Skydime Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 I was just wandering...Am I stupid or were all the General Lees in the tv show depicted as 69 Chargers? The reason I ask is that there is this place in Pigeon Forge, TN, (Smith Family Theater or something) that has a dinner show called "Hazzard County hoe Down". Out front, perched on a gravel pile, as if it is jumping, is a 68 Charger RT...General Lee. Cooters and Star Cars are right down the road in Gattlinburg. They both have 69 Chargers. The 68 looks really good from what I saw of it. I just can't figure out why someone would butcher it to make an inaccurate replica.
Fat Brian Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 The General Lee was a 69 with the split front grill opening. I believe that they did use some 68s but changed the front and rear ends to 69 parts, they went through so many cars they kind of took what they could get after a while.
Danno Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 Does it really matter? Life is like a box of Hazzard chocolates ... you never know what General Lee you're gonna get. The General Lee is as the General Lee does.
rel14 Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 Thats one reason the show went off the air,,they wrecked 6-8 cars per film clip..
Joe Handley Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 IIRC they were buying what ever '68-'70 Chargers they could get their hands on and doijg what ever was needed to make them look like '69 Chargers. The 70's usually got a '68 or '69 front clip and I'm not sure what they did taillight wise on the 68's.
Skydime Posted August 8, 2012 Author Posted August 8, 2012 (edited) That's exactly what I thought. And that is the reason I used the precise wording of "depicted as 69 Chargers". If I can find a picture I will post it. Man, it looks kind of ridiculous with that grille and round taillights in it. Don't get me wrong, I love 68s, probably more than 69s. But this just looked strange as all get out to me. Does it really matter? Life is like a box of Hazzard chocolates ... you never know what General Lee you're gonna get. The General Lee is as the General Lee does. (Insert Soda Spitting Emoticon) then Edited August 8, 2012 by Skydime
Joe Handley Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 Thought I heard somewhere that to help make the '68 grill look like a '69, they were making the center divider and putting them on the '68 grills for what ever car had that grill on it.
Danno Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 (Insert Soda Spitting Emoticon then ) LOL! That's a good one. :lol:
Skydime Posted August 8, 2012 Author Posted August 8, 2012 Well, I cant find it so, if I go back to Pigeon Forge this weekend, I will take pictures myself...Maybe iPhone pictures but, they will show what I am talking about.
The70judgeman Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 (edited) If you happen to have the Velocity channel on whatever service you use...check out the show "Rides". In particular, the episode of the build for Kenny Wayne Shepard's GL. On the show, they visited the garage that built all the GL's and explained what they did to create all of them. They also built all the squad cars. Plus, they showed pictures of their lot full of GL's and squads. Edited August 9, 2012 by The70judgeman
1930fordpickup Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 I heard they went through 300 cars to do the show . Is this true ?
zenrat Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 There's a satin black '68 with 01 on the doors in silver or grey running about my neck of the woods. I think of it as the Evil (or Mirror Universe) General - it should really have a goatee...
MoparWoman Jamie Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 On the show, they used 1968 to 1969 Dodge Chargers only to portray the General Lee, NO 1970's where ever used on the show. Most of the Chargers used was in fact 1968 Dodge Chargers that had the tail lights panel chopped and a '69 center grill piece just rivited into place in the 1968 Charger grill just alittle off center.
The70judgeman Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 200-250, 300-320...depends on what story you want to believe. I looked it up on Wiki Answers and got 317 1968-1970 Charger's used for the show with an average of 3-4 cars used and abused per episode. There were almost 30 GL's at the end of the series. Some of those were used in the recent movie. The leftovers are now sitting in a studio lot. Don't think there is a straight answer to be had except that a lot of Charger's were destroyed for TV and movie entertainment. Speaking of movies...doesn't the Charger in the second half of the movie "Death Proof" look oddly familiar?
MoparWoman Jamie Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) The show had 150 episodes made, now each episode mostly at any given time had two to three General Lee's on it but for one episode which was Mary Kay's baby which had no General Lee in that episode at all. There was 3 episodes that was two part episode's. So there for 147 episodes if you take and think of the two part episodes as one episode, but if not then it's 150 episodes. AND each episode they crashed at least one General Lee while doing a big jump. BUT during 6th season they ran or had a shortage on the chargers so they went to using minuture model cars for the car stunts.So with Season 1-5 and then season 6 and 7 kinda had the model cars doing the stuff, BUT what you all have to think about is when they filmed a stunt with the General Lee and if the stunt didn't go right and they had to redo it there was one car down and another being used and if that stunt didn't work out then they had to use yet another. So there for 2 General's per episode (maybe 3 at times depending on stunt going right or wrong) 2x 150 = 300 in the 150 episodes made. and THERE was jumps that didn't go right and they did in fact had to use two cars for the stunt scene. For ex 1st episode of season 2 of Dukes the two part episode of C.O.T.s where the General Lee does the 32 car park leap for life, that jump was done BY two yes two General Lee's! Allen the stunt driver didn't clear the last car on the first take and another General Lee had to be used and that car barely cleared the last car as well. the two cars can easy be spoted by watch the front and tail end of the General Lee's during doing the jump, 1st car has the nose going down, 2nd car landing shot has the nose end up and the tail end down while the other shot has the nose down and the tail end up. Now in this episode they showed at the beginning of the episode during the race scene the General Lee doing a big jump over a tree as well while being chase by Rosco, so in this episode they used at least 3 General Lee's. NOW at the end of the series run in 1985 when the show was canceled there was 19 General Lee's left over! Now WB kapt 2 of those General Lee's to use in the 1997 Reunion move, and sold the other 17 off in a deal that was made to a guy name Wayne. Now the thing is this too! during the shows run, there was some General Lee's that was hauled off to the junk yard that was not junked though and these cars was repainted and sold off by the junkyard workers. Some of the General Lee's after the show ended also went off to be used in films and tv shows as well with a new paint job applied to the chargers. TJ Hooker was one show, The film Galtiator with Ken Whil had two of the General Lee's painted all black and was blackend out. The film Forever Young also had one of the General Lee's all mitch match painted up as well BUT it had the rims and interior yet. The tv show In the Heat of the Night also had a General Lee that came off the Dukes and was painted Blue, but you could see the flag out line on the roof though. Now over the last few years about 6 extra real General Lee's had surface also that was used in other movies and repainted afew times over time after the show ended and BEFORE the 1990's deal was made with the 17 Real General Lee's that we all know about today. Now with the two that was kapt by WB, they was redone for in the 1997 Reunion movie, and rumor has it that the one General Lee that was made early on in the Dukes series in a early season like season 2 I think and went all the way through the series was redone for in the '97 reunion movie as I know of, plus 3 Chargers was bought for the making of the reunion movie as well. Edited August 10, 2012 by zerodude
Joe Handley Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 Didn't John Schneider also use his for one of the movies too? I think the late 90's movie from after Denver Pyle passed on.
MoparWoman Jamie Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 Didn't John Schneider also use his for one of the movies too? I think the late 90's movie from after Denver Pyle passed on. Yes, that would have been the year 2000 Reunion 2 movie "Hazzard in Hollywood" one. John rented his to WB as one of the 2 General Lee's used in that film. Two duke films with the original cast was 1997 Hazzard Homecoming 2000 Hazzard In Hollywood
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