Some say the golden era of barn finds is already behind us. That may be true regarding pre-WII Bugattis and expensive 1950s Ferraris, but many American classics from the muscle car era have yet to emerge from hiding. This big barn in Missouri proves that some enthusiasts still sit on hoards of cool US rigs.
Documented by Ryan Brutt of “Auto Archaeology,” the barn is part of a large property that’s packed with vintage muscle. We don’t get to see the entire stash in this video, but the barn is exciting enough, thanks to no fewer than seven golden-era Mopars parked inside. And it’s not just your run-of-the-mill Dodge Darts and Coronets.
Sure, the owner has a 1968 Dart, a 1969 Coronet, and a 1965 Belvedere II that aren’t particularly mesmerizing, but the barn is also home to a pair of 1969 Super Bees. One is a 383-cubic-inch (6.3-liter) car, which makes it somewhat mundane (about 25,700 made), but the other is a rare A12 version.
While not quite as rare as the Super Bee HEMI, the A12 is one of the rarest and most desirable versions of the late-1960s B-body. Introduced halfway through the 1969 model year, the bundle added a Dana 60 rear axle with 4.10 gears, a lift-off scooped hood and heavy-duty brakes. More importantly, it replaced the base 383 V8 with the “Six Pack” version of the massive 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) RB.
Fitted with three two-barrel Holley carburetors and heavy-duty internals, this mill generated 390 horsepower and 490 pound-feet (664 Nm) of torque. This rating slotted the “Six Pack” above the four-barrel 440 V8 (375 horsepower) and below the range-topping 426 HEMI (425 horses). As for how rare it is, only 1,907 Super Bees left the factory with the A12 option in 1969.
Yes, that’s significantly more than the HEMI-powered cars, of which only 166 were delivered, but it’s a tiny number compared to the total production run of 27,800 examples for 1969. And given that many of these Super Bees were left to rot away in junkyards or wrecked, the number of surviving units is much smaller. All told, this Super Bee A12 is pretty valuable even in its current state, needing repairs and missing its original engine.
But it’s not the only rare Mopar in this barn. The blue 1971 B-body sitting next to it is also a hard-to-find gem. And don’t let the Super Bee hood fool you; this Mopar is actually a Charger R/T. While the former is relatively rare at a little more than 5,000 units, the 1971 Charger R/T is scarcer at 3,118 examples made. And get this: it left the factory with a 440 “Six Pack,” which makes it one of only 178 cars built. If we also factor in the four-speed manual, it becomes one of only 80 units. It doesn’t get any rarer than this unless it has a HEMI under the hood.
But sadly enough, this one is also missing the engine and the gearbox. This makes them harder to restore and flip, but they’re still worth saving, given they’ve been stored in a dry building and do not show significant damage. Check them out in the video below.