From Bad to Worse

[back]

was buzzin around the net and came across this one vid of a charger stunt gone completely wrong. Great crash though so i took some stills. Enjoy!

http://backecto5.tripod.com/charger.html

im gone.

-Brad

[travelerF150]

These pics aren't from the movie. They were taken about a year ago when some guy invested about 50 grand to jump the General Lee on the 25 anniversary of the pilot episode. They actually showed it on VH1.

[MaximRecoil]

These pics aren't from the movie. They were taken about a year ago when some guy invested about 50 grand to jump the General Lee on the 25 anniversary of the pilot episode. They actually showed it on VH1.

Is there any more to the story than that? Why did it cost him $50,000? What went wrong? Did he not weight the trunk properly to balance the car out? If he didn't know how to do such things, why was he jumping a car in the first place? Was he injured?

I really wish that people would quit destroying 2nd generation Chargers. When the DoH first came on the air they were just a 10 year old car; no different than smashing up a 1995 model car today. Now they are 36 years old and they are not exactly common. Money; whether it is $1 or $1,000,000 is replaceable. Old cars aren't. Hopefully one day the aftermarket will be so big for Mopars that you can build a brand new one from the ground up without ever laying a finger on an original, like you can today with a '32 Ford or a '57 Chevy.

[back]

I can understand ones anger of the destruction of Numerous chargers as i belong to a classic car club. However, many can buy the odd automobile kit out there nowadays to just build the whole car itself. Mainly euro rides though. But in a decade or so they'll most likely have a whole catalog chalk full of classics you can just order up straight to your customs shop or home and build it in your spare time. Wont be the same, most likely be made of fiberglass ...but if ones nitpicky enough fenders can be modified, frames scratch built, etc. Some cars will just never leave the roads (cosmetically speaking of course)

im gone.

-Brad

[travelerF150]

Dodge made over 150,000 Chargers in 1969, and judging from what I see in our local classic car trader, they're not in danger of being extinct.

As for those photos, the guy was not injured and I belive the jump took place in Covington Georgia. As for the his training, the show on VH1 made it sound like he got a wild hair up his ass and decided to do this for the dukes 25 anniversary. It didn't say who helped him or if he had any experience with this sort of thing. The only thing I can tell you is that the car's motor was mounted where the back seat should be. I thought that was odd. The show didn't go into much detail. The segment was only about 10 minutes long.

[JBama01]

Click this link... This is the guy who paid for the jump.

To play the movie of the jump, click on the "Totally Obsessed" link within the page.

http://www.generalleefanclub.com

[01 GENERAL LEE 01]

Heh I can't believe that bus is still in the junk yard.

[MaximRecoil]

Dodge made over 150,000 Chargers in 1969, and judging from what I see in our local classic car trader, they're not in danger of being extinct.

They made about 89,000 Chargers in '69. About 20,000 of those were R/T's (XS29) and about 69,000 were regular Chargers (XP29). That is nice info when discussing the original series, since they were a lot closer to the original production dates than we are now. Who knows how many are around these days? These ones that they destroy doing jumps or whatever are usually built for the purpose which means they started with a derelict Charger. Every time they do that it is one less Charger that can be had for cheap with the intent of restoring it yourself. It is also one less source of parts. All of this drives the prices up. A lot of people (myself included) are not interested in buying a car that someone else with unknown talent using unknown parts and unknown methods restored or refurbished; for an inflated price like what you tend to find in the trader magazines.

I have mixed feelings about the new movie for that very reason. I will watch it and I have a feeling it will be quite entertaining but there goes 30 or so more Chargers down the drain. I doubt there are even 30 '69 Chargers in a 200 mile radius of where I live. Hell, there is probably less than 100 of them in my entire state.

[travelerF150]

I can show you 7 in my town that I know of plus there's always 1 or 2 in the Classic Car Trader here.

[MaximRecoil]

As for those photos, the guy was not injured and I belive the jump took place in Covington Georgia. As for the his training, the show on VH1 made it sound like he got a wild hair up his ass and decided to do this for the dukes 25 anniversary. It didn't say who helped him or if he had any experience with this sort of thing. The only thing I can tell you is that the car's motor was mounted where the back seat should be. I thought that was odd. The show didn't go into much detail. The segment was only about 10 minutes long.

I just watched the video. He spent upwards of $30,000 and spent two years planning the jump. He even had the original stunt driver from episode #1 that jumped Lee #1. I saw the motor mounted behind the seat. What was up with that? I think he should have stuck with what is known to work; i.e. leave the motor where it is supposed to be and load the truck with weight. That's how they did it on the show and their Lee #1 jump was actually successful.

Seeing that does give you more respect for all of those successful jumps they did on the show, especially that "world record" (according to Ben Jones) jump over the ravine that is in the opening credits (from episode #13). They did that one successfully twice, once for the General and once for the cop car. They didn't plan for 2 years or spend $30K+ either. I knew it wasn't easy but damn...

[Dale The Bold]

The General Lee with the engine in the back seat is the famous "Wheel Stander General Lee" which was built for the show back in the 80s. General Lee would have been seen doing a wheelie if the series had lasted another season.

That was not the car used in the 2003 Covington jump. That car was a bondo bucket that was "restored" for that purpose. The stunt driver was Corey Eubanks, one of the original stunt drivers from the show. There was no weight in the trunk because they wanted it to land on it's nose.

The jump went perfectly. The car landed on it's nose exactly as planned and the car body crumpled, taking the brunt of the impact, giving Corey a much softer landing than a flat landing. Then next year, Corey jumped another General Lee at Dukesfest '04, setting yet another world record for the General Lee.

[MaximRecoil]

There was no weight in the trunk because they wanted it to land on it's nose.

The jump went perfectly. The car landed on it's nose exactly as planned and the car body crumpled, taking the brunt of the impact, giving Corey a much softer landing than a flat landing.

That sounds ad hoc to me. According to the video they were trying to replicate jump #1 from the show. The even showed a side by side clip of the jump with the jump #1 from the show. Not much of a replication if you nose dive and roll the car. Besides, most of the landings on the show (including jump #1) were not flat landings; they landed at a forward angle on the nose and front wheels and the rear of the car followed to the ground.

BTW; in regard to the "bondo bucket" remark; all cars have bondo in them; from the day they roll off the assembly line. A car can only be properly referred to as a "bondo bucket" when the body filler has been improperly applied; which is generally quite noticeable visually. I doubt that the bodywork on that car that they wrecked was done improperly (i.e. crumpled newspaper, sawdust or duct tape and a tub of bondo to fill gaping rotholes). When you are spending $30,000+ on a project you don't do the bodywork like you are a 16 year old backwoods hick trying to get his car to pass inspection; especially not on a unibody car that is to be used in a high flying stunt (think structural integrity/safety concerns).

[popozezo]

this is my first post here and i'd like to say hello to everone......hi im popo..and i ...have a duke addiction...heheh

in respect to the retard who spent $40g to demolish an icon, he need be hanged by his genitalia and have tabacco juice spat on by irate redneck persons such as myself. i would have given him a kidney or lung or other vital organ to have that car

[Brian Coltrane]

Howdy Popozezo, welcome to HazzardNet. Nice debut, you'll fit right in here.

Brian

[Dale The Bold]

Maybe I need to clarify a bit. The restoration of the car was done on a car that was a parts car at best. That car was donated for the cause, that's how little it was worth. As far as being a bondo bucket, I use that term for a car that has an obscene amount of bondo in it. When this car landed (correctly, I must add) some members of the audience were literally hit by chunks of bondo. Not law-suit hit, but the point is that the ratio of bondo to steel in that car was ridiculously high. Better cars than that are crushed on a regular basis. I've seen photos of it before the "restoration." If someone paid $30K for that car, they got ripped off several times. The largest cost for this event was insurance. Getting permits and such was also said to be a major headahce (I don't know about the expense). The resoration may have been donated, that part I'm not sure on.

It had a full cage for safety. The jump "replicated" the original only by jumping over Rosco's car. And I literally mean Rosco's car. The police car they jumped over is the very same car that was jumped over 25 years earlier in Covington, in that famous "yeeha" jump at the end of hte opening credits. Back then, they hadn't established the best way to jump a car. The Dukes of Hazzard was a huge influence on stunt safety, and even a type of harness was invented by the stunt crew while doing the series. So doing an exact jump like the Seney Hall jump would be a sure way to get an injury. And considering that the very same stunt crew did this jump as worked on the show, they knew what they were doing.

I wish they would release stunt footage from the series. I would bet that the majority of later jumps looked like that footage, proving that crumpling metal is a much better cushion than just slamming down flat onthe ground.

[MaximRecoil]

Interesting information. A few points:

If someone paid $30K for that car, they got ripped off several times.

The $30,000+ wasn't for the car alone but for the whole project; which he planned for 2 years; according to the VH1 video.

It had a full cage for safety.

I realize that. A rollcage doesn't do a bit of good if you don't have something solid to tie it to. Chargers are unibody. You talk about how much bondo the car had but obviously the bondo was in trivial areas such as fenders or doors; easily replaceable parts which have little to do with structural integrity. Obviously all the structural areas of the unibody chassis were solid or it would have been a death trap. Would you trust a rollcage that is bolted to bondo? Since the car was structurally solid enough to be a safe, solid platform to mount a 'cage in then it was also a good candidate for restoration/restification. Even if it'd been used as a parts car it would have been far more useful than simply nose diving it into the ground and rolling it.

This is a naked Charger:

That entire structure needs to be solid if you want any hope of safety from a rollcage.

[Dale The Bold]

Hey, don't post naked photos.

That photo is a car in restoration. You can weld together a "jump car" pretty easily and not care how ugly it is, but a car worth restoring for the long haul is not going to be "restored" in the same manner as the jump car.

The $30K is mostly insurance for the fans. There was a million dollar policy to cover any lawsuits that would happen if that car landed in the crowd.

The car itself was donated, which tells you a lot. Chargers are not easy to come by, and even a crusty one is worth some decent money. Theoretically, any Charger is possible to restore, but you would be hard pressed to find a buyer for that car because the restoration cost would far exceed the value of the car. The fact remains that the car would have seen the crusher by now, as many other Chargers have since. It's tragic, but the scrap metal is worth more dollars than the car itself.

For what it's worth, that car remains in its crashed state. It was purchased by a fan prior to the jump and is not being altered or parted out.

[MaximRecoil]

That photo is a car in restoration. You can weld together a "jump car" pretty easily and not care how ugly it is, but a car worth restoring for the long haul is not going to be "restored" in the same manner as the jump car.

"Ugly" doesn't matter with the chassis. The chassis doesn't have a polished fit and finish even when new. You can see all the seams and welds just fine. Solid and straight is what counts with a chassis. We know the car they jumped was solid structurally, or it wouldn't have been a safe stunt car. Also, a Charger doesn't have to have a Roger Gibson-esque restoration to be valuable. A restified car (like what they jumped) is still valuable and makes a good driver. The General Lee itself on the show was always portrayed as a daily driver that was a #3 car at best.

The car itself was donated, which tells you a lot.

Not really. Considering the fanaticism of the guy who set the whole thing up; it doesn't surprise me that another person would be just as much of a fanatic. Hell, he got out of it cheap; he was only out one rough Charger. The other guy was out thirty-plus thousand dollars.

Theoretically, any Charger is possible to restore, but you would be hard pressed to find a buyer for that car because the restoration cost would far exceed the value of the car.

It wouldn't exceed the value of the car to restify it to the point that they did for the jump. To do a full restoration? Well, that usually exceeds the value of most any car. People tend to do it for personal satisfaction rather than for any hopes of monetary gain. With all but the rarest and most valuable of cars excepted; trying to make money off doing full restorations (i.e. selling the car after you paid to restore it) is like selling chickens to buy chicken feed. Of course, if you are in the business of being paid to restore someone else's car; you are golden.

The fact remains that the car would have seen the crusher by now, as many other Chargers have since. It's tragic, but the scrap metal is worth more dollars than the car itself.

Any 2nd generation Charger that hasn't been totalled (and especially with a solid chassis) is worth at least $1000, maybe more these days. Last time I checked with Dave Berry (our town's "Cooter") he got about $30 on average when selling a crushed car for scrap metal. That was about 10 years ago; maybe it is a bit more now.

[back]

i can understand the "Comfort factor" (What comfort?! ) in landing a late 60's muscle car on its nose due to ones experience in jumping them for a living 20 odd some years ago. but if it was to celebrate DOH anniversary one wouldve hopes a Classic Duke boys landing.

im gone.

-Brad