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general lee replicas


erwin1

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  • 4 weeks later...
Sorry I'm posting a question to your question, but I haven't heard of that site, and you may know the answer to this: What's with the chrome pinstripe going around the back window of some of the General Lees and not others? Is that a model difference? 'Cuz I heard the Lee was made from 69s and 70 models.

The chrome trim around the base of the C-pillar came on Chargers originally equipped with a vinyl top (a lot of them came that way new). It visually separated the vinyl top from the rest of the body. Cars that came with no vinyl top did not have those trim pieces (or the mounting holes for them of course). Since it is easier to just put the trim pieces back on than it is to fill the mounting holes in the body, they appeared on a lot of General Lee's. The few General Lees that didn't have the chrome trim around the base of the C-pillars were cars that originally came with no vinyl top. I notice that none of the General Lees for the new movie that I have seen have that trim piece; which is a good idea IMO since it was never intended to be on cars with no vinyl top in the first place. From what I have seen of this upcoming movie, they seem to be a lot bigger on continuity than the old show was.

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I noted several differences between the new and old cars myself. The push bumper is a little different, too. The biggest differences are going to be the interior, RWL tires, logos/badges, and the grill.

The interior was modernized to go with the times...new CB's, custom steering wheel, huge tach on the console, and the stereo (which doesn't work). All odometers were rolled to 84,000 miles for some unknown reason. Hmmm.

The grill got the most flack for being painted black. The originals were silver colored with black mesh. The new ones are all black, except for the chrome trim around it. The Mopar guy hired to collect all these Chargers flipped when he saw it. I think he got over it by now though.

The R/T trim, as well as all trim, was removed between the tailights. Side marker lights and back up lights were also booted.

All these changes were done to simplify the consistency of the cars. Like I had said earlier...the attention to detail Warner Brother's had, just on the cars, was astounding. Out of 28 cars made, you will never be able to tell the difference from one shot to the next.

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Also, I forgot...none of the cars used in the movie had a Dixie horn. NONE! how depressing. Only one car was purchased with a horn on it but it was quickly removed for sanity purposes. All the guys kept hitting on it. The removed horn was put in the Go Car for no apparent reason.

also, Maxim, how do you place the images within your message? It's killin' me to find out. I got some good pictures I could use to explain this stuff...

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Yeah, that works. Nice quality picture BTW. If you want the picture to show up in the post itself you enclose the URL in IMG tags, like this:

[img=http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Scott225/flipped11.jpg]

Which results in this:

flipped11.jpg

The interior was modernized to go with the times...new CB's, custom steering wheel, huge tach on the console, and the stereo (which doesn't work). All odometers were rolled to 84,000 miles for some unknown reason.

That all seems fine, except for the oversized tachometer. That is far to "ricerish" (is that a word?) for my tastes. I'm not real big on any aftermarket steering wheels either; a little too J.C. Whitneyish (another homemade word I guess). R/T cars came with a nice looking 3 spoke steering wheel stock; that is what they should have used IMO. I have always hated RWL tires too. Plus I like the tire/wheel size combination on the original General Lees (235/70/14 on 14x7 wheels) a lot better than what they have on the Generals for this movie. The wheel/tire combination on the original Generals had a similar overall height to the wheel/tires on these new Generals but it was more evenly split between the height of the wheel and the height of the tire; making them not even remotely close to looking like "low profile" tires. Here is a screenshot of a closeup of the tires/wheels on one of the original Georgia Generals:

general4.jpg

At least they still have CB's.

The R/T trim, as well as all trim, was removed between the tailights. Side marker lights and back up lights were also booted.

Did they use any '68 Chargers? The original show did the same thing with the side marker lights on a lot of the General Lees; which concealed the different side marker lights found on '68's. Just as a point of interest; Chrysler found a loophole in '69 which allowed them to not have any side marker lights at all. The ones that you see on '69 Chargers are not functional lights; they are simply reflectors. The little round ones on 68's are functional though.

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"Preciate the assistance there, buddy. That's what I trying to go for in the first place. The older I get the mpre computers outsmart me.

And, yes, '68's were used but the bodywork covered everything up. These guys would even do "good" body and paint work on a car that was to be jumped from a distance. Meaning it didn't have to look as good as it did.

cameracar2.jpg

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Maxim, this one's for you...

nohorn.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Scott225/nohorn.jpg

(still can't get that stupid thing to work right)

I don't have a clue who's son that is :wink: , but he wouldn't stop talking about it at home...er, I mean, wherever his home was. Anyway, it's a good shot of the wooden wheel, tach and radio that didn't play. Some had autos and some were standards, depending on the stunt performed. Another sad thing was I wanted one of those steering wheels for my old car. "NOPE" They were to be crushed with the rest of the car(s). Bummer!

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That really sucks that they are crushing those cars. From your earlier post I gather that at least some of them were R/T's? What a shame. Those are some great pictures BTW. They did an excellent job of simulating age/wear and tear on those faded Chargers. The interior of the car that the child is sitting in isn't too bad though that steering wheel looks completely out of place. I have seen worse tachometers than that one in rice burners too; some of them the size of a damned wall clock, lol. The General Lee is supposed to be an R/T according to lore which makes an add-on tachometer redundant too. R/T's came with the famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask, lol) "tick-tock-tach" which you see close-up shots of occasionally in the original show. I notice that car has an aftermarket (Hurst?) shifter as well. Interestingly, 1969 Charger R/T 4 speed (Chrysler/New Process A-833 transmission) cars came with a Hurst shifter mechanism stock from the factory, though 68's came with a crappy Inland shifter mechanism.

I have no idea why the pictures won't post for you in the thread; you typed it out correctly. In fact; copy and pasting exactly what you typed works for me:

cameracar2.jpg

And (again, copy and pasting your own text):

nohorn.jpg

I notice the car that the child is sitting in has a full rollcage (8 point?); do all of them have that? Also, is it a real rollcage (i.e. made from chromoly tubing rather than exhaust tubing like most of the ones from the original show)? If so; that is very cool. General Lee #1 had a real full 'cage.

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Well, that sux. The good thing is, I'm not as stupid as I thought I was. At least you couldn't get the images (my way) either. Maybe I'll get lucky and outsmart this stuff.

Anyway, all GL's were equipped with an authentic rollcage...welded to the floor/frame. All rollcages were made to withstand any punishment given them.

Check this one out. This GL was ramped in Baton Rouge as a test bed for the big final jump. It did a nasty landing but the roof held up. (I gave up on the %7Boption%7D stuff too, so here's the link.) I got the video of it but I have to wait until after the release date to show it. It'll make any Hazzardite cry!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Scott225/flipped1.jpg

And yes, that's a real cop car. So be nice. :p

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