George Thompson has one hot car.
About 30 years ago the 65-year-old retired contract carpenter spotted a 1969- Dodge A12 Super Bee on the street and quickly found the owner to make an offer. After all, he had to unload his earlier 1970 version of the same vehicle a few years earlier because he could not afford to maintain it. But the time was right for another and more rare Super Bee.
“I thought then it would be nice to have another one to replace the one I used to have,” said Thompson. “I found out who owned it and also found out it was for sale. Back then I didn't realize it was a valuable car or could be, and the guy selling it did not realize it either. I got it at a pretty good price back then.”
Thompson got the Super Bee for $4,000. He soon acquired a hunch his new set of wheels was no ordinary vehicle and he dedicated himself to restoring it to its full glory.
“The body was good on it but the paint was really bad. A lot of the electrical needed replacing and it needed motor work,” said Thompson.
Today, Thompson's prized classic muscle car is worth at least $80,000.
In February, Thompson's Super Bee won third place in the Restored Division at the 2014 World of Wheels annual auto show for custom cars at Calgary's Stampede Park. It was one of more than 40 awards -- first, second or third -- the vehicle has claimed at classic car exhibitions over the past 20 years.
The 1969- Dodge A12 Super Bee was built by Chrysler to be a mean muscle car, very fast and powerful. The unique “” part of its moniker was given to the model because it was introduced late in the year, so it was.
Thompson said only 320 of the model were built in the United States, with about 180 coming to Canada.
“Over the years as I started restoring it back to the original factory car I learned many things about it,” said Thompson, noting his Super Bee is a power-packed 440 six-pack model with a four-speed standard transmission. “Dodge built it just for racing. It has all the original stuff still on it. It is called a matching numbers car, which means it has the original motor and transmission and everything on it as it came from the factory. It is still an original numbers car, which makes it valuable too.”
With spring finally settling in, and summer not too far away, Thompson will take his Super Bee out of seasonal storage and hit the road to show it off at more classic car competitions across the province.
He does consider himself a full-fledged classic car enthusiast but he does not have another one to devote more time or money to.
“I can't afford to have any more,” said Thompson. “They are expensive to look after.”
