LOVE TO OWN A RUMBLE BEE? A FEW FACTS YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER FIRST…

If you are interested in purchasing a Limited Edition Rumble Bee there are some things you may want to look for first before doing so. I feel that I should share this information, primarily because there are many car/truck dealers and individual sellers that try to scam buyers into buying a Limited Edition Rumble Bee, that in fact is not a “True” Rumble Bee. Whether it is online, a private owner, or a dealership, caution has to be used. On many internet sites, forums, and from many Rumble Bee owners afar, a common name for these people are “WANNABEES”. We don’t hesitate to call them that, either. But please, take the time to read over this information before you start buying, I would hate to see you scammed or using your hard earned money to buy a fake Bee. For those of you that have already been through the scamming scenario, all I can say is I feel your pain.

A FEW RUMBLEBEE PRODUCTION FACTS

To start off, The Chrysler corporation (also referred to as Dodge, Mopar, etc), have so far manufacturered Rumble Bee’s in the 04’ and 05’ production years. 04’ Editions were namely called Rumble Bee’s and the 05’ models are called Rumble Bee’s but on the Production Number Dash Decal it is indicated Second Swarm. More on this later. There are two color types that came out, the Yellow Rumble bee w/ the Black Stripe Decal and the Black Rumble bee w/ the Yellow Stripe Decal. So far there have been no Chrysler productions on any other color Rumble Bee’s. So if you’re looking around for a Bee, and you see someone selling a so called “Limited Edition Rumble Bee” that might have the same Decals as the Limited Edition Trucks, but one thing that you might instantly notice, the color of the truck is red, not black or yellow, whats up with that? Well, hate to say it but unfortunately this is not a “True” Limited Edition Rumble Bee. The color of the truck should only be Black or Yellow.


=============== BLACK BEE ============================== YELLOW BEE =========

The Rumble Bee was only manufactured in the 1500 (1/2 Ton) series SINGLE CAB pickups. In turn, there is no such thing as a “True” Quad Cab, ¾ Ton, 1 Ton, or mid-sized Rumble Bee. Also included under the hood for the Rumble Bee, is the 345 HP 5.7 Liter Hemi engine. So if your buying a Rumble Bee with a Cummins Diesel, well I rest my case. Please keep in mind that this 5.7 Hemi Engine was also installed in other Dodge Models also, not just the Rumble Bee. A common question also, do the Bee’s come in 2x4 or 4x4? The real answer is that they come in both, Dodge provided the Rumble Bee in both 2x4 and 4x4 models. Also included with the Rumble Bee is a sport package that contains the following that the regular Ram does not include:

Interior:

Laramie Door Trim With Solar Yellow Spears
Rumblebee Logo on Door Interior Spear
Solar Yellow Instrument Panel
Unique Numbered Plaque On Dash (More on this below).

Exterior:

Only Available In Solar Yellow or Black
Body Side Cladding - Color of Body
Accent Kit: Front,Rear, Box Side- Color of Body
Tail Lamp Guards: Color of Body
Chrome Exhaust Tip
Hood Scoop: Color of Body
Brushed Aluminum Fuel Filler Door
Vertical Stripe and Bee Decal (Yellow or Black) (More on this below).

Note:I highly suggest verifying that the Rumble Bee you are planning to buy contains all of these listed above before even thinking of buying the truck.



DECEIVING RUMBLE BEE DECALS

This is yet another item available for sale that is not required to have the truck itself. For a lot of Rumble Bee Owners this is a help and also a hindrance at the same time. Basically, there are reproduced decals out there on the net, dealerships, and local stores that sell these. In help, they are good to replace worn out or damaged decals, on existing Rumble Bee’s, but the hindrance is they are easily adaptable to apply to any kind of Dodge Truck and people also have went to the extreme of putting these on different make and model vehicles. Sorry there isn’t a Limited Edition Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Titan, or Corvette Rumble Bee (just to state some examples).

PRODUCTION NUMBER DASH DECAL

Like stated above, each and every “True” Rumble Bee contains a Production Number Decal on the center of the interior dash. You can locate this number underneath the HVAC control module. If the truck is legit it will contain the correct Production Number. Below are some picture examples of legit numbers and Production Number Decals:

=============== 2004 DECAL ============================== 2005 DECAL =========

Even if the Truck contains a Production Number Decal please remember that this concept can be tricky and deceiving as well. Always, and I stress always, make sure to physically look at the Bee and verify the Production Number Decal with your own eyes, before even making a purchase on the truck. Chances are it could be “phony”.

Let me give you an example of a deceiving situation: A person logs on to eBay, and searches out what they think may be a legit Rumble Bee, the pictures included with the auction are clear and the owner/dealer states it’s a limited edition rumble bee. Alright, everything looks good so far, they even include a picture of the Production Number Dash Decal. Is that enough to prove that it’s legit? Maybe so, but you may want to reconsider a couple possibilities:

Ask yourself first…

(1) Is it possible the seller used somebody else’s “True” Production Number Decal Picture, and then simply added it to the pictures on their auction?

(2) We all heard of photo editing software right? Is it possible that someone with to much time on their hands created or edited a Production Number Decal picture with this software and simply made a look-a-like?

Another common scam is people will remove the dash panel from a prior bee or a wrecked bee and install it in a ram that is not a true Rumble Bee.

Believe it or not all of these things have been done.

Those are a few things you may want to think about…. I can’t stress enough to look with your own eyes, and using common sense before moving forward.

A CASE OF THE BLANK DASH PLAQUE

On rare occasions there have been a few Rumblebees, when first sold, that actually contained a blank dash plaque inside of them instead of a dash plaque displaying a limited edition number.

Example of a blank dash plaque:

Steve Papp a fellow Rumblebee owner was kind enough to send me an email of his situation in this matter, and the experience he went through in finding out his actual limited edition number:

EMAIL FROM STEVE:

Hello Chris

Sorry I didn't make myself clear here. My point was that Rumblebees came through with no numbers on there plaque. The plaque on my dashboard with no numbers on it is the one that came with the vehicle. I wanted to point out how I found out that I had a rumblebee. I did buy it brand-new so I did have a window sticker. The problem was for me finding out what the sequential number was. I was trying to point out another way of finding out if you have an original rumblebee, and don't have a window sticker. The explanation I got from Daimler Chrysler is because the truck was meant for the Milwaukee car show they did not put a number on the plaque, also found out that I’m not alone in this situation. There was also somebody that had a prototype rumblebee. I gave him the information to find out what the sequential number was. All I remember he was a steam fitter from Chicago. I never did hear if he found out anything. I also saw another rumblebee at the Chicago car show that did not have any numbers on it's plaque. Daimler Chrysler also said they were having a problem with people stealing things on the truck that had to do with the rumblebee option.

Steve was also kind enough to share the response he got from Daimler Chrysler, when he contacted them to determine his true number, and the case of the blank dash plaque he had in his Rumblebee...

Note: You will need Adobe Reader in order to view this letter. Click Here!!!! to download Adobe Reader

LETTER FROM ROUSH INDUSTRIES: Click Here!!!!

As you can see from the email to me from Steve and the response Steve got from Daimler Chrysler, It sounds as though Daimler Chrysler apparently used several Rumblebee’s at a few car shows including Milwaukee and Chicago to showcase the production of the Rumblebee, also some were prototypes that used a blank dash plaque. The other situation shows that some plaques were stolen during shipment to the dealers itself. Definitely an interesting situation to say the least…

Conclusively, the point being made here about this particular situation, is that you may come across a Rumblebee that contains a blank dash plaque. Does the mean that the bee is fake? As you can see with Steve’s situation that wasn’t the case, nor could it be the case if you were to come across one. In suggestion, the best thing to do in this matter is contact Dodge and determine if the vin number construes the Rumblebee group, this is explained in further detail later, see VIN NUMBER COMPARISON IS YOUR BEST BET for further explanation. If you have verified that it’s the original bee to the best of your knowledge, the next step would be to contact Daimler Chrysler about getting the actual numbered plaque, if possible.

Thanks to Steve Papp for his personal experience, information, and picture

HOW HIGH DO THE PRODUCTION NUMBERS GO?

Unfortunately this is a common question among Bee owners, and still a big controversy on what the set number of Rumble Bee’s were made in the 04 and 05 production models. My best suggestion on this aspect, verify that the production number indicates a number of 6000 or less. That is usually a good rule of thumb. If you see someone selling a bee with a Production Number Decal that might have a production number of 9,999 or 7,801 or 11,101 (just some examples) chances are, again, the Bee is not a “True” Bee.

Doing some research the closest number accuracy I have found is a forum member from RUMBLEBEE.ORG that actually works for Chrysler. In his time he contacted a production manager for chrysler and was nice enough to share the actual number of Rumble Bee's that were produced in 04 and 05, more information is at this link:

Click Here!!!!

Thanks to Louis at RUMBLEBEE.ORG for the information

In addition to my research a fellow forum member from LIMITEDMOPARS.ORG was able to contact Chrysler and obtain a data sheet on the approximate number per year, color, 4x2, and 4x4. He also was nice enough to make a poster of the numbers to share with fellow Rumblebee owners. This poster describes 3 direct sources of production numbers, including the numbers Louis supplied above:

To see the numbers more accurately please expand...

Thanks to RumbleRocker at LIMITEDMOPARS.ORG for the information

As you can see from the poster the 3 sources of information collide with one another to some extent in actual totals, the only thing that they have in common is the totals are under 6000.

If you want to know more about production numbers and its controversy here is a great article also:

Click Here!!!!

Thanks goes to RUMBLEBEE.ORG and its members for the production article link



VIN NUMBER COMPARISON IS YOUR BEST BET

Through research from fellow bee owners and forum members, we believe there are two strong approaches to determining if the Rumblebee is fake by simply comparing Vin Number information to that of the truck, I highly recommend these steps out of anything ive suggested on this page, because you are identifying directly from the source, that being said this is how you can go about it:

The first step is to determining the vin number for the truck that you want to buy or is being sold. After you have determined the vin number there are two approaches you can take to find if the vin & truck was actually built as a Rumblebee.

First Approach:

Ask the seller or determine if their is a factory based window sticker for the Rumblebee, this may difficult to obtain if the prior owner discarded the sticker or isn't available. If it is readily available, and if it is the original window sticker it should indicate that the truck has a "Rumblebee Group", if the sticker does indicate this you can simply compare the vin number on the bottom of the sticker to the vin number of the truck itself. Please take a minute to view the video I made to give you a better understanding and where this might be located on the window sticker:

Second Approach:

If you are unable to obtain a window sticker for the truck, you can also obtain a build sheet for the truck. Using the vin from the truck, you can contact Dodge directly and ask for a build sheet. When you receive the build sheet there will be two pieces of information a build code and a build description, if the truck is an actual Rumblebee the build sheet should indicate the following: "AM6" as the build code and "RUMBLEBEE GROUP" as the build description. You can contact Dodge on their site or by phone to verify the Vin or request a build sheet:

WEBSITE CONTACT LINK: Click Here!!!!

CONTACT BY PHONE: 1-800-964-0600

CONTACT BY MAIL:

Dodge Customer Assistance Center
P.O. Box 21-8004
Auburn Hills, MI 48321-8004



CONCLUSION

The Dodge Ram Limited Edition Rumble Bee is an absolutely awesome truck, just about everyone that owns one, including myself, are very happy and intrigued to have one. For those who care to buy one I feel this information will least give you a “heads up” and somewhat help provide a more cautious approach to avoid ridiculous scammers or naive sellers that are more or less selling a “phony” bee. I urge you to please use this information and common sense on your part in determining if the Rumble Bee is legit. Avoid having the great title of being called a “WANNABEE” and be a proud owner of a "True" Limited Edition Rumble Bee.



Special thanks to Tony at Decaldriven.com 2fast4u_sol, RumbleRocker at LIMITEDMOPARS.ORG, Louis at RUMBLEBEE.ORG, and all fellow bee owners and forum members that contributed their photos, time, & research to this article.

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PAGE 1: TRUCK EXTERIOR
PAGE 2: TRUCK INTERIOR
PAGE 3: STEREO SYSTEM
PAGE 4: JETSKI PICTURES
PAGE 5: MODIFICATIONS LISTS
PAGE 6: TUTORIAL: FABRICATING A DOOR SPEAKER BAFFLE
PAGE 7: AVOID BUYING A FAKE RUMBLEBEE (THE FACTS) ~~~~~>You Are Here!
PAGE 8: VIDEOS, LINKS, AND OTHER COOL APPLICATIONS
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