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Russ'
1969 Super Bee Restoration
In
1994, Russ scored a sweet deal on a '69 Super Bee. He bought
it form Hot Rod Mary, who bought it from some speed freaks
in Oakland, who somehow got it from the original owner, a
cop in New Jersey. Since Russ got his hands on it for a sweet
$3600, he has been hot rodding and restoring it.
With the help of Matt Poulos, James, Mike and Glen from Commons,
and other friends, the Bee was torn down to the bare bones
and is coming back together with all its new bells and whistles.
When
the time came for a new motor, Russ called the specialists
at Ray
Barton Racing Engines, who have as many sick ass Mopars
on the cover of Mopar rags as Dick Landy and Keith Black,
who also build sick ass engines. The motor's got almost as
many Hemi parts in it as a Hemi, the main difference is that
this 440 has more horsepower and torque then a stock Hemi.
This '69 Super Bee now has 4:10 gears and a 4th gear, courtesey
of Gear
Vendors, so Russ can run these steep gears and still cruise
the highway.
The paint job is ruling. Russ spent over a year scraping shit
off the bottom of the 'Bee to prep it for painting. Matt Poulous
did all the heavy duty welding and body work. Russ did all
the gnarly, knuckle bleeding prep work to get the car and
parts ready for paint. The engine compartment was painted
by Amy Demonic's dad, vintage hot rodder Jim
Cesari, who had never shot 2 stage paint before and did
an amazing job. The body of the car was shot by Chris at Camalleri's.
"I
work on my car cuz I'm not a big puss," says Russ. "80-90%
of the paint prep was done by yours truly, with much guidance
from Matt 'I built Clapton's car' Poulos and some help from
Darren 'I'm gonna build a chopper' Rowe. I do as much as I
can on my car, leaving the stuff that requires professional
skills to the professionals. I ask more questions than a 2
year old, cuz reading manuals sucks!"
With
the '69 Bee back on wheels, the car was rolled out of the
garage for its powerhouse transplant. Russ Demonic, Matt Poulos,
Kevin Thompson of the Demon Garage, and Andrea the Italian
guy who seems to show up whenever there's a slot car race,
spent a few hours dropping the motor and tranny.
Soon,
a fully restored '63 Sun Tachometer will grace the dashboard,
and the Bee will have the same Rader rims as the Batmobile,
Dragula, the Munster Coach and many of Ed Roth's creations.
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the
beast awakens...
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images to view album-
 
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