"I [blank] The Dukes of Hazzard!"

[RT DAVE]

I loved the show, but I don't get that excited when I see the General.   I guess my obsession with Chargers doesn't stem from the show.   

[Dale The Bold]

Hate it, stupid show, dumb characters except for daisy, destroyed too many chargers and spawned

HPLAG

for that

the DOH should never be aired again

By that logic, you're one step away from saying Chargers should never have been put into productions.  That is where it all started.

The '69 Charger was chosen for the show because of its beauty, power, and Nascar history.  The show is basically a tribute to the Charger, by elevating it to "hero" status.

I'm sure it's annoying to own a Charger and not be a fan of the show.  But that's what you have to deal with when you've chosen to own the only car that was good enough for the producers to select for their show.  Basically, you've got to put up with annoyances because both you and Warner Bros. couldn't settle for a lesser car.

You don't have to like the paint scheme, but the replicas are still Chargers being cared for by someone.  If someone painted one pink with little PowerPuff Girls all over it, I'd roll my eyes at it, but still be glad that it's not rotting away or being driven by some drunk.

I think the Charger market is only affected by the Dukes when it comes to fan-affordable cars.  You don't see original hemi cars getting orange paint and a rebel flag, but it is hard to get your hands on a project 318 car because those get bought and sold by dreamers all the time.  The replica builders who aren't mopar guys --or even muscle car guys-- are just buying up cheap cars (parts cars and just a shade above) and restoring them.  That's not a major loss for the hobby, just another annoyance that goes with owning a car good enough to be a legend.

Yeah, I hate it, too.  I hate that it contributed in some small way to the glorification of 'southern culture'.  Some of us in this region don't particularly want to be uneducated hillbillies just a couple years away from tooflessness, spending our days looking at our cousin (the only hot chick within 50 miles), and thrashing a piece of automotive history.  What a life!

Then why does a show that plays against the stereotype of "tooflessness" and inbreeding bother you?  It would be a legitimate complaint if the show really was like that, but we're talking about a show where the country folk outsmart the snobby city dudes every week.  Just like real life, only with corny humor.

[COKE]

When i discovered that show it was a Shock for me .I was  16 years old then,and i didnt think how many cars those guys destroyed for make the show.
I didn,t knew the second gen Chargers then,only third gen.
It is my favourite car since  the first time i saw the Dukes show.

In the Dukes times(Latest 70´s earlies 80´s) the 69 Charger was only an old car.
But in these days,to destroy more than 20 of these cars,like they have done, to make that  horriblus movie,it,s a crime.

[squeakfinder]

I think it was 28 more that bit the dust for the movie. I just don't get it. With all the technology to do special effects with computers why screw up that many cars. About a year an a half or two before the movie came out I was on ebay shopping for parts for my 68. In about a 6 month time frame I watched parts double an triple in price. Do you think there is any connection with the fact that the movie makers were on the internet buying parts at the same time? It wasn't that long ago I was finding floor shift steering column's $20.00 plus shipping. Just one example.

[694spdRT]

I think it was 28 more that bit the dust for the movie. I just don't get it. With all the technology to do special effects with computers why screw up that many cars.

I would imagine the answer is cost. Wrecking real cars is easier and much cheaper than the time and production costs required to recreate the same scenes using special effects. With a reported cost of $53 million to make the movie 28 Chargers is more or less a drop in the bucket of the total budget. I would bet one of the last things on the film company's "worry" list would be saving a few old Chargers. A much bigger concern was probably whether they had enough stunt cars to finish production so several were jumped numerous times.

Chargers and parts have been rising steadily for years. Many of us noticed a sharp jump right at the time the movie came out but, I think that has slowed some. The main drive behind this market are the baby boomers that want the cars they had or didn't get to have when they were young. 

[Ghoste]

I can remember whining to my pals about the price of parts taking a big jump because of DOH back when the series came on tv as well, so it isn't a new phenomenon.

[Mike DC]

I think it was 28 more that bit the dust for the movie. I just don't get it. With all the technology to do special effects with computers why screw up that many cars?

Yeah, it was costs and realism.

Coomputer FX prices vary according to the job, but they often cost something like $50,000 PER SHOT.  The average GL jump would be a quarter-million-dollar stunt that those rates. 

And when's the last time computer FX ever looked as real as the old-school stuff?  Among producers & directors in Hollywood, it's getting to be a source of pride to say "We didn't do a lot of digital stuff in this movie.  We did the real thing whenever we could."

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We didn't lose 28 Chargers for the "Dukes" movie.  They purchased about 26-28 Charger VIN numbers in total, but many of them were rusty shells & parts-cars used for in-car shots.  They never had 28 Chargers assembled & running at any time during the shoot.  (More like half that many.) 

They only really wrecked or hacked up about 5-8 usable Chargers.

       

[doctorpimp]

I loved the show when I was a kid, I couldn't wait for Fridays just so I could watch it
I hated the movie though.  Jess was hot, but the movie was like any other re-make (ie: Starsky and Hutch) movie : a let down.
I love the replica cars, of all years and body styles.  It was one of the coolest car schemes ever

[squeakfinder]

Jess was hot?

[squeakfinder]

Oh wait a minute your talking about Jessica Simpson aren't you?

At first I thought you ment uncle Jessy!

[69charger2002]

QUOTE FROM ROTSPARTS:
I think it was 28 more that bit the dust for the movie. I just don't get it. With all the technology to do special effects with computers why screw up that many cars. About a year an a half or two before the movie came out I was on ebay shopping for parts for my 68. In about a 6 month time frame I watched parts double an triple in price. Do you think there is any connection with the fact that the movie makers were on the internet buying parts at the same time? It wasn't that long ago I was finding floor shift steering column's $20.00 plus shipping. Just one example.



funny you mention that, because that is EXACTLY why 28 more DIDN'T bite the dust.. technology and special effects helped only 5 or so cars get destroyed.. including one that i owned after that they legitimately jumped 2 times.. and best of all, they never ruined a 318, 383, or 440 in the process.. i was there every day.. and the cars they got to begin with, i doubt half would have been considered fixable.. ESPECIALLY the 2 i sold them for the movie. i wouldn't have been able to sell those 2 on here for $500 each as parts cars.. so read your facts first.. by the way i sold them 6 floor shift steering columns for the movie at $50 each.. those have just been getting harder to find period.. when parts get harder to find, they go up. the movie didn't have much to do with why you can't find a column for $20 anymore
trav

[doctorpimp]

Oh wait a minute your talking about Jessica Simpson aren't you?

At first I thought you ment uncle Jessy!

Sorry, I didn't see the connection when I wrote it.
I should have said Daisy...

[squeakfinder]

69charger2002

If it were 5 or so cars instead of 28 I'm not so big that I can't admit being wrong. At the end of the movie they state 28 cars were used. So I don't know what people are supposed to think.

But Hollywood dose have an effect on collectible items. In some cases it is just for a short time. An example is Marvel Comic books. After the X Men movie came out The Incredible Hulk #181 skyrocked to thousands of dollars (depending on condition). Why? It was the first appearance of the character Wolverine.

I don't think when parts double tipple or quadruple in price over a year's time it's considered a gradual increase.

[austinpalibroda]

I love the dukes of hazzard.  I'm sure I've seen every episode at least once, and most twice. i watched it every day after school when i was younger.  it sucks how they wrecked so many cars, but it made our chargers even more popular and noticed today.  The dukes of Hazzard is probly one of the biggest reasons my fav car is the dodge charger, especailly when i was younger!

[Mike DC]

"Dukes" movies & TV shows can spike the Charger prices from time to time.  (Early 2005 was not a good time to shop for a '69 project, that's for sure.)

But they're just spikes, not a real permanent condition.  A movie studio can't manufacture a real price increase without huge numbers of real fans being willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on the cars for a long time after the fad dies down.

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No modern movie is gonna ever hook fans the way the old TV series did.  Not even if they did a very good job on another movie.  The cars are just too old & expensive for younger kids to relate to it the way they did 25 years ago, and a few movies isn't the same as a weekly show that goes on for years.

.

[Headrope]

Why is the anger directed only at the movie and television studios? The cars were offered.

If everyone is so determined to save second Gen cars from being "wasted" in television and film, they should organize and do something about it. Find investors, start a corporation, combine the various registries, buy the cars worth saving, lobby collectively against destructive use of cars in movies  - anything other than complain on an Internet message board about it after the fact.

Complaining about television shows or movies for destroying Chargers now is similar to complaining now about the Charger having four doors. The new Charger didn't come out until five years after the much-beloved Charger concept in '99 - which also had four doors. Perhaps something could have been done between concept and reality, but certainly not after the car went into production. Hundreds of second Gens are said to have been used for the "Dukes of Hazzard" television series, 28 - perhaps - in the film; the film was quite a few years after the television series.

My intention is not to turn this into a Charger debate. If you feel you have to beat that dead horse again you can pm me. My point is that It might be ourselves we should be angry with for allowing cars to be destroyed for entertainment. Not the studios.

I enjoyed The Dukes of Hazzard series. The only thing I liked about the movie was that it featured boobies.

[keithduke01]

when i voted the "love it"s had 76% of the votes.  seems like a fairly good majority to me, and just like so many have already said, if it werent for the dukes i would not have been introduced into the baddest car and manufacturer in the world!!  i think all of you who hate it just need to QYB(Quit Your Bitching!) and turn your head if you dont like what you see with the general lee.  i dont plan on turning my charger into a general lee right now, but i have about six different ideas for my car, everything from an all original resto to a general to a pro touring to a pro street.  like my quote says, a muscle car is always a work in progress, because there are so many options for building them, i would like to experience all of these types of chargers and gain the experience converting them back and forth.  if you dont like it then move on!!

[keithduke01]

for those haters, you should buy the dukes season six, just so you can listen to the stunt coordinator talk about how well the chargers were designed for reliability, and how rugged they were.  the designers chose the charger because nothing else held a candle to its design and stock power.  another thing, most of those cars were jumped at least three times before they were completely tossed, and even then, the totaled cars were used for intereior shots and promotional vehicles, after they were filled with bondo and straightened out so they would appear straight to the untrained eye.  the stunts in the show included standing the car up on two wheels which only testifies to the skills of the stunt drivers to stand a full size car up and control it.  remeber none of the stunts were computerized until almost the end of the show, and one creek jump was actually a record holder for a long time!!

[Spike]

This is like talking about the 4 door Charger, beat to death, make it go away.

[defiance]

 

[squeakfinder]

 
     


   

[71charger_fan]

For me, I don't believe loathe would be too strong of a word.

[Lowprofile]

Never liked the show.

Loved Daisy

Hated the fact that Lots of Chargers got twisted like pretzels

On the reverse side of the coin...........

Lots of Chargers got saved by loyal DOH Fans........a saved Charger is always a good thing.

Many members on this board are DOH fans and have built/restored many a beautiful Charger to General Lee specs........My hat is off to you all. 

My only concern these days is the destruction of Chargers at these "Dukefest" days just to sell tickets to the general public    .......very sad

[73dodge]

 
     


   

How appropriate they show this one in a body bag

[Supercharged Riot]

I think the Dukes do more harm than good. They might glorify Chargers. But they kill off like 35 Chargers per movie they make. They bought a mixed number of 35 2nd Gen Chargers for the last movie and a good portion of them have body damage to them and last but not least demolished from those crazy jumps (when they SHOULD have computer simulated those jumps)


...in other words I hate em