Scott

Here's the story... The faded orange GL is how it starts life in the movie. I can't get into the story line too much here, but Bo and Luke stumble upon it, they gas it up, rev it up, jump it and slide into a tractor. The left side is demolished. Cooter gets the car and makes it shiny and famous. The reason the font is different is because it's "hand painted" and meant to look rough. Don't worry, the flag shall be on the car after that. The lady that painted all these faded cars was awesome. All the rust and scratches were hand painted by her. Even the darkened gas drippage down the left rear quarter was painted! On all the cars too. Talk about having to be precise and consistant. Anyway, all this will be seen on the DVD. The DVD should have a second disc, showing A LOT of video. Even if the movie is bad, which I doubt it will be, I'm buying the DVD just for Special Effects and Stunts specials. There are a lot of them. Anyhoo, that's about it. Enjoy.

Ya know the funny thing about her? Bless her heart, she had to maintain a strict diet, but she went overboard. There was this one party in particular, here in Baton Rouge, where she was eating some chicken tenders...with catsup (OMG SHE WAS SEEN EATING). One of the Special Effects guys said that in about 15 minutes she'd be in the bathroom throwing it up. You almost could have set your watch to it. 15 minutes later her bodyguard (the tall one from California) was standing outside the ladies restroom. Did she? Hmmm. Enquiring minds want to know. Not that me or my wife witnessed any of this, noooo, it was a friend of my buddy's neighbor's mother-in-law's friend-girl's cousin's baby's daddy. (Just in case it ever got back to me ya know? CYA) I just hope she works out as Daisy. She does look good in her outfits and I don't believe I'd nudge her out of bed...but, when/if the part two comes out and she didn't work out too well in part one, then it'll be awkward to suddenly have ANOTHER Daisy to live with. Just my daily rant there.

Lotta questions, huh? First, the only computer use in a jump will be to replace the dummy in the front seat with an actual driver. All the jumps are real, most of them without drivers. Stunt driver Kevin Scott did many small jumps in the "go car" and several actually behind the seat. But he's over 6 foot something tall and his cars had to be modified to clear his head from hitting the roll bars. As you mentioned on Tasha's site there was an old Ford car that matched weight with the GL. This was the test mule used to experiment with the ramp shooting system. Many pounds of air pressure propelled the cars from 40 to 75 MPH. The last jump in Clinton using this system cleared well over 100+ feet and landed perfectly. Although that car will not be used for many more shots. None of them had engines. Or concrete. Without the engines and the addition of roll bars and other ballast, the cars were pretty much balanced. The only controll these cars had were remote. The interstate jumper had remote everything. It was controlled from a Lincoln following it. That was cool. I want one for Christmas! This movie will be filled with jumps, wrecks and other things that make car-lovers cringe. The GL does go on two wheels when it crashes through a barn. Took a lot of work. But that's about it. Enjoy the movie!! We will.

OK, I checked with the stunts and special effects guys and they said NO to buying any of the cars used. I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but they're all getting crushed. Even the wheels, the wood grained steering wheels. the seats...everything. They have to do this in order to avoid future lawsuits. Warner Brothers is coverirng their a@@. If the public got ahold of one of these wrecked cars, rebuilt it and wrecked it again, they could sue WB for selling a faulty car. Don't ask me. If you could see the pics I have of the wrecked GL's, there is no rebuilding them. I know a handful of them are going Hollywood. Mostly the ones used on the Go-Car. Just the shell and interiors. No rolling stock/engines. Those will be put in storage for the (shhhh) sequel. The one Hemi car is WB property. It'll be shown around the country for promos, with the new Duke boys driving it. As far as purchasing more cars just in case of a part II, they will be bought from people's back yards again. At an extremely hefty charge. I won't say how much WB bought their cars for, big brother is watching. Talking to those guys, they said after the movie, General Lee's will pop up everywhere. Most will say their cars were used in the movie. But you will know the truth. Don't call 'em a liar, just pat them on the backs for having an awesome ride. Then, IF a part II is made, then those fresh General Lee's will be purchased by WB. Smart thinking, huh? No searching backyards.

Speaking of the flag...I was at the place on Florida Blvd the other day (where they work on the cars) and the guys tried to jack the car up sideways to the same angle as a stunt shot filmed 2 weeks ago through a barn. Needless to say, the General groaned and rolled over like a tired old dog but stopped rolling just short of the concrete scraping up the flag. The car was already "trashed" from prior stunts and ready for ANOTHER rebuild, but the flag was still perfect. After the General was pushed back over bets were taken as to if the engine would start again. The 440 didn't disappoint. Life is good...

I was down at the maintenance place on Florida Blvd. and happened upon an old General Lee. On the trunk was an autograph from John Schnieder telling us to "keep it 'tween the ditches". This old car was rough. Had two flats and multi-color orange paint. It looked like it had been stored (outside maybe?) somewhere for quite a while. Found out this was one of many that John still has. It's on loan to Warner Brothers as a future promo. Looking at the original from back then and the new ones, there are many differences between the two. The transportation guys said that on the new one, the grill is painted black. The original's had a silver painted grille. The push bars on the front are bigger and there are many smaller differences. BUT, the flag and the number are still the same. I'll get a picture of it developed and scanned soon. Merry Christmas, y'all.

Thanks Mary ann. It's in here somewhere...I got more but I want to hold off and talk to the guys to see if it's cool for me to put the good ones in here. Scott

I'm new at this...how do I post a picture?

In regards to the flag on top of the car...Okay...here goes. I seemed to have gotten access to the construction set in Baton Rouge. It's very tight-lipped and hush-hush. Where the testing happens, the painting and the other star cars are is almost impossible to see from outside the compound. BUT, the flag is on the roof of the car. The name is STILL the General Lee. Absolutely nothing has changed from the original car. Actually, one thing is different. The grills have been painted mostly black,versus the silver color from the series. The big guys liked it better black. I also found out the doors were never welded shut, even on the tv series. That was for safety purposes. Also found out that none of the cars have the Dixie horn. That's all added in during the cut and splice (editing) stage. Bummer for me. After riding and sliding in the Lee with stunt driver Kevin Scott, I can attest to the 440's power. I got video of it. Awesome ride. Gone through many tires these guys have. I'm still taking pictures so I'll have a nice library of pics! Some things in life are definitely worth kissing butt over!!!