Two types of drivers will encounter the 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee. Admirers will be drawn by its precision engineering. Rivals will someday feel its potent sting.
Two exclusive exterior colors — Stinger Yellow and Pitch Black — dare the competition to step forth. Every spoiler, scoop and cue is engineered to extract maximum performance, and the Super Bee wears a unique graphic package to push the point. Its gloss black grille is finished by the legendary Super Bee logo, repeated in rear fender graphics which now proudly tout that the car is “Powered by SRT”. Special hood and trunk graphics are rendered in satin black on Stinger Yellow models and charcoal black on Pitch Black models, while the standard rear spoiler is matte black on Stinger Yellow models and body-colored on Pitch Black models. The look is completed by 20-inch cast aluminum wheels unique to the Super Bee.
In a nostalgic nod to the colorful interiors once installed in muscle cars, the Super Bee’s race-inspired cabin adds a dash of color to create the right interior atmosphere. Breathable Carolina cloth performance seats with yellow and silver striping, silver accent stitching and embroidered Super Bee headrests keep passengers in place during aggressive cornering, while a thick-rimmed, small-diameter steering wheel gives drivers a sense of confident control. In the center stack sits a 3D Super Bee logo mounted atop a commemorative dash plaque, and drivers are rewarded with the sight of a Super Bee in the Electronic Vehicle Information Center at every ignition.
The Super Bee’s appeal, however, is not merely aesthetic. Unique SRT-tuned static Bilstein shock absorbers are fitted at each corner, augmented by a 30-mm stabilizer bar in front and an 18-mm stabilizer bar at the rear. In addition, the Super Bee retains the standard Charger SRT8’s SRT-engineered Brembo brake system, assuring fade-resistant performance in nearly any on- or off-track situation.
SRT’s legendary 392 HEMI V8 engine is eager to rev and always ready to churn out torque. A robust five-speed automatic transmission delivers lightning-quick upshifts and crisp rev-matched downshifts. Owners can master this massive power by attending the SRT Track Experience, a day of professional racing instruction included with the purchase of every SRT vehicle.
In 1968, the Super Bee was a Coronet-based limited-production renegade built to reclaim Dodge’s rightful place atop the muscle car kingdom. Always the purist’s choice, a tachometer was optional — but racing stripes and a “power bulge” hood were standard. Super Bees of the era were coated in eye-grabbing shades of Plum Crazy, Green Go, Citron Yella, Panther Pink and Top Banana, among others, until production ended in 1971.
Decades later, the legendary Super Bee logo returned, adorning limited runs of 1000 Detonator Yellow Charger SRT8s in 2007, 1000 B5 Blue Charger SRT8s in 2008 and 425 Hemi Orange Charger SRT8s in 2009. Owners of each limited-issue Super Bee have banded together in spectacular form, forming exclusive social networking groups and forum communities to celebrate the continued existence of the modern muscle car.
Trisha Allen, who owns a 2008 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee, is never shy about tweeting photos of her car and her family at drag race tracks in Southern California. She almost never spots another Super Bee on the road, but can usually spot a few during her local club’s Spring Fest.
“The first year of Spring Fest, there were no other ‘Bees,” Allen said. “I was the very first one. At one of the later Spring Fests, there were five of the B5s there. That’s the most I’ve ever seen in one place.”
Rarity — and the eye-catching color — grab attention in unlikely places.
“I’ve had it almost four years,” Allen said, “and still — I only drive four miles to work, and I usually get at least one double-take every day, and I’m driving through residential areas and orange groves out in the two-lanes.”
Thanks to an active Internet forum community, Facebook and Twitter, Allen is able to stay in touch with ‘Bee owners who live far away. However, having a new Super Bee in the neighborhood would be nice, too.
“Some of my favorite pictures of mine are parked next to the Yellow and the Orange Super Bees,” Allen said. “I think the new one is great — as long as it’s not the same color.”
2007 Dodge Charger Super Bee SRT8John “JohnnyBee” Chiboroski, president of the Space City LX club in Houston, owns a 2007 Dodge Charger Super Bee. There are 1286 members in his club — but only six own Super Bees.
“I had been looking,” Chiboroski said. “I would have loved to have found an old Super Bee, and when I found out SRT was coming out with a new ‘Bee, I wanted that old-school yellow anyway. The first time I saw it was on the web. I started scrambling, calling dealerships, and basically bought it off the back of the truck. I told the dealer, ‘Don’t prep it, don’t put a single license plate frame on it. Give it to me dirty.’”
Months after JohnnyBee bought his Super Bee, he joined forces with other enthusiasts to start the Space City LX club. Years have passed, but the Super Bee nameplate has remained in wait — until now.
“I think it’s time,” Chiboroski said. “You have a whole new aggressive look. Now, I think the palette is right for some of the modern retro designs. I’m excited to see what it looks like.”
Demetrius Holt hails from an SRT family in Washington, D.C. His father owns a 1973 Plymouth Road Runner and a 2006 Dodge Charger SRT8, and his mom drives a first-edition Dodge Challenger SRT8 and a 2006 Ram SRT10.
2008 Dodge Charger Super Bee SRT8“Originally, that Challenger that my mom has was mine,” Holt said. “My dad had told me that every man deserves to have a first-edition car. But my mom drove it so much and fell in love with it, and started making the payments on it.”
One day, while driving, Holt’s father ran across a 2008 Super Bee — number 64 of 1000 produced.
“He knew, all the sudden, it was me,” Holt said. “He brought me out to it, and I fell in love with it just by looking at it. It emphasized who I was more than the Challenger did.”
Holt just crossed the 30,000-mile mark in his Super Bee, and is excited to hear that the new car will retain its exclusivity.
“I like being one of the elite,” Holt said. “If they’re going to bring it back, and only those who are car enthusiasts know the meaning behind it, then I have to be excited for it. It means that SRT is thriving.”
