LEE1 video...where is it?

[Brock Lee]

Now that a few years have gone by, someone who was there to see Lee1 being built should come out and say: "Here's what was really done and why".

And that has happened. But because the truth doesn't jive with the fiction that has been embraced, they are are called out as lying. You get to a point where it is a no win situation and simply not worth the energy.

[sanders7981]

With all the facts that could be put together from those that know, it's possible...  If the "collectors" that have the original items would chime in that would add some hard truths to the B.S.

[GL#10]

Lee-1 could have been restored using most of lee-1
, the cut and shut was done purely to save time
and get it finished for the Covington event.
 
All of this has been gone over , gone through years ago in
The DOH hobby .

The proof is in the pictures .

[CornDogsCharger]

I'll chime in and say which parts I got.  The picture of the front and rear valance panels was my photo.  I ended up with them as I traded parts that were needed for the restoration.  I really only wanted the front valance though, so I decided to sell the rear valance on ebay... it sold for more than I would have imagined... and it went to Alabama.

As for people not chiming in on what parts they have, or what they know.... like GL#10 said; it's all been discussed before on this forum and other forums. Not all parties involved may even visit this board, not to mention that they may not even be reading this topic of discussion.  I do know that all exterior body panels were sold/traded off to individuals who were friends of Travis (at the time of the restoration), but I do not know exactly who got what.  Travis kept the #71 door and then later sold it on ebay.  The roof panel went to Canada.  What was left of the inner structure that was removed from Lee 1 was behind Travis' house for some time, as well as the roll cage that was removed.  I do not know where these parts are today though.

Justin
"CornDog"


This is where I got John Schneider to autograph my Lee 1 parts.  He walked out to my truck, autographed them, then sat on my tailgate for 30-45 minutes telling stories.  It was a cool moment!


This picture is pretty much self-explainatory.


Rear half removed from Lee 1.  You can also see one of the slotted wheels from the car in the background.



Roof panel in Canada

[sanders7981]

^^^^ great pics!  Not trying to put any of you guys on blast when I said "collectors".  I just don't know who they all are.  I heard about the guy in Canada and the Netherlands but I also read they were fearing repercussions for taken possession of the parts. 

[CornDogsCharger]

When the parts were sold off. We were told that Marvin (owner of Lee 1 at the time) wanted the true fans to have a piece of the car. Since there were more fans than available car parts, Travis had to pick and choose who got what. He didn't really want everyone broadcasting what they got because he didn't want his phone to ring off the hook with people saying "why did ____ get a part and I didnt?" or just random calls from people wanting parts.  Do going into it, everyone was kind of hush-hush about what they bought.

Well in reality, come to find out later, Marvin wanted anything that came off the car. Well to fix this problem, Travis just told Marvin that the sheet metal was in such bad shape that it was cut off the car and scrapped... with the exception of the roof and the door.  He said the original roof was stripped and re-applied to the body when it really wasn't.  After the car was finished, Travis eBay'd the original 71 door, smashed oil pan, and a number of other small parts.

As for the parts car that was used, Travis found a nice 69 body on eBay for cheap. I believe the car was fairly local to him too. Someone took a nice body and cut a lot of the inner structure to put air ride suspension on it. The body was nice but the work done to the car pretty much ruined it.  This made the car a perfect candidate for the Lee1 project.

Justin
"CornDog"

[Ghoste]

Did Marvin ever discover what happened?

[Cooter]

Again, any true fan wouldn't have done this to Lee 1.

[Homerr]

Thanks for letting us known what happened CornDog.

[tan top]

Thanks for letting us known what happened CornDog.

   thanks for the info guys    

been reading through the two threads below ,  not wanting to stir it up ,  lee 1 is a train wreck !! , what was  done for ever reason , don't want to get into who did this & who did what , i'm just a  charger nut &  the car that interests me only ( no offence ment to anyone  ) , we all know what goes on in body shops or who ever works in one knows what goes on ! & how some cars are repaired ,  I can buy all the exterior body panels , like hood , fenders  , doors , deck lid , rear quarters , front & rear valances & rear tail lamp panel etc  were replaced that's inevitable    ,  the roof looked good  in the pictures , & was a sure candidate for being removed & sold to a DOH fan / collector , was just too much of a temptation not to do it !! how ever wrong it was , but why cut all the  the inner panels out  ,  then  weld on , cut & shut  the rear 80% of another  charger  on to  lee ones twisted up front end with damaged inner fenders & frame rails ,  prolly all be it have been pulled straight ! but  ! what was the point ,  then go to all the trouble or re creating the lettering & how it was originally painted    still they did do a awesome job !! & it does look  real good !! should of kept all the inner panels / structure & Roof , then its still LEE 1  IMO

http://www.cglfc.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10731

http://www.cglfc.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13567

interesting  pictures below  

http://www.mygenerallee.com/target6.html


course nother spin on this  , maybe should of been restored to as jumped & landed condition   or just left as found  !!  


bottem line , people see things in different ways !! to some !! its  the real lee one !!   to others its a 69 charger that's been sort of reversed  cut & shut  / clipped ,  with Lee ones twisted up front end & 90 percent of the floor on a other wise good charger body  

[Mikesmoparperformance]

I planned to keep only the front valance but about two years ago a guy from the Netherlands sends me an email wondering if I still had any parts from Lee 1 that I would be interested in selling.  I told him what I had and that i really didn't want to sell it.  He wanted it way worse than I did... so off it went.  


This is where I got John Schneider to autograph my Lee 1 parts.  He walked out to my truck, autographed them, then sat on my tailgate for 30-45 minutes telling stories.  It was a cool moment!

I delected this..

[CornDogsCharger]

Deleted comments about front valance...

Justin
"CornDog"

[Ghoste]

Ironically, an autographed part like that valence is probably a more significant memento than what is now portrayed as LEE1.

[Cooter]

As are the 'destroyed' Chargers........

[Mikesmoparperformance]

I have delected this..Because of the owner..

[tan top]

I have delected this..Because of the owner..

    removed as per instructions        

[Dreamcar]

Post removed as requested

[Brock Lee]

When the parts were sold off. We were told that Marvin (owner of Lee 1 at the time) wanted the true fans to have a piece of the car. Since there were more fans than available car parts, Travis had to pick and choose who got what. He didn't really want everyone broadcasting what they got because he didn't want his phone to ring off the hook with people saying "why did ____ get a part and I didnt?" or just random calls from people wanting parts.  Do going into it, everyone was kind of hush-hush about what they bought.

Well in reality, come to find out later, Marvin wanted anything that came off the car. Well to fix this problem, Travis just told Marvin that the sheet metal was in such bad shape that it was cut off the car and scrapped... with the exception of the roof and the door.  He said the original roof was stripped and re-applied to the body when it really wasn't.  After the car was finished, Travis eBay'd the original 71 door, smashed oil pan, and a number of other small parts.

"CornDog"

More misinformation.

Marvin wanted all non-reuseable 71 car parts destroyed. Period. He even related to me he wanted all 71 car pictures on Travis' website removed. His initial goal was to remove all evidence of the 71 cars existence. Why? I don't know, but I told him he was crazy.

Near the end of the job he changed his mind. Now he wanted all remaining parts not yet trashed salvaged. He wanted to give the seat to Ben Jones. He had plans of selling some parts to fans that contacted him. I was told any parts I thought I could use on my Charger I could have. His son came up and hauled most of what was leftover back to Florida. Last I knew they had spent years outside rotting away and have likely been thrown away by now. After Jim's Auto went out of business (where we did much of the re-assembly work) last year, we found some misc parts, like the front bumper and some odds and ends.

The crushed oil pan, the crushed gas tank, the broken e-brake pedal, and the 71 door were eBayed by Marvin, not Travis. His son found out about this and told him to stop selling the parts as it was killing "the image"of the car. The 71 door really didn't sell. I wanted it and had him put a huge reserve on it that was never met. Today it sits in my living room with an inch of dust on it. It is abouut to get moved to the garage.

One of my goals after the car was unveiled, was to slowly re-install some parts that could be fixed or tweaked. But Marvin was done putting money into the car itself and started throwing money at people whom claimed they could help him market and sell the car. Against my advice. I couldn't even get him to pay the storage fees. One day I went to go check on it and the door was padlocked. I got the car out and brought it home. It stayed with me and he commented "That is how it should have been from day one. I never understood why I had to pay to store it anywhere."

I even offered Bubba the things I felt should go back in the car. He simply did not care. He told me what ratty parts were left he was likely going to have changed anyway ("Its gotta be clean and nice, I don't want junky looking stuff in it"). The first things on his agenda was to ditch the windshield and cut out the cage. I am not sure if the cage ever happened, but I know the windshield ended up in the trash.

I can go on and on and on about the misinformation. I wont. It isn't worth the energy, I don't care what people think, I have nothing to lose or gain. As far as me leaving the "scene", it has nothing to do with Lee1 and everything to do with the fact I never fit in with the bulk of the community. These are not "my people", and while I met lots of great people over the years, I quickly tired of conservative Christian small talk that inevitably happens.

[Dreamcar]

When the parts were sold off. We were told that Marvin (owner of Lee 1 at the time) wanted the true fans to have a piece of the car. Since there were more fans than available car parts, Travis had to pick and choose who got what. He didn't really want everyone broadcasting what they got because he didn't want his phone to ring off the hook with people saying "why did ____ get a part and I didnt?" or just random calls from people wanting parts.  Do going into it, everyone was kind of hush-hush about what they bought.

Well in reality, come to find out later, Marvin wanted anything that came off the car. Well to fix this problem, Travis just told Marvin that the sheet metal was in such bad shape that it was cut off the car and scrapped... with the exception of the roof and the door.  He said the original roof was stripped and re-applied to the body when it really wasn't.  After the car was finished, Travis eBay'd the original 71 door, smashed oil pan, and a number of other small parts.

"CornDog"

More misinformation.

Marvin wanted all non-reuseable 71 car parts destroyed. Period. He even related to me he wanted all 71 car pictures on Travis' website removed. His initial goal was to remove all evidence of the 71 cars existence. Why? I don't know, but I told him he was crazy.

Near the end of the job he changed his mind. Now he wanted all remaining parts not yet trashed salvaged. He wanted to give the seat to Ben Jones. He had plans of selling some parts to fans that contacted him. I was told any parts I thought I could use on my Charger I could have. His son came up and hauled most of what was leftover back to Florida. Last I knew they had spent years outside rotting away and have likely been thrown away by now. After Jim's Auto went out of business (where we did much of the re-assembly work) last year, we found some misc parts, like the front bumper and some odds and ends.

The crushed oil pan, the crushed gas tank, the broken e-brake pedal, and the 71 door were eBayed by Marvin, not Travis. His son found out about this and told him to stop selling the parts as it was killing "the image"of the car. The 71 door really didn't sell. I wanted it and had him put a huge reserve on it that was never met. Today it sits in my living room with an inch of dust on it. It is abouut to get moved to the garage.

One of my goals after the car was unveiled, was to slowly re-install some parts that could be fixed or tweaked. But Marvin was done putting money into the car itself and started throwing money at people whom claimed they could help him market and sell the car. Against my advice. I couldn't even get him to pay the storage fees. One day I went to go check on it and the door was padlocked. I got the car out and brought it home. It stayed with me and he commented "That is how it should have been from day one. I never understood why I had to pay to store it anywhere."

I even offered Bubba the things I felt should go back in the car. He simply did not care. He told me what ratty parts were left he was likely going to have changed anyway ("Its gotta be clean and nice, I don't want junky looking stuff in it"). The first things on his agenda was to ditch the windshield and cut out the cage. I am not sure if the cage ever happened, but I know the windshield ended up in the trash.

The fact you tried to put back what was taken off is nice to hear. Maybe if Lee 1 ever gets sold the next owner may be willing to work with you.

[Brock Lee]

I would do it in a heartbeat. But you know what? It doesn't matter anymore. The cars level of originality is already not being accurately portrayed. It never will be. The agenda that has been going on is to crap all over the work Travis Bell did. That will always continue and the BS will just become more and more exaggerated in time.

[jaak]

I would do it in a heartbeat. But you know what? It doesn't matter anymore. The cars level of originality is already not being accurately portrayed. It never will be. The agenda that has been going on is to crap all over the work Travis Bell did. That will always continue and the BS will just become more and more exaggerated in time.

Were you part of the build team?


Jason

[Brock Lee]

Yes, I am Jim Shine.

[tan top]

Yes, I am Jim Shine.

When the parts were sold off. We were told that Marvin (owner of Lee 1 at the time) wanted the true fans to have a piece of the car. Since there were more fans than available car parts, Travis had to pick and choose who got what. He didn't really want everyone broadcasting what they got because he didn't want his phone to ring off the hook with people saying "why did ____ get a part and I didnt?" or just random calls from people wanting parts.  Do going into it, everyone was kind of hush-hush about what they bought.

Well in reality, come to find out later, Marvin wanted anything that came off the car. Well to fix this problem, Travis just told Marvin that the sheet metal was in such bad shape that it was cut off the car and scrapped... with the exception of the roof and the door.  He said the original roof was stripped and re-applied to the body when it really wasn't.  After the car was finished, Travis eBay'd the original 71 door, smashed oil pan, and a number of other small parts.

"CornDog"

More misinformation.

Marvin wanted all non-reuseable 71 car parts destroyed. Period. He even related to me he wanted all 71 car pictures on Travis' website removed. His initial goal was to remove all evidence of the 71 cars existence. Why? I don't know, but I told him he was crazy.

Near the end of the job he changed his mind. Now he wanted all remaining parts not yet trashed salvaged. He wanted to give the seat to Ben Jones. He had plans of selling some parts to fans that contacted him. I was told any parts I thought I could use on my Charger I could have. His son came up and hauled most of what was leftover back to Florida. Last I knew they had spent years outside rotting away and have likely been thrown away by now. After Jim's Auto went out of business (where we did much of the re-assembly work) last year, we found some misc parts, like the front bumper and some odds and ends.

The crushed oil pan, the crushed gas tank, the broken e-brake pedal, and the 71 door were eBayed by Marvin, not Travis. His son found out about this and told him to stop selling the parts as it was killing "the image"of the car. The 71 door really didn't sell. I wanted it and had him put a huge reserve on it that was never met. Today it sits in my living room with an inch of dust on it. It is abouut to get moved to the garage.

One of my goals after the car was unveiled, was to slowly re-install some parts that could be fixed or tweaked. But Marvin was done putting money into the car itself and started throwing money at people whom claimed they could help him market and sell the car. Against my advice. I couldn't even get him to pay the storage fees. One day I went to go check on it and the door was padlocked. I got the car out and brought it home. It stayed with me and he commented "That is how it should have been from day one. I never understood why I had to pay to store it anywhere."

I even offered Bubba the things I felt should go back in the car. He simply did not care. He told me what ratty parts were left he was likely going to have changed anyway ("Its gotta be clean and nice, I don't want junky looking stuff in it"). The first things on his agenda was to ditch the windshield and cut out the cage. I am not sure if the cage ever happened, but I know the windshield ended up in the trash.

I can go on and on and on about the misinformation. I wont. It isn't worth the energy, I don't care what people think, I have nothing to lose or gain. As far as me leaving the "scene", it has nothing to do with Lee1 and everything to do with the fact I never fit in with the bulk of the community. These are not "my people", and while I met lots of great people over the years, I quickly tired of conservative Christian small talk that inevitably happens.

thanks for sharing this info on LEE 1 Jim    ,  can understand you not wanting to go over the story what happened etc  but   if you ever feel the need to share all the story & or any pictures again sometime  , would love to  see & read about it , if not ! no biggie ,  

[Homerr]

Hi Jim.  It's been a confusing read as a newcomer to all this.  And now to know that you are Brock Lee helps, I couldn't understand your connection before.

I'm not sure that Corndog meant to spread misinformation, he notes "we were told" at the beginning of is statement.  And it sounds like directions changed during the project.  Maybe what "we were told" held some opinions and hearsay mixed in with some facts, maybe some other agendas too.  And then we here have a few people that know a sliver of the story trying to help make an overall picture. 

I'm glad you posted and hope you'll write more about Lee1.  As a primary source your input can clarify much of what happened during the restoration.  I'd really like to read/hear what Marvin and Travis have to say as well.  Are there any posts or youtube videos of them that you can recommend?  And most of what I know about Lee1 comes from the video posted earlier in this thread of you talking about the car while walking around it.  Have you done other talks or posted elsewhere about it?

[Brock Lee]

I can't think of any videos. Pretty much what is out there is what is out there. After comments like "He is lying" in that walk around video, I really don't care to do anything else.

I understand the "we were told"... but to take that information as fact is silly. There are a lot of things that are "said" that are not true. Especially in the Dukes hobby.

Last I knew, Marvin has moved on 100% from all that. When the car sold he told me the best part of it was to be able to move on to other things.

Travis moved on from all that years ago.

I have saved everything I could. There was a time I planned on doing something (not sure what) with it all, but as the years pass and the distance grows, the less interested I am in revisiting it. But you never know, that could change someday.

And a really good question is "why come out now". That is a damn good question. Over the past year I have felt this desire to put all of that in my past. I guess this is one step in that direction. Put out my thoughts and feelings out there, say my peace, close that chapter.

One more thing to let people understand my position. One day I went to Don Schisler's house. He was putting a Mustang together for his daughters 50th birthday. I helped him. We talked about cars all day. We talked about Lee1 a bit. Before I left he said to me "I know what the kids are saying. It is juvenile. I have seen the car and I cannot tell you how impressed I am with it. Whatever happened, the right choices were made. I am proud of what you guys did with that car." From that moment on I never cared about what anyone else thought.