Last week, Dodge announced the 2023 Charger Super Bee as part of the “Last Call” series of gas-powered performance cars. While there has been several Charger Super Bees in the past 16 years, the original one appeared in 1971. This 1971 Charger Super Bee listed for sale on ClassicCars.com is the Pick of the Day. It is offered by a dealer in Rancho Cordova, California. (Click the link to view the listing)
The Charger series was redesigned for 1971, offering everything which was great about the 1968-70 Charger while better exploiting the multiple roles the Charger had been playing: the base Charger for budget-minded folks, the popular Charger 500 for the mainstream crowd, and the Charger SE for the more personal-luxury-minded people who would ordinarily be considering the Chevrolet Monte Carlo or even the similarly evolving Mercury Cougar.
Note the visual candy like color-keyed bumpers and rear spoiler. 
On the performance end was the Charger Super Bee and Charger R/T. While the 440-powered Charger R/T was Dodge’s standard bearer among its performance lineup, the Super Bee was new to the Charger series. The Super Bee had been a budget Coronet performance model from 1968-70 but now was folded into the Charger series. Like before, the standard engine for the Charger Super Bee was a 383 Magnum, though it lost 35 horsepower to 300 for 1971. In the middle of the model year, Dodge even introduced the 340 Magnum, which was the first time the performance small-block was offered on a mid-size B-body.
Standard Super Bee power was the 383 Magnum. 
The Air Grabber hood was optional.
Typical of the era, Dodge offered a ton of options for a buyer to personalize his/her Charger—witness the Elastomeric front and rear bumpers, which gave the Charger one of three possible appearances, the others being the standard look with chrome bumpers and exposed headlights, while the third was the “A09” hidden headlights option.
The Super Bee wouldn’t last beyond 1971, making this Charger an interesting footnote during the decline of the muscle car era. Painted “EV2” Hemi Orange with the optional black bucket seat interior, this Charger Super Bee also features the aforementioned “A54” bumper group, “J81” rear spoiler, power disc brakes, dual racing mirrors, center console and 4-speed.
There is no fender tag or broadcast sheet listed in the ad to confirm all these options. Nonetheless, for $74,888, you can have the pleasure of owning this spec’d-out 1971 Charger Super Bee with much of the visual candy Dodge offered at the time.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
