JBama01 Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Ok, so it's a '68 instead of a '69, but it's still an awesome ride.Better than the horrible one Kenny Wayne Shepard had on TLC's Rides.http://adcache.collectorcartraderonline.com/10/4/9/77321249.htmI'd take it in a heartbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 There are many things wrong with that car in regard to its accuracy to a real General Lee (or a good clone). First of all; it is a 1968 with no effort made to make it look like a 1969. The wheels only vaguely resemble the correct 10 fin American Racing or Shelby Vectors. The interior is someone's "creative" idea of what would look cool (or something) rather than having any relation to a stock Charger/General Lee interior. The tail light panel is orange instead of the correct matte black for a General Lee. As far as the quality of the car goes on its own merits; rather than judging it on its accuracy to a General Lee; take a look at picture six. What is up with the paint bubbles/blistering on the corner of the rear valance? Not a terribly big deal I guess but if that is any indicator of the quality of the work that went into the rest of the car...The rear window sticker is kind of funny; saying "yeah, it's got a Hemi" when the car doesn't have a Hemi. In fact; from the description of the car; it doesn't seem like he knows what the car does have for a motor. First he says it is a "383 STROKED 440". Say what? There is no way to stroke a 383 to get a 440 (unless, maybe, if you manufactured your own crankshaft, lol). You can drop a 440 crank into a 383 and you get a 431. Then he says "383 STROKER MOTOR BORED 30 OVER TO 440", lol. So is it "bored over" to a 440 or stroked to a 440, or both? If he bored it .070 over with a 440 crank, he would have a 440, but he couldn't use factory 440 pistons/rods because of the compression height. I doubt anyone makes such a thing for such a project. Besides, he bored it .030 over, not .070 over.He also says "3.55 POSI TRAC 8 3/4". Close enough I guess; though he is using GM terminology there. That should read "3.55 SURE-GRIP 8 3/4". I still can't get over how the prices for these cars (well, muscle cars in general I guess) have exploded since I was last paying attention about 10 years ago. He wants 26,000 for that ordinary non-R/T car and 10 years ago that would have bought a very nice numbers-matching R/T 440 car. Hell, even Hemi cars were selling for under $40,000. I've been putting it off for a long time but this has got me wanting to put my car together. I have two second generation Chargers, a '69 and a '70. The '70 is a 318 car and I bought it as a parts car to go with the '69 original R/T 440 4 speed car built January 1, 1969 in the Hamtramk Plant on Dodge Main, Detroit, that I bought at the same time. With the way the prices are on even non-R/T cars these days; I'm not so sure I want to hack up that '70 318 car for parts...BTW, the "1970" car has always made me wonder. There is no way to prove it but it seems to have been one of the stunt cars from The Dukes of Hazzard. First of all, I don't think it is really a 1970, though that is what the VIN on the dash says. I think the entire interior has been replaced at some point with the interior of a 1970. The rest of the car is purely 1969, including the grill, the vacuum operated headlight doors (rather than electric on 1970's), the bumper, the fenders, the tailights and the tailight panel. The car sports a faded orange paint job that was applied quickly; but evenly. The car was originally green. There are no numbers on the doors but there is a faded but flawlessly applied, geometrically perfect confederate flag painted on the roof. There is no "General Lee" text on the roof. The car has been jumped sometime in its distant past, you can see where the front end on the passenger side was once bent up severely; you can see the crease in the top lip of the subframe and everything. It was straightened at some point by someone and some reinforcing welds were applied to the subframe. The fender on that side was also previously quite bent and straightened perfectly (the body work was never painted over on that particular fender but it is now straight as an arrow). So, I could very well have a DoH stunt car in my possession but with no way of proving it; and it has always been slated to be the donor car for the 440 R/T car. Now I don't know what to do. It still has the original (I believe) running 318 in it; I wonder if the numbers off that could help determine its history? It may still have the fender tag too; that is another piece of the puzzle. I have always been far more interested in the R/T car in the past and I have never put much effort in finding out anything about the 318 car.It has definitely been used as a stunt car by someone in the past that had great flag painting skills and could make quick orange paint jobs look decent; I just don't know who. The lack of numbers on the door or General Lee text was always a mystery to me though. The funny thing is; recently I have seen early promo shots of various DoH cast members leaning up against numberless General Lee's. Another thing I have thought about is the fact that some of the General Lee's from the show had decals for the numbers and the General Lee text, rather than being painted on, though the flag was always painted on as far as I know. Oh well; I'll probably never know one way or the other but that won't keep me from tossing and turning tonight thinking about it, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charger Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 Sweet man thats a really nice car i dont mined 68s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lost_sheep3 Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 There are some things that are not true to the series and the original, but, with the shape that the car looks to be in it looks like someone took a lot of time, money and effort to restore this car.My take on this car is that someone wanted a show car, therefore (s)he would not have been as likely to make the cosmetic changes to the bumper, and grill, and also would have wanted the interior to be fancier than the rather plain interior seen in the original. But they probably really liked the color and detailing.This is more of a tribute, than an actual replica, but it is still very nice.LS3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBama01 Posted April 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Well, perhaps I should have worded it differently.Yes, it is a tribute rather than a replica...BTW Maxim....do you have any pics of your "possible stunt" charger ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximRecoil Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 BTW Maxim....do you have any pics of your "possible stunt" charger ?No. It is in storage 30 miles away; as it has been for the last 10 years or so. I am probably going to go down there in a couple of months and if I remember, I'll take some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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