The Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept Debuts at the Woodward Dream Cruise

The new Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept that debuted at the Woodward Dream Cruise closely follows the design of the Rumble Bee production trucks back in 2003 and 2004, starting with regular cab Ram 1500 with a short bed and rear wheel drive. This package's upgrade begin on the outside where the majority of the truck is coated in a matte “Drone Yellow” finish with black accents in the grille, the sport front bumper, the vents in the power bulge hood, the mirrors, the dual exhaust tips, the fuel door cover, the headlights and the taillights.

The Rumble Bee also wears black Ram’s head logos along with a stripe that runs along the sides of the truck before continuing up and over the Mopar tonneau cover. That stripe is finished off by the angry little “Speed Bee” logo on the trailing edge of the bedside. The Rumble Bee Concept rides on a set of unique 24 inch Vellano VRH rims wrapped in high performance rubber while a Mopar ground effects package and a performance suspension system from King Suspension give this truck a hardcore sport truck look.

Inside, the Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept features sport bucket seats in black leather with a yellow mesh center section and two tone stitching all around. The Rumble Bee and Ram logo are embroidered on the seat backs while more unique package badging is found on the dash, on the floor mats and on the door panels. The most enticing portion of the interior package is the unique honeycomb and bee clad shift knob that controls the 8-speed automatic transmission (shown below). Below this knob are the “Rumble” buttons which allow the driver to select just how loud he or she wants the Rumble Bee to roar. “The Ram 1500 Rumble Bee continues to have a strong fan base and what better place to celebrate its 10-year anniversary than Woodward Dream Cruise,” said Reid Bigland, President and CEO – Ram Truck Brand, Chrysler Group LLC. “There’s a lot of energy surrounding concept trucks and buzz models, and the Ram Design Team revels in creating something that is unique for our customers to enjoy.”

While the Chrysler Group hasn’t stated what kind of performance gains are to be had from the modifications of the Rumble Bee Concept, this Ram wears a Mopar dual exhaust system and a Mopar cold air intake. Best of all, this concept truck sports electronic exhaust cutouts that allow the driver to open up the exhaust at the push of a button and I would bet that with the cutouts opened up – this truck is deafening. The performance of the truck is finished off by a set of 4.10 rear gears so the new Rumble Bee should get off of the starting line pretty well and it should sound great in the process.

Chrysler has been careful to repeatedly refer to this new Rumble Bee Ram as a concept vehicle but you might be asking what is preventing the company from offering a production version of this truck? In short, the answer would be “not much”. The matte yellow paint looks great but this no-gloss finish is generally an expensive option on the few vehicles currently offered with a similar option. Along with costing more, the matte finish can be more than many consumers want to deal with in terms of upkeep so most companies avoid mass production of vehicles with matte paint. The 24 inch wheels are a bit extreme for production but that is easily changed by adding a set of slightly smaller but already available Mopar wheels but the rest of the appearance items around the outside are all very production friendly. The inside upgrades of the Rumble Bee Concept are also all very doable as they are really nothing more than an elaborate trim package. The only feature of the concept that really couldn’t make it into a production vehicle would be the push button exhaust cutouts. Even though cutouts are readily available in the aftermarket, equipping a vehicle with such a setup like that from the factory would most certainly draw negative attention from all sorts of old people who don’t like how loud the truck is with the exhaust all opened up.

In other words, with just a new set of wheels and the removal of the exhaust cutouts, this Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept could easily transform into a great looking, limited edition trim package for the 2014 Ram.

Patrick Rall is a professional writer and photographer with a passion for all things automotive. Having grown up in his father’s performance shop, he spent extensive time at the oval track and drag strip – both driving and wrenching on various types of vehicles. In addition to working as a writer, Patrick previously worked as an automotive technician before moving on to a business office position with a chain of dealerships, and this broad spectrum of experience in the industry allows him to offer a unique look on the automotive world. Follow Patrick on Twitter, Facebook and on Youtube.