At a time when some question the overall value of big auto show media previews, car companies continue to look for new ways to reveal new product and concepts.
The domestic car manufacturers have long had large displays set up near the huge annual Woodward Dream Cruise, held every year in mid-August. At this year’s Dream Cruise, held this past Saturday, for the first time one of them decided to use the event to show off a new concept vehicle the Ram Rumble Bee truck.
Not only is the Rumble Bee the first concept vehicle revealed at the Dream Cruise, it’s also most likely the first concept vehicle to use an insect as interior trim. The knob that selects the 8-speed transmission’s gear has a real bumble bee embedded in amber (Chrysler says it’s a bumble bee, but it looks more like a common honey bee to me).
The Rumble Bee concept hearkens back to two previous high performance vehicles, the original Dodge Super Bee muscle car, circa 1968-71, and the limited edition Ram 1500 Rumble Bee pickup from 2003.
Based on a two-door standard cab Ram 1500 R/T, the Rumble Bee has a custom matte pearl yellow paint job with black stripes and decals. The Ram badges are blacked out. The pickup’s cargo bed is covered with a body color tonneau that incorporate a spoiler at its back edge. The hood has scoops and the front fascia has an integrated splitter.
Inside the truck is black leather and yellow detail stitching. The seat backs are embroidered with Rumble Bee and the seating surfaces are a yellow/black honeycomb fabric. Under the hood is the corporate 5.7-liter, 395-horsepower Hemi V-8 coupled to ZF’s eight-speed automatic transmission. The truck sits fairly high on its 24″ wheels, also in black. True to the Rumble Bee’s name, there’s an exhaust bypass that can be activated by a button on the dashboard.
Interesting concept. If they make I’m sure it will sell. The infamous SVT lightning proved that. I’m not a truck guy but it would be a fun truck for track day….or moving your friend’s couch really fast…
“The knob that selects the 8-speed transmission’s gear has a real bumble bee embedded in amber (Chrysler says it’s a bumble bee, but it looks more like a common honey bee to me).”
Gotdamn I love CHRYSLER!
Just wait till the Liberals get a hold of this story!
Hopefully some pissed off bees will seek revenge.
It seems edgier than the Datsun B-210 Honey Bee.
Seems like a needless exercise to have a real bee and it not be an actual Bumble Bee.
Years from now, that’ll be one of the first parts noticed missing in a “Junkyard Find” story.
…based on all the Ford Lightning trucks you’ve been seeing in wrecking yards?
You mean like this one?
http://www.inrides.com/md/130371/Salvage_2002_FORD_F150_SVT_LIGHTNING.html
or this one?
http://www.inrides.com/md/134862/Salvage_2003_FORD_F150_SVT_LIGHTNING.html
How about this one?
http://www.inrides.com/md/93577/Salvage_2001_FORD_F150_SVT_LIGHTNING.html
Or this one?
http://www.inrides.com/md/105640/Salvage_2001_FORD_F150_SVT_LIGHTNING.html
Inevitably one will be wrecked, and yes it’ll be in a “wrecking yard”, because ultimately it’s just not that special.
With such a rapid decline in bee population occuring around the world right now, this is just downright insensitive! Won’t Fiat-Chrysler think of the bees?
I highly doubt that the bee is embedded in genuine amber. Probably just acrylic.
I beat you to it and I’m very liberal. Seriously, as you now represent TTAC have some decorum. Just as many democrats are viable buyers as republicans.
Is that dash shifter dial thing considered cool? Seems like it ought to have a six speed manual or at least a console shifter if an automatic is the only choice.
I think it fits well with the Mopar heritage from the 50’s to the early 60’s having a pushbutton automatic selector or the torqueflight lever on the dash similar to the current model Caravan/TC.
I wonder if the horn goes Bzzzzz Bzzzzz like the Road Runner’s horn went Beep Beep?
Obnoxious color. Obnoxious noise level. Obnoxious interior trim.
No thank you.
it’s all point of view. Much like Derpy in your avatar, who I guess has at least two points of view based on her eyes. (I can’t believe I just made a Brony reference)
I do like the truck in a redneck kind of way. I don’t know many people who’d buy this thing and be able to afford replacement tires for it. I bet those 24’s cost more than a new transmission, which for a Ram should last agbout as long as the tires. I’d buy it anyway though. my wife would laugh at me, but I’d turn up the exhaust and blast Black Stone Cherry’s “white trash millionaire” as I drive down residental streets. I gotta make back some ‘man cred’ after the brony reference, you know.
LOL. I give you bonus points for interjecting a Derpy Hooves reference in a automotive forum. :D
But yes, I’m sure those tires will be pretty pricy to replace. Makes me glad I can buy quality tires for less than $75 each for my 97′ Honda Accord.
P.S. Some of my most masculine guy friends are Bronies.
P.P.S. Yes, I have some interesting friends. :)
Depends on what you want to use it for.
As a personal ride, I’m with you. It’s not my cup of tea.
But as a rolling billboard/business vehicle, especially for a performance-oriented automotive business or marketing organization, this could be just the ticket. Big, loud-soundin’ and loud-lookin’ makes it hard to ignore.
In that case, obnoxious works perfectly.
Speaking of obnoxious. The Dodge dealers in the nearby big city sure are shrill in their advertising. Screaming how they can finance everyone and will take most anything in trade.
I’m sure this yellow embarrassment will fit right in.
Bright color, proud exhaust note, fantastical interior trim.
Not exactly my next ride but it would be a fun treat. You’re 97 honda accord says things about you and this trucks says things about its owner but just because it’s a statement vehicle doesn’t necessarily make it an obnoxious toad on the road.
Yeah. Before I was poor I was cheap.
Bright yellow pickups always remind me of the truck Uma Thurman steals in Kill Bill volume 1. That truck is labeled “Pussy Wagon”.
I wonder if the DMV would let me get PSSY WGN plates.
Oh wait, I live in Virginia. No, I don’t wonder. :(
It looks like Chryco is going the Ford route that they took with the Mustang. Lots of special editions to keep the line fresh without doing a lot of changes to the actual design. It’s one way to extend your design dollar.
At least most, if not all, of the recent Mustang special editions have performance upgrades. This is not a “Boss 302” truck. Its a Mustang GT with Boss paint and bigger wheels.
Whoa, 24 inch wheels from the factory!! Can you get spinners too? How much extra for “24” decals by each wheel well?
Its 2013. Nobody really does spinners anymore. I don’t even know anybody who still have them on their ride.
Donks are the in thing for those with bad automotive taste with (apparently) money to burn.
You can get the 24″ decals at your friendly local Autozone or Pep Boys. Kmart might have ’em too.
Zowie-Wowie! They need to attach the auto alarm to those nifty floor mats!
Nice concept, really. Now let’s see GM’s consensus committees respond with some ‘Smoky-BBQ, Highground, Stick-Whittler Edition.’
A rotary gear shift knob on a truck….i just can’t get over that one detail on the new Ram.
Rotary shift knobs are common on trucks, real trucks. The big kind.
Not what I ever have or will buy a truck for, but kudos to Ram for building it. I”m sure there will be buyers that can’t wait to get their hands on it.
Now if you wanted to follow another Great Mopar Tradition, the same engine (though only with the six-speed auto and a lowly column shifter) is available in the much less garish Tradesman, along with black bumpers, black grille, argent steel wheels, a vinyl split bench and rubber floor mats. It’ll probably be quicker than the Rumble Bee without drawing attention to one’s self. The way it should be.
Rugged and understated. Much more masculine.
“…there’s an exhaust bypass that can be activated by a button on the dashboard.”
This is ridiculous and shouldn’t be allowed on a street legal vehicle.
It’s no worse than the Harleys I bet.
Even the cops in my area run Screamin’ Eagle pipes on the police bikes. They never pull over a loud bike.
Yeah, there has been a law against loud pipes for a long time. No enforcement.
When I was in high school a friend of mine worked at the local SHELL station. They still had the old school brick design with a big plate glass window in the front. He always said (this was the mid 90s BTW): “Two things you never hear, a Harley with a stock exhaust and a Camaro with a stock stereo.”
But the damn revenooer’s will pull someone over for booming their radio without hesitation. And I’ve never heard a car stereo as loud as some of the motorcycles I’ve encountered.
I should put a bumper sticker on my car: “LOUD STEREOS SAVE LIVES”
Why no 6.4L? Boo
Yeah I was kinda bummed too. How awesome would that have been?
Very awesome. I would also like Ford to put the 6.2L or the 5.8L supercharged engine in the F-150 Tremor.
5.8L supercharged = EgoBoost?
There’s a lot of money in Bees!
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=5J2kc4oZTVU
I have a question that I’m sure most truck owners will ask (talks in a certain accent), how much can she haul? Can I go rock climbin’ wid it?
Jokes aside I was wondering these questions myself, they’re the only reasons I’d buy a truck.
Clearly this isn’t a truck for rock climbing or hauling much of anything (except a$$), if that’s the only reason you would buy a truck then it isn’t for you.
But I would bet most new trucks sold are not used for either of those things, especially at this price range. You should be able to tow a trailer, it should be able to haul things in the bed, though I doubt you can drop a full load of rocks in there, it will handle most typical pickup bed needs. Real contractor work is for the work truck editions, this is more for the weekend toy crowd.
My only concern with hauling or loading the bed would be banging up the bodykit, but then again trucks don’t really need bodykits.
I honestly can’t call something like this a “toy” since generally a car used as a toy is either a vintage restoration job, off-roading or something light and sporty, trucks like this are just good for drag racing.
That being said I would not mind a “Rumble Bee” Challenger or something more fitting, it would still be a bit short in handling but I don’t expect cars to perform the same duties as trucks.
I didn’t mean this truck was a toy, I meant it was marketed towards the type of guys who have “weekend toys” like jet skis or ski boats, maybe motorcyclists or weekend racers. That type of guy (or girl) uses a truck for light towing, maybe grabbing some gardening supplies from home depot, tailgate partying, etc. But even in the other sense of the word, I personally know at least 3 people who do choose to own a truck as a “toy”, it doesn’t have to fit your traditional definition of a toy, a lot of guys just like trucks and don’t go off-roading with them.
I was curious though, how would you expect to damage the body kit by loading the bed of the truck or towing a trailer? You aren’t going to contact the rocker panels when you through some bags of mulch or some 2x4s in the bed, nor when you attach a trailer.
Pulling a pair of yellow jet skis this truck would look pretty neat, I could see vintage trucks making for fine weekend toys but thank you for clearing that up.
That was just a hunch, if the bed has that plastic covering to protect it the paint should still be fine after a good load.
I love these muscle trucks, reminds me of the old 454SS pickup back in the 90s. I wanted a red one with the red interior. If I had a truck I wouldn’t drive it every day and I wouldn’t be going off road with it, so a 2wd muscle truck would work fine for me.
I am sure you will eventually be able to get this in different colors, but bright obnoxious colors are a Mopar signature so it makes sense to introduce it this way. Ford sells a similar package for the F150, my buddy a work just got one and it looks great in black. I personally wouldn’t want the 24″ rims though, the standard 20″ rims they are putting on trucks seems to be the “right” size for them without costing an arm and a leg for performance tires to fit it when you inevitably wear out the back ones! I bet you could find a dozen Ram owners willing to swap with you though.
Yeah that’s a regular bee, since bumble bees are huge. Also, if it’s a real one isn’t it going to degrade over time – since they can’t extract all the air from inside the bee?
It’s a rather nice looking truck, but what’s going to happen when the Greenies find out it’s got a real bee, imbedded in amber in the shift knob? I’m sure the HSUS and PETA will be out in force screaming and picketing.
They’ve already got flash mobs forming up at the Ram (Dodge) dealers.
The bigger question is, are these prehistoric bees that have dinosaur DNA?
Love the icon under the bee for selecting the exhaust sound. Too bad they put a generic honey bee in there and not a true bumble bee.
Either way, PETA is already foaming at the chops.
This is the bizarro world truck version of my School Bus Yellow Boss 302. I love it. Its great that it came with exhaust cutouts, I had to install them from aftermarket on the Boss.
The wheels I could do without! Otherwise, this piece would find a home in my “if $$$ were no object and I could have lotsa cars” garage (along with a Hemi-powered Challenger, a loaded-up 300 SRT-8, a JGC SRT-8, an ’87 GNX, a ’67 Shelby of some kind…)
Had a neighbor with the previous edition of one of these trucks. Exhaust wasn’t too loud, and he just wanted something fun to commute to the local Chrysler plant. Unfortunately, very soon after he retired, he developed pancreatic cancer and died 8 months later. He drove that thing right up until he couldn’t any more, and after he died, it went into his son’s loving care! My regret is that I didn’t ask his wife if I could have done a raucous, crazy-sideways, block-long burnout in his honor! She would have approved! :-)