How many times have you heard this phrase among car guys, “I should’ve kept that car, why did ever I sell it?” Yes, it’s seller’s remorse and for some, it hangs over their heads like a dark cloud for decades. We all have our reasons for selling a certain muscle car that came into our lives during our youth. Uncertain times, sparse funds, fading interest, college and many other reasons like to take credit for those ready to sign the title over to another owner. But for one individual we spoke with at the annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) show, he’s clung on to his 1970 Dodge Super Bee since he was in high school some 39 years ago. It was a time before prices on used high-horsepower machines began to soar and the average teenager with ambition and a part-time job could fix up their ride in a tiny detached garage behind their house.
For lifelong Motor City resident Opie Stark, the Mopar® hobby seeped into his DNA practically at birth. His late father was also into cool Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars and Opie at age four would be in the garage handing wrenches to his dad. One of Opie’s dad’s prized possessions was a 1964 Dodge Polara that still resides in Opie’s vast garage today. But it wasn’t just Opie that got bit by the Mopar bug, his older brothers were also into the car hobby and vastly influenced young Opie growing up in a house of gearheads. “My brother Bob is six years older than me. When I was 11, Bob had purchased a 1970 Dodge Super Bee. It was Alpine White with a Black ‘C Stripe.’ It has a 383 Magnum under the hood, and I remember being in the car when my brother laid into the pedal on the I-696 freeway and saw the speedo at 125 mph. It was at that moment I wanted a 1970 Super Bee,” said Opie.
When Opie turned 16, his hunt for a 1970 Super Bee was going full throttle. “I was working at a bar as a cook and had some money saved. My older brother called me and said there was a 1970 Super Bee for sale at a local lumber yard by my house. I immediately went over and checked it out. It was a 383 four-speed car and a bit ratty but solid. The price was right, and I gave the owner approximately $1,500 for the car of my dreams,” noted Opie. Not wasting time, Opie began tearing into the car, going first with the engine, and then redoing the bodywork. “My girlfriend at the time couldn’t drive a four-speed and converted the Super Bee to an automatic,” laughed Opie.
Despite looking rough on the outside, the Super Bee had strong bones. It was a South Carolina car, so the chassis and body panels were not subject to the salty mix of Michigan roads during the long winter months when the snow flies and rust’s slow death march begins. Working within his budget and with meager tools, Opie began the transformation of his Super Bee as he applied the Go Mango lacquer paint (that still looks great today) out in his backyard. Along the way of Opie’s low buck restoration of his Super Bee, he did what we all did in the 1980s with our Mopar muscle cars and hopped them up. This included added headers, an Edelbrock intake, the infamous ‘284/484’ Direct Connection Purple Shaft Cam, modified 727 TorqueFlite® trans, 4.10 rear gear ratio and Centerline wheels. “My Bee ran great and was a fun car on Gratiot Avenue where we hung out and street raced way back then,” grinned Opie.
After getting the “modified look” out of his system as he got a bit older, Opie slowly put his beloved Super Bee back to a stock look around 1993. This included ditching the headers, Edelbrock intake and other aftermarket parts and replacing them with the OEM parts that included the stock intake and exhaust manifolds, production-style steel wheels and reproduction Goodyear Polyglas tires. “By the early 1990s, I wanted a different look for my Super Bee and wanted a stock appearance. I always loved the way these cars looked when they came off the assembly line and ended up in the dealer showrooms,” noted Opie.
At 57 years of age, Opie Stark has amassed quite a collection of cool Mopar muscle cars over the decades. After starting out in the elevator trade at 18 years of age and now a highly sought-after elevator journeyman on call 24/7, Opie still finds time to play with cars including his beloved Super Bee, and will even toss the keys to his wife Jennifer, or daughter Alex. “No one influenced me on keeping the Super Bee all these years as my cars are like my kids, they are part of the family. When I finally do leave this earth, the cars and all Mopar automotive memorabilia will be handed down to my daughter Alex. She is more than capable of maintaining and preserving the collection.”
Speaking of Alex, she owns a stunning 1971 Plymouth Duster 340 and like her dad, volunteers to judge some of the rare and unique Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars during the annual MCACN show. The Super Bee will not remove the grey hair, wrinkles or extra pounds, but it transports Opie back in time when stonewash jeans, high-top tennis shows and girlfriends with big hair were all the rage.
Here are a few more images of Opie Stark’s Super Bee he’s owned since high school!
Author: David Hakim
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