HossC

There's a range of values because I used fountain (graduated) fills. The middle of the door is around #F2428C.

Ben actually went to audition for Dukes in September 1978, exactly a year after he nearly died from alcohol abuse. Even though the alcohol in Dukes wasn't real, I'm sure those early scenes can't have been easy for him.

Cooter gets served a beer in 'Luke's Love Story'. He even picks it up, but we never see him drink it:

The 1970 Dodge Charger was actually available in the factory High Impact Paint (HIP) color 'Panther Pink'. I have a 1:18 model of a Plymouth Cuda in the same color (Plymouth called it 'Moulin Rouge'), and I have to say that I quite like it. Whether I'd buy a car in that color is another matter though . The 1970 Charger would have looked something like this:

Maybe it would look something like this. I've taken styling cues from Lucifer for the race number and 'General Lee' text.

Welcome to HNet Sean. It sounds like your Dukes experiences are similar to mine (there's only a year between our ages). Although I am currently living in Ireland, I was born and raised in the UK - I'm originally from the south-west myself.

That reminds me; when I first came to Ireland there were huge waiting times to get a driving test - I think up to a year in some places. The Irish government's solution was to let learner drivers take to the road without a qualified driver. Because there was no urgency to pass a test, some drivers drove around for years without feeling the need to get their full driving license. Over the last few years the government has increased the number of driving examiners, and brought this situation to an end.

As CDoherty said, the driving age here (and in Britain) is 17. I passed my test long enough ago that I didn't need to take a theory test. There was no requirement to have official lessons, and the Highway Code was covered in a few questions at the end of the practical test. Ireland has recently brought in a law saying you have to have a certain number of hours of driving instruction before you can take a test. Back when I passed my test you were automatically allowed to drive vehicles up to 7.5 tons (reasonably big box van). Now you have to pass an extra test for these. Since my last post I have remembered another of my early driving experiences. With limited driving time behind me, my father thought it would be a good idea to let me drive from north-west to south London during Friday night rush-hour. I can't say that I enjoyed the drive, but it was an invaluable experience. I don't know what restrictions are placed on learner drivers in the US, but over here you are not allowed on a motorway until you've passed your test. Luckily I had plenty of experience driving on three lane dual carriageways, which are vitually identical to motorways, before I took my test. A school friend of mine passed his test before me, but didn't have nearly as much experience as me, so I found myself giving him advice when he first went out driving. I would agree with MaryAnne with regard to learning to drive stick (or manual as it's known here). When you can drive stick, you can drive anything. Added to that, cars with auto transmissions use 10-15% more gas, so you'll save money as well. Auto cars are in a very definite minority over here, so it's even more important. I actually got the hang of clutch control on my grandparents' gently sloping driveway. I would drive up the slope, then let the car roll back down before finding the biting point to pull me back up again.

Now that I've got a better Charger template I thought I'd do some variations: 1) Cale Yarborough's white Charger from 'Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough'. 2) The General painted green in 'Southern Comfurts'. 3) The bad guys' car Charger that became the General from 'Happy Birthday, General Lee'.

Thanks to Sissy and Alex for your recent comments. The General was my first attempt at computer artwork a little over 18 months ago. Looking back I realized how few reference pictures I used compared to more recent projects. There were also a few details that I was never happy with. This prompted me to take another look at the General. Initially I intended to modify the original artwork, but in the end this new version doesn't share a single line with the old one. The original was a bit of mutt, with parts of different Generals mixed together. This one is roughly based on the early California cars. There's no white letter tires or side markers, but the front and rear under-bumper lights are still in place. It's also got the narrow pushbar. I'm not sure if the CB aerial is authentic - it was based on photos I had of a replica General.

Elvis

Roger, I'm sorry about your cousin. Let me be clear, I'm not advocating any risk-taking or breaking any laws. Both of the events that I described took place off of the public highway. Beach driving can be great fun as long as stay clear of other people and act responsibly. I doubt if I went any faster than 20 mph. That's the point - you can slide on sand at a very low speed and pretend you're driving much faster. With sand you can never be sure how solid it is, so if you drive fast you run a risk of your wheels digging in and your vehicle rolling over. To sum up: have fun, but stay sensible and legal.

I forgot this song when we did 'America' songs last week:

Here's the screengrabs that you were after. I'll let CDoherty explain what we're looking at. There appears to be a semi waiting to go through the tunnel in the second picture. I'd have loved it if it was a battered, rusty old needle-nose Peterbilt/tanker rig - the tunnel scene from 'Duel' was filmed here. A '67 Mercury Cougar chasing a '69 Dodge Charger - the cars are very similar to the '68 Mustang and Charger that appeared in Bullitt. I certainly noticed that the hubcaps don't match in the tunnel scene.

My first time driving was when I was about 13 or 14. It was in my uncle's old Land Rover in a field behind his house. It was old enough that you had to engage four-wheel-drive by twisting a nut on the front hubs with a spanner!. I can't say there was anything very Dukes about it. I have driven a beach a few times, back when I had a 2 liter rear-wheel-drive car. That was far more Duke-like. I had great fun drifting around with big rooster tails of sand flying out the back. The few onlookers were looking at me wondering what I was doing, but I figured that there aren't many places you can do that without hitting something or someone, or damaging your tires. Due to the safe environment I also gave someone their first driving experience on a beach.

Following Billy Idol, some more Londoners with a rather different style of music. Apparently it's called 'Rockney' (a mix of rock and Cockney). The chip shops here don't seem to sell saveloys .

There's even a color video for this mid '60s track .

I found myself listening to some old music at the weekend. Amongst the songs was this one from 1931: Sally - Gracie Fields

It had to be ...

I couldn't find a studio version of this song on YouTube, so I had to look elsewhere: Dreamer - Supertramp If the French site I found doesn't work, there is a reasonable live version on YouTube.

This time Wham!'s the song, not the band, in this instrumental from the '60s: