Posted: 2/2/2013 3:51:27 AM EDT
Here's 8 minutes of the General Lee jumping. The one at 3:28.   |
|
Quoted: That must have been a fun TV show to work on. No telling how many frames and body parts they tore up over the years with those jumps. It must have been the best job in the industry for stunt drivers. I can't remember the number, but they tore up a staggering number of Chargers. |
|
Quoted:
My "General Lee" which may or may not have been one of the ~300 second-generation Chargers used on that show (it has definitely been jumped in the distant past, and has the remnants of the flag on the roof): http://imageshack.us/a/img689/2411/afterj.jpg Very cool car, what's its story, where'd you find it? |
|
Quoted:
My "General Lee" which may or may not have been one of the ~300 second-generation Chargers used on that show (it has definitely been jumped in the distant past, and has the remnants of the flag on the roof): http://imageshack.us/a/img689/2411/afterj.jpg I love the fact that you're taking that picture in the pouring rain. I spend a good portion of my time up there, and though there are plenty of nice days, I don't how many times I've opened my front door to face a day like that. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
My "General Lee" which may or may not have been one of the ~300 second-generation Chargers used on that show (it has definitely been jumped in the distant past, and has the remnants of the flag on the roof): http://imageshack.us/a/img689/2411/afterj.jpg Very cool car, what's its story, where'd you find it? I got it in 1994, which was so long ago that I don't remember the name of the town. It was some little town a bit north of Lincoln, Maine; over a two hour drive from where I lived at the time. I bought two '69 Chargers from him, and the orange one in the picture was originally intended to be the parts car. The seller's story was that he'd bought it off a guy who claimed to have bought it from someone from the Dukes of Hazzard production crew, and he pointed out where the subframe and other things had been damaged from a nose-down landing, and had been subsequently straighted/welded/repaired. This was just told as an unverified anecdote, and it wasn't a selling point (I'd already payed him for both cars [quite cheap too] before I heard the story). So over time finances changed and I never got much done on the bronze R/T car (which was a basket case), and I eventually sold it a couple years ago. The orange car had sat in the woods behind where the R/T had been stored, for 17 years. In the summer of 2010 I decided to haul it home and see what I could do with it. This is what it looked like before pulling it out of the woods: 
After replacing minor tuneup parts (points, plugs, distributor cap, etc.) it fired right up and ran good (tough old 318 in it). However, the body, brakes, and suspension needed a lot of work. I worked on it all summer, with a lot of help from my mechanic friend that owns the garage it is pictured at, replacing the entire brake system, completely rebuilding the frontend, and cutting out rust and replacing with new steel. The car is far from pretty, but it is solid now, runs good, and is completely roadworthy. Making it pretty will cost a ton, and I'll need to spread it out over several years. |
|
Just some good ol' boys...
I loved that show. It was a staple of my Friday night TV watching. That, and Dallas. My first car was a used '70 Charger. Not a ''69, but close enough for me. One time, the driver's door stuck and I had to climb in and out through the window. That was kind of cool for a 20 yr old. My Charger rolled over 100,000 miles at exactly 12am on my 20th birthday. |
|
Although the estimated number of General Lees used varies from different sources, according to Ben Jones ("Cooter" in the show), as well as builders involved with the show, 256 General Lees were used to film the series. Others claim about 321 were used in the series. Approximately seventeen still exist in various states of repair. On average, more than one General Lee was used up per show. When filming a jump, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds of sand bags or concrete ballast was placed in the trunk to prevent the car from nosing over. Later in the series the mechanics would raise the front end of the car to keep it from scraping against the ramp causing it to lose speed, thereby providing a cushion for the driver upon landing. Stunt drivers report enjoying the flights but hating the landings. Despite the ballast, the landing attitude of the car was somewhat unpredictable, resulting in moderate to extremely violent forces, depending on how it landed. On many of the jumps the cars bent upon impact. All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired due to structural damage. |
|
Quoted:
All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired due to structural damage. That is what was supposed to have happened. In reality it didn't always happen that way. Some of them that had damage that was feasible to repair were reused on the show, and others ended up in the hands of private owners by "under the table" means (the first crew that built General Lees was fired due to some "under the table" stuff going on). Warner Bros. eventually made it a policy to cut the roof skin off the cars that were to be retired, in order to discourage this. |