$20,000 General Lee

[Bandit72]

No bashing please guys. As alot of us here it has always been a huge dream of mine to own a general lee and as of late i've been doing alot of numbers crunching to see just how feesible it would be to try to obtain one and heres what i came up with. In the next year or so I will have a large chunk of my debt paid off and have a small "rainy day" fund started (considering no major unexpected expense comes up) Anyways long story short in the next year i'm really hoping to be able to spend around 20k on a Drivable General....is this even a realistic number? I mean i watch them sell consistantly for 30-40k. Keep in mind that the last thing i want is a 100 point trailer queen. I basically want a 20 footer that is mechanically sound. (i'm pretty well mechanically inclined but i'm at a point in my life where i'm tired of major projects...just want to enjoy it and tinker on it over a weekend or something. The main thing that i require of it is that it have a tan interior already in it...doesn't have to be show worthy...but nothing bothers me more than a really well done general lee replica with a green interior  Let me know your input guys, and like i say..no bashing...i don't want to hear about how stupid the dukes was or how ungy the car is....

[6spd68]

Throw a wanted add up online outlining your wants and see who replies.  That's how I found my Charger.    Odds are you'll get at least 7 different responses with different prices and conditions.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Cooter had his car up for sale recently...

His looks good to me.

I'm sure he'll chime in here pretty soon.

[MaximRecoil]

If it were me, I would buy a halfway decent 318 or 383 '69 Charger for whatever those sell for and do the conversion to a General Lee myself. You could probably do it for less than $20,000, especially if a "20 footer" is what you want. Nothing wrong with that; the real Warner Brothers General Lees were mostly "20 footers" too, or more specifically, 20 footers through fuzzy NTSC TV resolution. For example:



Those are the Veluzats quickly doing up a General Lee for Warner Brothers. They are spraying right over the original paint; no sanding or anything. A paint job like that wouldn't cost much. I don't have any screen shots right now, but there are lots of scenes on the show where you can see blotchy and/or dull paint on the General Lee, along with quick and dirty bodywork. Those things weren't noticeable in the '80s on NTSC broadcasts and standard resolution TVs, but you can see it on the DVDs quite well.

The graphics can be done very cheaply if you paint them on (the General Lee text on the roof would be the only hard part), or you can get premade graphics from places like Phoenix Graphics for a maybe a few hundred dollars.

The American Racing Vector wheels are currently in production, and selling new for about $150 each (they are slightly different than the originals from the '70s and '80s, i.e., there is no raised lip around the outer edge for accepting traditional wheel weights).

The push bumper is an easy job for any fabricator, or you can buy one from Smith Brothers, made by the guy who made the original wide ones, using his original welding jig, for $400 (they also make the earlier narrow style for $300).

The "rollbar" on the hero cars was just exhaust tubing; a main hoop plus a diagonal crossbar. Easy and dirt cheap.

I wouldn't worry at all about the factory color of the interior; Warner Bros certainly didn't. The early General Lees had various factory colors of interior, usually saddle tan, but not always. The later ones were all painted the same color, a very light tan or beige color, much lighter than factory saddle tan (SEM Light Buckskin #15093 will do the trick). They did this even to cars that already had a factory saddle tan interior. They also indiscriminately painted pretty much everything the same beige color, including the instrument cluster, metal dash top, and steering wheel.

[Dreamcar]

For the low 20s, I'd say you may find a small block driver, but it will need work. Getting one with a tan interior already in may be more difficult as you already limiting your options. My 10k dismantled charger was a non driveable but had tones of extra parts. I'll be in about 35k in total when done, and that's doing lots of labour myself. I'd say budgeting 25k would be safer. Plus, you may have to have it painted like the GL yourself.

[duanesterrr]

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/4068642388.html

Put it together and have your dream car! 

[tan top]

If it were me, I would buy a halfway decent 318 or 383 '69 Charger for whatever those sell for and do the conversion to a General Lee myself. You could probably do it for less than $20,000, especially if a "20 footer" is what you want. Nothing wrong with that; the real Warner Brothers General Lees were mostly "20 footers" too, or more specifically, 20 footers through fuzzy NTSC TV resolution. For example:



Those are the Veluzats quickly doing up a General Lee for Warner Brothers. They are spraying right over the original paint; no sanding or anything. A paint job like that wouldn't cost much. I don't have any screen shots right now, but there are lots of scenes on the show where you can see blotchy and/or dull paint on the General Lee, along with quick and dirty bodywork. Those things weren't noticeable in the '80s on NTSC broadcasts and standard resolution TVs, but you can see it on the DVDs quite well.

The graphics can be done very cheaply if you paint them on (the General Lee text on the roof would be the only hard part), or you can get premade graphics from places like Phoenix Graphics for a maybe a few hundred dollars.

The American Racing Vector wheels are currently in production, and selling new for about $150 each (they are slightly different than the originals from the '70s and '80s, i.e., there is no raised lip around the outer edge for accepting traditional wheel weights).

The push bumper is an easy job for any fabricator, or you can buy one from Smith Brothers, made by the guy who made the original wide ones, using his original welding jig, for $400 (they also make the earlier narrow style for $300).

The "rollbar" on the hero cars was just exhaust tubing; a main hoop plus a diagonal crossbar. Easy and dirt cheap.

I wouldn't worry at all about the factory color of the interior; Warner Bros certainly didn't. The early General Lees had various factory colors of interior, usually saddle tan, but not always. The later ones were all painted the same color, a very light tan or beige color, much lighter than factory saddle tan (SEM Light Buckskin #15093 will do the trick). They did this even to cars that already had a factory saddle tan interior. They also indiscriminately painted pretty much everything the same beige color, including the instrument cluster, metal dash top, and steering wheel.

 good picture      , not seen that picture for years , think that's a R/T  charger  

[chargerboy69]

This one on E-Bay is up over $20 grand already. . .  and she is a little rough. A quick paint job sprayed over. . what?  The interior needs a lot of work.  The engine compartment painted with the engine in is a big . . no. I would not give $20 for this car even if it is rock solid, which I am guessing it is not.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge-Charger-COUPE-1969-s-matching-dodge-charger-general-lee-custom-interior-dukes-of-hazzard-/221291240802?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3385fc5d62&vxp=mtr

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

Not long ago, I picked-up a big block GL for much less of that budget, runs, drives, and looks really good from 10 ft away   It's a proper 1969, w/ tan interior, Vectors, etc.and looks VERY authentic to an "early" GA car. 

Be patient, they are out there...

[ws23rt]

The value and market for chargers seems to be by far the most talked about topic.

On other threads whether a car was born with a pedigree make a real difference for some and others could care less.

The general lee has come to be a part of that topic in that it is almost an option in itself like SE,RT etc.

Dodge established what the charger was and is. And is a beginning  place to refer to in order to answer questions about authenticity.

We all know that the original chargers were assembled with many glitches and those are part of the fun we have trying to find where our cars fall in history.

The questions about the correctness of a general lee is like asking how correct is a clone.

[bill440rt]

A buddy of mine had a built-to-order GL done for him, turn key to his specifications. 383-auto, etc. Built from some company from a shell, repaired using AMD parts. I honestly forget who the builder was.
He paid about $25K for it, and then sunk another $10K into it once he got it fixing stuff.

Looking for a GL?
Try here, you might have more luck:
www.cglfc.com

[MaximRecoil]

A clone is correct (i.e., a correct copy) by definition. If it is not a correct copy, then it is not a clone.

There are many ways to make a correct General Lee because there were hundreds of Warner Brothers General Lees, with no two exactly alike. There are an infinite number of ways to make an incorrect General Lee however.

Some people are obsessed with correctness, such as Bill Packett who made a clone of Wayne Wooten's Warner Brothers closeup General Lee, replicating things as trivial as overspray and date codes on hoses, much like the approach to a Galen Govier approved Hemi car restoration. But most people just want it to basically look right, which means at a minimum:

- 1969 Dodge Charger or a 1968 dressed up as a 1969

- Hemi Orange or Corvette Flame Red paintjob

- Vector wheels (American Racing or Shelby)

- Graphics that match one of the several variations on Warner Brothers General Lees

[Dino]

Don't forget the horn!

Another vote to buy a driver and paint it yourself.  A showroom shiny GL just does not look right to me anyway.  They're supposed to be a bit rough.  I'd probably dye the interior a nice shade of tan instead of using that horrible ultra light tan.  Or have it black.  Plenty GL's were black on the inside and although not correct, it certainly looks better than that light stuff. 

[Ghoste]

Agreed.

[Cooter]

Although my car was up for sale, it has black interior and none of what I refer to as stupid GL stuff on it.
Ie fake roll bars, antenna, CB...
It is a 20 footer, but will require some bodywork as it needs  dr side quarter.
Only $15k was asking though.
440 5 speed.

[Bandit72]

are you still thinking about selling it? If so when the time comes i might definitally look you up. I can live with a black interior until i could get it dyed i guess 

[6spd68]

are you still thinking about selling it? If so when the time comes i might definitally look you up. I can live with a black interior until i could get it dyed i guess 

Or sell it to someone like me looking for a Black interior and buy the tan replacements

[MaximRecoil]

Don't forget the horn!

Another vote to buy a driver and paint it yourself.  A showroom shiny GL just does not look right to me anyway.  They're supposed to be a bit rough.  I'd probably dye the interior a nice shade of tan instead of using that horrible ultra light tan.  Or have it black.  Plenty GL's were black on the inside and although not correct, it certainly looks better than that light stuff.  

The horn is a crowd pleaser, but it doesn't affect appearance of course. Most of the Warner Brothers General Lees didn't actually have one; it was just a sound effect dubbed in during post production. Also, the correct-sounding horn is very hard to find, and I'd rather have no horn than one that sounds way off, like all the ones currently on the market do. Incorrect sounding tunes/songs annoy me in general, like when the original singer of a popular song rerecords it some 30 years later to be released on some discount bargain bin CD commissioned by some studio too cheap to pay for the rights to the original recording. You look at the CD, see the singer's name, see that list of classic songs that you know and love, put the CD into the player, and then ... "What the hell is this??"

The correct horn was Jubilee/Jubilaire and there were two available "Dixie" discs for it; the correct one is "Disc 1" (the disc determines the timing of the individual horns, thus determining what tune the horns play). What would be ideal is if you could get a clean high quality copy of the sound effect they dubbed into the show's soundtrack so often. Then you could put it on some type of digital audio player and run it through an amplifier and a horn-loaded compression driver. That way you could make it pretty much as loud as you want, and it would sound exactly right every single time.

I wonder who has access to that original sound effect? It still existed as of 2000, because it was used in that (god-awful) second Dukes of Hazzard reunion movie ("Hazzard in Hollywood"). If it still existed in 2005, the makers of the (also god-awful) Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson movie didn't know about it, because they commissioned some random guy they found on the internet to record the incorrect horn that he had in his General Lee replica, and it of course sounded way off.

Trying to rip it from one of the Dukes of Hazzard episodes on DVD is a lost cause I think, because it is always tainted with other sounds, such as the sound of the engine.

No Warner Brothers General Lee had a black interior that anyone knows of, though there were some that had a brown interior that looks black in some scenes on camera when in shadow. I agree that the light beige color that they painted all of the later General Lee interiors with was ugly. I think it was selected for lighting purposes. If I cared all that much about interior color on a General Lee (which I don't really; black, brown, or tan would all be fine by me), I would go with the factory saddle tan color (most common on early General Lees).

[Cooter]

are you still thinking about selling it? If so when the time comes i might definitally look you up. I can live with a black interior until i could get it dyed i guess 

Yes, but forgive me for saying this.....
I'm not dealing with anymore assholes who want to try and get my junk for peanuts. You come look at it, you bring $15k, we talk, hell who knows you talk right and you might be loading up my junk.
But have no illusions.....I will send your ass packing if you think "we'll he's asking $15k, that means he'll take $7k CASH"...you might as well not even show up.

[Bandit72]

lol fair enough. I looked up your original ad in the classifieds and saw you've already came down from 20 anyways. When the time comes i'll look ya up and maybe we can work out a deal 

[Mike DC]

The horn is a crowd pleaser, but it doesn't affect appearance of course. Most of the Warner Brothers General Lees didn't actually have one; it was just a sound effect dubbed in during post production. Also, the correct-sounding horn is very hard to find, and I'd rather have no horn than one that sounds way off, like all the ones currently on the market do. Incorrect sounding tunes/songs annoy me in general, like when the original singer of a popular song rerecords it some 30 years later to be released on some discount bargain bin CD commissioned by some studio too cheap to pay for the rights to the original recording. You look at the CD, see the singer's name, see that list of classic songs that you know and love, put the CD into the player, and then ... "What the hell is this??"

Show people half a dozen different sounds from existing mechanical horns, and you won't get a consensus on which one is best.  It's like asking what is the best orange paint shade or the best tire size.  Everyone can agree that certain ones are wrong but they won't agree on which is most right.  People like the TV sound clip but that's not achievable with mechanical horns.  

I agree that the light beige color that they painted all of the later General Lee interiors with was ugly. I think it was selected for lighting purposes

The difference between the earlier brown shade and the lighter beige shade does not look as dramatic in person as it does on film or in the paint chip books.  The 35mm film seemed to darken the brown and lighten the beige.  They chose the beige color out of a paint book and it came out lighter than expected but they just went with it.  Lighter interiors are easier to shoot actors inside anyway.   It worked for their purposes.    

[MaximRecoil]

Show people half a dozen different sounds from existing mechanical horns, and you won't get a consensus on which one is best.  It's like asking what is the best orange paint shade or the best tire size.  Everyone can agree that certain ones are wrong but they won't agree on which is most right.  People like the TV sound clip but that's not achievable with mechanical horns.

The TV sound clip was recorded from a real "Dixie horn", so it is achievable. This guy has the right set of horns and disc - http://youtu.be/k1WQW5vMIpA. And here is the same guy with the same set of horns but with "Disc 2" instead of "Disc 1" - http://youtu.be/NmJvcWbPn-0. The tempo is off (too slow), and the relative duration of each note is off as well (so simply speeding the whole thing up wouldn't fix it). And horns that aren't even from the right company (i.e., all of them being manufactured today) are always way off.

[Cooter]

You know how many people have told me my car is incorrect??

I can count them on one hand...however, you got sny idea how many think its a real one from the show???

The national debt number comes closest....

[69wannabe]

My charger was a general for 12 of the 14 years that I have owned it. I never heard much about the black interior being incorrect which of course I would have loved to had the saddle interior but it was a factory black interior car and the interior was in good condition when I got the car and I didn't have the funds to replace every part of the interior with the saddle parts and back then all the interior pieces that are available now wasn't 6 or 7 years ago. Most people would see the pistol grip and notice it was a 4-speed and that was the comments I got about the car. "440 4 speed love the car!!" was most of the responses I got and I enjoyed the uniform and the general is still the reason I have a charger and is one of my favorite cars ever!! Its still orange but with a black R/T stripe and chrome magnum 500's on it now. Still fun as hell to drive too!!

[Brock Lee]

Show people half a dozen different sounds from existing mechanical horns, and you won't get a consensus on which one is best.  It's like asking what is the best orange paint shade or the best tire size.  Everyone can agree that certain ones are wrong but they won't agree on which is most right.  People like the TV sound clip but that's not achievable with mechanical horns.

The TV sound clip was recorded from a real "Dixie horn", so it is achievable. This guy has the right set of horns and disc - http://youtu.be/k1WQW5vMIpA. And here is the same guy with the same set of horns but with "Disc 2" instead of "Disc 1" - http://youtu.be/NmJvcWbPn-0. The tempo is off (too slow), and the relative duration of each note is off as well (so simply speeding the whole thing up wouldn't fix it). And horns that aren't even from the right company (i.e., all of them being manufactured today) are always way off.

The earliest sound clip was a real horn. For much of the show it was actually a clip made of a guy playing the notes on a trumpet. That was confirmed at least 8 years ago.