal. A lot of other options barred ordering the Scat Package. If you had a/c, radio group, floral roof, fender turn signals, trailer towing package or cruise control you couldn't get the Scat Pack.
For 1970, the Coronet came back with a major restyle front and rear. A barbell grille with four headlamps appeared up front and two tapered tail lamps out back tied in a swoopy pair of fenders and rear quarter panels. A fresh air induction hood used a twin scoop system. There was also a central NACA hood scoop option which wasn't fresh air activated. This was a Coronet R/T and Super Bee option. The engine line up started with the 383 Magnum four barrel, escalated to 440 four barrel Magnum V8 with a 440 Six Pack or 426 Hemi dual quad as optional high performance mills. For the Super Bee it was a package car limited to the 383 Magnum engine only. The R/T series started with the 440 Magnum and went up to 440 Six Pack or 426 hemi.
Special options that really make the car stand out today are the Rallye wheels, Pistol Grip manual shifter manufactured by Hurst for Dodge, the trunk and rear quarter stripes and their variations, and best of all, the High Impact paint colors. The Rallye wheels were B body spec which had a wider bolt circle than the A body wheels. There were also stamped steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps, styled steel wheels, wire wheels and the full size hubcap.All looked jazzy but I must admit the wire wheel takes a certain kind of body and interior combo to pull it off successfully. A Coronet 500 convertible makes it work but it'd be strange on an R/T.
The Pistol Grip Shifter was paired to the manual four speed gearbox only. Three speed floor shifters were plain units with a ball. The Pistol Grip was at its orneriest and wildest looking phase inside a B body. The goose neck handle, the pair of grips like a handgun. This was a serious looking shifter, more for Wyatt Earp than Joe Commuter.That was the whole idea and Dodge knew well how to sell sizzle with the steak.
The stripes had a couple of variations. The Super Bee was available with just the plain circular decal for the quarter panel for a discreet warning. The show off could pair it with a set of reverse C stripes on the whole quarter pane; very effective. The R/T model had a bumble bee stripe for the trunk usually in contrasting color to the body.
The High Impact paint colors were a mix of metallics and bold day glow style shades. Bright Blue Metallic, Plum Crazy, Sublime, Go Mango, Dark Burnt Orange Metallic, Top Banana, Hemi Orange, and Light Gold Metallic were early release colors. Panther Pink and Green Go were added later in 1970. The Coronet RT and Super Bee were in the last year of being full members of Detroit's Scat City. 1971 brought a sea change to muscle cars and the Super Bee changed homes and status from being a economy muscle Coronet to an economy muscle Charger. The Coronet series moved out of the muscle car ranks altogether to join the commuter, rental and cop car world.
*all material copyright Patrick Smith PHS Media 2012.
Posted 17th July 2012 by
Patrick Smith
