General Lee found at Yard

[Burd]

https://youtu.be/V_BDOjfDuyA

[big gear head]

Thanks, that was pretty cool.

[Mr. Chevy]

Very neat story... That fella really had my attention during the entire video. He was very interesting to listen to....

Thanks for posting....

Rich

[Keith Seymore]

They must have made hundreds of those for the show.

Our friend Harold (aka "Red") Hodges was the Michigan representative for Carl Casper auto shows.

He made at least a couple dozen General Lee's for car shows here, after which they were shipped back to California for use in filming. Very haphazardly put together: Push bars and "roll bars" were made out of exhaust tubing, etc.

The guy doing the stripes, John Chapin, could paint the flag on the roof start to finish in the length of time it took me to drink a 12 oz Coke.

Towards the end the donor vehicles were getting pretty picked over and were, as a result, mostly bondo. He said "if you are watching and you see a big pink cloud after the car lands, you'll know it was this one...

K

[Stefano]

Interesting story for sure.

[Burd]

[QUOTE=Keith Seymore;1535813]They must have made hundreds of those for the show.

Really, a S&tB car would have went for a ton of money.

[JRC99]

I will be polite, but let's just say the story on this car is a bit... um... rocky?

Especially the restoration.

[Lynn]

You can't find "THE" General Lee. There were many of them.

"Although the estimated number of General Lees used varies from different sources, according to former cast member Ben Jones ("Cooter" in the show), as well as builders involved with the show, 325 General Lees were used to film the series. Others claim about 255 were used in the series. Approximately 17 still exist in various states of repair. On average, more than one General Lee was used up per show. When filming a jump, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds (230 to 450 kg) of sand bags or concrete ballast was placed in the trunk to prevent the car from nosing over. Later in the series the mechanics would raise the front end of the car to keep it from scraping against the ramp causing it to lose speed, thereby providing a cushion for the driver upon landing. Stunt drivers report enjoying the flights but hating the landings. Despite the ballast, the landing attitude of the car was somewhat unpredictable, resulting in moderate to extremely violent forces, depending on how it landed. On many of the jumps the cars bent upon impact. All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired due to structural damage.

Chargers from model-years 1968 and 1969 (no 1970 Chargers were used until the 2005 movie) were sourced and converted to General Lee specifications (taillights, grills, etc.). Despite popular belief, according to all builders involved over the years, obtaining cars was not a problem until later years. By that time, the car was the star of the show and Warner Bros. (WB) moved building of the cars in-house to keep the cars consistent in appearance. Later in the show's run, when it got too hard and/or expensive to continue procuring more Chargers, the producers started using more "jump footage" from previous episodes. In the final season, radio-controlled miniatures were occasionally used, to the chagrin of several cast members."

[markinnaples]

I never cared for the show, and even back then I hated that they destroyed so many Chargers.

[Burd]

They would have rusted out anyway.