MaximRecoil

I have a mechanic friend who people used to call "Cooter" back in the early 1980s because he reminded people of Ben Jones' character (some people who have known him for a long time still call him that). I've had a '69 Charger for 25 years, but I only started working on it 8 years ago, and he has helped me a lot with it, for example, by giving me advice and letting me use his lift and tools. I took a picture of him back in 2011 when we first started working on it, then I added the text, printed it out on photographic paper and put it in a frame, and he's had it hanging on the wall of the office in his garage ever since: What holds me back from building the "perfect General Lee" is money; I'd have to be rich to build one the way I described above.

Thanks. I just read your post that you linked to and here are some minor corrections: It was the Plymouth Satellite that was parked beside him when he was talking to the woman about it, and that he climbed into and took off in. When he stopped the car to put on his seatbelt, it was the Torino (it's a closeup shot through the side window but you can tell it's a Torino by the distinctive shape of the side mirror). He returns to the Satellite that he started with. The order is like this: 1. Satellite 2. Torino 3. Fury 4. Torino 5. Satellite

It can be justified by imagining that they were singing their own songs on a karaoke machine. Of course, in reality they were just lip-syncing to a studio recording, which is often done even in "live" concert performances these days, especially by pop singers whose studio recordings are greatly enhanced with Auto-Tune and other "studio sweetening" effects which can't be duplicated live. Some of the performances on the show were real though, like Loretta Lynn's, which she did in spite of having a sore throat. When they had Waylon Jennings on the show, he lip-synced to a studio recording like most of the others did. If anyone should have done a real performance for the show, it should have been him, and the song should have been Good Ol' Boys.

I haven't read through this entire thread yet, so I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but in the Carnival of Thrills episode, the white stunt car that Bo does a practice jump in changes its make/model twice in a span of several seconds. It starts out as a 1970s 4-door Chrysler B-body (1972 Plymouth Satellite). It's the same body style that was used for most of the cop cars on the show. That body style originally belonged to Dodge Coronet and Plymouth Satellite, and then in the mid-1970s those names were dropped, and the same body style was rebadged to Dodge Monaco and Plymouth Fury (both of which were formerly C-bodies). Most of the cop cars on the show of that body style were late 1970s Monacos and Furys, because those were being sold through various California police auctions at the time: Then it magically transformed into a 1970s 4-door Chrysler C-body (1972 Plymouth Fury), which is a strange choice for a jump car, because they are so big and heavy compared to B-bodies, and B-bodies aren't exactly small and light themselves. They were considered intermediate-size cars in their day (C-bodies were considered full-size cars), but they were almost exactly the same size as a 1990s/2000s Ford Crown Victoria, which was (and still is) considered a full-size car. It's even stranger when you consider that most of the cop cars on the show, as well as the General Lee itself, were Chrysler B-bodies, and they already had so much experience jumping those, so why attempt it with a C-body? And then, upon landing, it transformed yet again, this time to a 1970s 4-door Ford Torino, maybe because jumping that massive C-barge didn't turn out so well: In all other cases of cars transforming into a different make/model that I know of, it was due to them reusing old jump or crash footage (such as Chrysler B-body cop cars transforming into AMC Matador cop cars when jumping the creek or crashing into a tree), but in this case, none of that was reused footage. For unknown reasons, they decided they needed three different makes/models of cars painted up to look similar, for that one jump scene.

I would start with a rust-free 1969 "survivor" car from Arizona or some other state where cars don't rust; whether it's an R/T or not is irrelevant to me. Alternatively, I'd build a body shell using all new AMD panels. I'd have an 8-point roll cage for drastically improved chassis stiffness (the cage would be tied into all 4 subframe rails, which gives far greater chassis stiffness than mere subframe connectors and torque boxes can give). For the front suspension I'd have Hotchkis upper and lower control arms and at least 0.96" diameter torsion bars, maybe bigger. I'd have about 4 or 5 degrees of positive caster (which isn't possible with the stock upper control arms, but is possible with Hotchkis and similar aftermarket ones) so that the steering wheel self-centers well and the car tracks straight with radial tires like a modern car does. I'd want a modern steering box too, which would require some fabrication to adapt it to a Charger. Modern steering boxes are as good as rack and pinion, and a successful adaption would be far easier (I've heard nothing but horror stories about attempts to adapt rack and pinion steering to Chargers). For rear suspension I'd just go with leaf springs matched to the torsion bars in front. For the engine I'd go with a naturally-aspirated all-aluminum 572 c.i. Hemi along the lines of this. It only weighs 535 pounds, which is about what a normal iron small-block engine weighs. A small-block Charger handles better than a big-block Charger, all else being equal. With an aluminum Hemi, I'd get the best of both worlds: the weight of a small-block and the low-end torque of a big block. For the transmission I'd use a 6-speed manual transmission, such as one from a modern Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat (Tremec TR-6060). The rearend would be a Dana 60. The wheels would be 15×7 American Racing Vectors and the tires would be Firestone Wide Oval "bias-look radials" from Coker Tire (size G70-15), mounted as blackwalls (I hate white-letter tires). Bias-ply tires had a specific look to them that I love, and for many years I've wondered why no one made radial tires that replicate the look of bias-ply tires. Then a few years ago, Coker Tire finally did it. In the case of their Firestone Wide Oval tires, the replicated the exact look of the original bias-ply versions that were commonly found as original equipment on muscle cars, including the tread pattern, but internally they are modern steel-belted radial tires. Firestone Wide Ovals and Goodyear Polyglas were the best looking tires in history in my opinion (all bias-ply passenger car tires looked good, but those two looked especially good). Unfortunately, Coker Tire doesn't have the rights to make Goodyear Polyglas; Kelsey Tire does, and they only make them the way they were originally made, and have no plans to make a "bias-look radial" version. For the interior, I'd replicate the general look of the Charger R/T SE interior, except all the fake woodgrain plastic would be made from real, solid wood (walnut, including on the steering wheel), all of the vinyl would be leather (kangaroo leather specifically, due to it being the strongest and lightest leather known to man), and all of the chrome-plated plastic (such as the rocker switches) would be solid stainless steel. The headliner would be leather too. The paint color would be 1975 Corvette Flame Red, and the graphics would all be painted on (no vinyl decals) from stencils made from my own vector drawings of the flag, "01", and "GENERAL LEE" text that I made years ago (they are all based on screenshots from the first three seasons [Veluzat era], and geometrically corrected): The push bumper would be the early narrow style, but made out of aluminum, so it would weigh about 1/3rd what a steel one would weigh. I'd also fabricate some tabs on the undercarriage for the two bottom "legs" to bolt to, giving it 4 attachment points instead of 2, which would at least make it feel sturdy if you grabbed it and tried to wiggle it. It would also prevent this from happening in the event of a minor front-end collision:

I don't think of the cars or anything else from when I was a kid as being old. Things which were well before my time; I think of those things as old (i.e., stuff from the '40s and '50s and earlier; my father's time). Technically, a '69 Charger is before my time (made 6 years before I was born), but the body style was still contemporary when I was a kid; and there were still plenty of late '60s and '70s cars on the road when I first saw the Dukes of Hazzard in '79 or '80. The 2nd generation Chargers were ahead of their time in styling in my opinion; it could have come out in the mid-to-late '70s and it would have seemed current. The 1st generation Chargers on the other hand, looked "old-fashioned" to me even when I was a kid. I do have a sense of nostalgia when watching the show, or my other favorite show from the '80s, Magnum P.I., but I'm nostalgic about most things I liked as a kid; it is not that I think the show hasn't aged well.

They are more "beefy" compared to F70-14's; but were the size used on the closup unit cars for the majority of the show (the last 4 seasons). The General Lee wasn't as "set in stone" in the earlier shows as it was later on when they stuck with the same two identical cars for all non-stunt shots. In the earlier shows, they most likely used whatever was on the car when they acquired it. I have a couple of closeup tire shots from the show in the first and second seasons and they are not always the same tires. The one closeup shot of the tire where you can see the size, that I have from one of the first season episodes is clearly marked F70-14, which was a common muscle car tire size and standard issue on a lot of 2nd generation Chargers when new; specifically they came with Goodyear Polyglas "Redline" tires ('68 and '69; raised white letter Polyglas in '70); which would have been reversed to show the blackwall side for all General Lees. Goodyear has reissued the original Polyglas tires with the original outdated sizes (such as F70-14) recently; they may still be making them. I don't think you will like the ride compared to modern steel-belted radials though. I have another closeup shot of a General Lee tire that says "Summit" on the side but the size isn't visible. The tread pattern is completely different than the tire that says F70-14 in a different shot.

I already told you two known tire sizes for the General Lee in my initial reply to you; F70 x 14 which I actually have a screen shot of from the show (that size was factory standard on Charger R/T 440 cars) and P235/70/R14 BF Goodrich Radial T/A (which is a discontinued size for that make and model of tire) which was on the two '82 - '85 closup unit cars, one of which was cloned by Bill Packett. This is where I typed it in my original reply: "Tires - Usually used the tires that came stock on big block Chargers when new, though turned so that the blackwall side was showing. This size specifically is F70 x 14 and was a common factory issue "muscle car" tire size in the 60's and 70's. They don't use that sizing standard anymore, though if I remember right it is roughly equivalent to a P195 today. Bill Packett's car has somewhat more beefy BF Goodrich Radial T/A's in size P235/70/R14, as that is exactly what was on Wayne Wooten's original untouched car."

The one that site sells is the wide one used in the later shows. I prefer the look of the narrow one from the first couple of seasons myself, but the wide one is easier to mount I guess, as it is supposed to be the right width to line up with some natural mounting points on 2nd generation Chargers.

I already answered those, see my post above. There are several sites that tell you the size and position of the decals. The easiest thing to do is order the decals from the site I linked to. See my post above where I discussed the color of the paint. Anywhere from the factory mopar color of Saddle Tan to a very light off-white that was custom mixed by the crew that build the General Lees. Keep in mind that there were hundreds of General Lees used on the series and they were not all identical. There was even at least one with a black interior I believe. Most of them shown had the floor shifter with a console. Once again, there were hundreds of cars and no doubt more combinations of options among them than you could shake a stick at. The car that Bill Packett replicated had A/C and an automatic shifter on the floor with console and a 383 2v. I already mentioned this. 2" OD exhaust tubing for most of them (for show only, not real rollcages) and yes, that one they sell on the site I linked to is an exact replica of the ones that were most commonly seen. The one you saw in an early episode wasn't typical. If you want to put in a genuine full 'cage like Lee #1 had, I would suggest trying to contact Gary 'Bubba' Williams for information. That site that has the rollbar and the decals also sells push bumpers: "Our push bars are made using exact measurements from a real General Lee. They come ready to be painted." For closeup unit cars, they usually removed any emblems showing the name of the car and they usually removed the radio and covered it with a radio-delete plate. They also replaced the ignition lock with one that would accept any Chrysler key to start it for convenience-sake and they rigged up a button that would open the trunk from inside the car. Bill Packett's car has all of those little details. I don't know. I have seen details about the CB and the antenna on several websites so it shouldn't be too hard for you to find out. No such thing as a "707" Torque-Flite. The big block General Lees that were automatics all had 727 Torque-Flites, the same as all big block automatic Chargers had straight from the factory. Last I knew, J.C. Whitney had both a 12 note horn and an 11 note horn and then they started shipping the 12 note horn no matter whether you ordered the 11 note or the 12 note. Give them a call first to be sure. It is well known that the actual horn used on the original General Lee was bought off a kid who had bought it from J.C. Whitney; and they still sell the same horn.

That's a really broad question and it depends on a couple of things. How accurate do you want to get and which General Lee exactly do you want to replicate? At least a couple of people have built insanely accurate General Lee replicas based on two different General Lees; namely Bill Packett and Gary 'Bubba' Williams. Bill Packet had access to Wayne Wooten's General Lee, which was an original (one of two) closeup unit car on the show from the '82 to '85 season. He duplicated everything, from the tires (not only the same make/model/size tires, but correctly date coded as well), the chromavision tested paint color which turned out to be no known standard factory color, the paint overspray, the correct plug wires, hose clamps (even replicated the position of the hose clamps), matched interior paint color, etc. A true clone down to the finest details. Bubba Williams did a similar thing but based his car on Lee #1 from the pilot episode. He didn't have the actual car to go by since it is in rough shape these days, though he was able to correct some minor details on his car once the original Lee #1 in its current state was found recently. You can see a short article and some pictures of his car here. So a good place for you to start would be to find out as much as you can about those two guys' cars, since they have already been through what you are contemplating and represent the best of the best in terms of General Lee clones out there. Some general details common to a "typical" General Lee from the series would go something like this: Year/Make/Model - 1969 Dodge Charger with 383 2v and 727 Torque-Flite automatic transmission. Paint color - Chrysler Street Hemi Orange on the early cars, a custom blend formulated to reduce sheen for the benefit of the camera on the later cars, a bit lighter in color than Street hemi Orange. Wheels - 14" x 7" American Racing 10-fin Vectors. Visually identical Shelby 14" x 7" 10-fin Vectors were also used interchangeably which are specifically what is on Bubba's car while Packett's car has the American Racing ones. In fact, Bubba got the Shelby rims from Bill Packet, and Packett got his American Racing rims from Bubba, lol: "CGLFC: How about your Shelby Rims? Anything cool to tell about them? Gary 'Bubba' Williams: The rims on the car are accurate to the first season Generals. (Odd fact is they were on a car-trailer when I purchased them! ) Bill Packett's, to be exact. I traded the ones on my car, which were exactly like the ones on his other replica General Lee, and so finally had 'the' rims I needed. THANKS BILL !" Tires - Usually used the tires that came stock on big block Chargers when new, though turned so that the blackwall side was showing. This size specifically is F70 x 14 and was a common factory issue "muscle car" tire size in the 60's and 70's. They don't use that sizing standard anymore, though if I remember right it is roughly equivalent to a P195 today. Bill Packett's car has somewhat more beefy BF Goodrich Radial T/A's in size P235/70/R14, as that is exactly what was on Wayne Wooten's original untouched car. Decals - Check out this site for decals. Those are all supposed to be in accordance with measurements taken from a real General Lee, though there were some minor variances depending on which General Lee you want to replicate. Only speaking for Packett's car, which may or may not hold true for other general Lees, the numbers and the flag are painted on, while the "General Lee" text = decals. The push bumper and rollcage mockup (made from 2" exhaust tubing like most of the original cars, though Lee #1 had a genuine full rollcage, reflected by Bubba's replica) can be found at the same site that has the decals. The correct Dixie horn can be purchased from J.C. Whitney (though only the closeup unit cars really had the horn installed). That is a place for you to start anyway.

Which Yahoo page are you talking about? This one only has QuickTime files. Is there another Yahoo page that has the DoH trailer in WMV format? Find the one that you want to download to your hard drive and I'll see if I can get a direct download link for it. BTW, if you uninstall the official Apple QuickTime software and install that QT Alternative codec, you can watch QuickTime movies in Windows Media Player the same as you can with WMV's. It isn't much trouble to do so, and it will save you the trouble of always having to find a WMV version of a trailer just to be able to view it in Windows Media Player. Same deal with the Real Alternative codec (I hate the official RealPlayer software).

What do you mean by "fullscreen"? Are you talking about aspect ratio (1.33:1) or do you just mean the ability of the media player to stretch the clip to fill the screen and make the media player's GUI disappear? If you are looking for a clip in the "fullscreen" aspect ratio (1.33:1) I doubt you will find one, since the movie is shot in a "widescreen" aspect ratio (2.35:1 in this case). If you just want the ability to click somewhere on your media player to get "fullscreen" (i.e. stretch the video clip to fill the screen and make the media player's GUI disappear); just play the QuickTime file in a media player that supports this. QuickTime is rather proprietary but you can get around that. I don't even have the official QuickTime software on my computer. I use QuickTime Alternative which allows you to play QT files in most any media player, including Windows Media Player (check off the option during the install to make Windows Media Player the default player for QuickTime files). Also, uninstall the official QuickTime player before you install QuickTime Alternative. I hate proprietary BS; I haven't used the "official" QuickTime or RealMedia players for .MOV and .RAM files for years (there is a Real Alternative as well, which does the same thing as QuickTime Alternative except it does it for RealPlayer files such as .RAM). If you are dead set on getting the file in WMV format, find a place where you can stream it in that format and post the link. I can then check to see if it can be downloaded directly to your hard drive. BTW, that 32 MB QuickTime file that I posted a link to in the other thread is as high of a resolution and as good of picture and audio quality as you are likely to find anywhere, regardless of file format; for that particular trailer or any other trailer on the internet.

Cage9 - http://wwww.cage9.com/news.htm

I started a thread about that a couple of months ago when I saw a picture of the faded "General Lee" with the "01" done in a different font. Scott told the story of that car in that thread: http://www.hazzardnet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1352&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=