Quick intro- 1965gp's GL build

[1965gp]

Been lurking / randomly posting for a few weeks and thought I would introduce myself...

Name is Jeremy, based in Houston and about 1/3 through my GL build. Traditionally a Pontiac guy I have always loved Chargers. I, like quite a few others grew up watching the dukes on Friday nights which probably helped spur my interest. Looking on and off over the years I finally had a rust free example show up within reasonable distance.

I bought a 69 383 auto car that looks like it had been restored at one time and then disassembled again. The good thing is that someone already did a fairly good job replacing the quarters and trunk. I did have a little rust to deal with in the doors and lower fenders but nothing my friends shop couldn't handle.

Here are some pics of when I picked it up:





Here is a pic of when we painted the jambs and sprayed it with gloss to use as a guide coat:



Here are some photos after blocking:





Finally- home after I get the right wheels and graphics on:



Most recently here after I took the grill apart, wrapped in fiberglass and resin and painted:





Just wanted to introduce myself and thank everyone for their help so far- everyone has been very helpful so far answering questions that probably seem common sense to mopar guys!

[Ghoste]

Nice transformation.  Is it in the 69 registry?

[1965gp]

Good question- not by me but could have been. I will have to send the info. PM to you?

[familymopar]

Great looking General!  Can't wait to see it around!

[tan top]

    looks good   

[Cooter]

 

[GL#10]

Looks like you started out with a solid charger , looks good , i see the small pushbar , Ga era or early california style you going for


Great work 

[1965gp]

I think we went early CA- I didn't really know about all of the differences until I got into the build. I got the decals from crzy c and told him the car was flame red and had the small push bar so point me in the right direction.

I think we went early CA but honestly I looked at the differences for weeks on end and just confused myself!

Next up is interior- hoping to place the order this week. Going with the Legendary Dukes tan as I think that's the closest to the early color.

[Baldwinvette77]

I like it 

Also like how it looked before you started 

[Mike DC]

Next up is interior- hoping to place the order this week. Going with the Legendary Dukes tan as I think that's the closest to the early color.

Legendary DOH tan is the wrong one for a small pushbar.  You want the factory "Saddle Tan" color.  

-------------------------


Cliff Notes version of GL history (TV series only):  

For the first half of the TV series, the studio subcontracted out the job of building cars to local Georgia & California shops.  

In the later half of the series  the studio gave the show's on-set car maintenance crew a shop and let them build their own cars in-house.  There are lots of small differences over the years but it's mainly these two groups.  


Subcontracted cars:  

-- Small pushbars.  
-- Saddle Tan interiors, other colors were painted a similar brown
-- rollbars painted tan/brown
-- '69s still had visible signal lights


Warner Bros built cars:

-- wider pushbars
-- light beige "Buckskin" paint (<-- Legendary's GL color) sprayed over ALL interiors.
-- black rollbars
-- ALL signal lights gone, all years



The big switch happened in the middle of season#4.  The car details changed partly because the show had gotten fan letters noticing inconsistent stuff.  The pushbars were changed because the smaller pushbar (out of a catalog, made for some small truck) didn't protect very well.  The wider bars were custom-made by the studio's ramp & rollcage fabricator.

Sometimes you see both styles in a single episode.  But you aren't really seeing that, it's just bits of recycled footage from previous seasons.  

[Ghoste]

Good question- not by me but could have been. I will have to send the info. PM to you?

Yeah, I can check quickly with the VIN.

[1965gp]

I am glad you mentioned this then- I was under the impression the dukes tan was the darker color?

[marshallfry01]

That's a super nice GTO you have there.  Gotta love those Pontiacs!!

[Mike DC]

 

I am glad you mentioned this then- I was under the impression the dukes tan was the darker color?

Yeah, the Legendary "General Lee" color is the lighter one of the two '69 Charger tan shades they carry.  It's VERY light, even a bit lighter than the Buckskin color sometimes looked on TV.

[Dino]

I hate the super light tan, just doesn't look right.  Now a nice saddle interior on the other hand!   

Great looking GL, excellent work.   

[1965gp]

Thanks for the comment on the silver 70- it's actually a LeMans. My dad bought that car in 75 right before they had their second kid (me); so that is actually the car I rode home from the hospital in. I pretty much destroyed it in high school, then a tree fell on it and our 70 GTO, then about 10 years later I pulled it from the barn and restored it. Driving it is like driving a time machine because that's the car I remember growing up.

Here is a pic of the 70 LeMans and the 70 GTO at a show here in Houston. You can also see the front of our 69 Trans Am clone:

[1965gp]

Finally some more progress of the General- got the front and rear windows and stainless in, painted the dash, bumper mounted and most importantly I finally got to mount my license plate!

[Baldwinvette77]

That plate will definatley clear up the question "are you Bo or Luke Duke"? i've gotten that couple times so far  ... ok maybe more like 8 or 9 times

[1965gp]

Yea I was playing around on www.myplates.com (our vanity plates are done by a private company) and saw this was available. Wife thinks I am an idiot for buying them but that's not anything new...

Got new plugs and wires on today and it runs like a different car. Eventually I will look into an aftermarket ignition/dist but for right now I just want the car drive able.

I did try to install a pertronix ignitor II and had no luck. Anyone have one of these installed? I have one on my GTO and it works great.  The instructions are pretty straight forward so I am wondering if I possibly got a bad module? Car ran fine with the points but would not fire after the module was installed. I will call their tech line tomorrow to see what the suggest.

[1965gp]

So I was looking at the calendar and realized I have about 10 weeks of work left to get this car ready for our local Autorama. As part of the deal with my painter; I always try to have a car or two ready for him to enter for him to advertise his driver quality paint jobs. Our plan was to put in the General Lee and my wife's Smokey and the Bandit TA he painted last year...

Loking at the car I am going to have to change my plan a little. The car still starts right up and drives fine- since my last post I have put on new coated headers and flowmasters. Brakes need to be bled but other than that it moves and stops under its own power pretty good.

Original plan was to go through the front suspension the same time as I went through the interior. Was going to go with aftermarket steering box, control arms, sway bars, etc. with the time crunch I am thinking of postponing the front end work. There is a popping coming from the front end so I am just going to have the local shop check it out and fix it with oem parts and bleed the brakes. Hate bleeding brakes!  I will go back and upgrade the front end later.

I have the interior on order from legendary- starting pretty much from scratch. I am going to coat the floors with POR 15 this week, then lay down dynamat and the dynaliner. I figure while the car is at the shop getting the brakes and front end fixed I can recover the seats.  That way when I get the car back it's pretty much just installing the carpet, seats and door panels.

So once the seats are in the car is about 70% there. Then I can move on to the headliner, engine compartment and misc details I can use to clean the car up.

Last things I have to track down is a rear seat (might have found one) and parking lights/turn signals.

Sorry for the long post- going to be a challenge to get it all done since I travel for work a lot but I'm trying to psych myself up for it and make sure I haven't left anything out.

Ultimately I will be very happy if I get to the point where I can paint and detail the undercarriage by the show.

[1965gp]

Family mopar reminded me that I hadn't updated this in a while. Due to the long delivery of the rallye seats from legendary I ended up changing the sequence of my build.

After painting the inside of the flood with por 15 a laid down the dynamat and dynaliner. Huge benefit from the dynamat in the doors. Sounds much more solid now.

Here is the floor after cleaning- note the seam where it looks like they patched the floor?




And here is where I was laying out the dynamat:


Then I went under the car and got to work. Degreaser, pressure washer, degreaser, pressure washer and finally went over it with paint thinner. I rolled por 15 on the bottom and was able to get decent coverage. I went over it with spray can semi gloss to even out the look- sorry for bad iPhone pics:

[1965gp]

Then it was time to look at the engine bay. Since the hood is not up on many episodes there isn't too much to go off of. These are the pics I used for reference (thanks Mark!):




Here it is after lots of cleaning and painting. I know- it's black. I would have preferred body color but trying to stay in line with the show and wasn't happy with the orange finish so it got sprayed. Don't worry- master cylinder is getting replaced.





Now I just need to blast the hinges and paint. I am thinking a cast gray color to break up the black.

Finally- start on the interior. I got the carpet in, console in, seat belts, a pillars and kick panels (thanks Indy General Lee- awesome seller) and painted the lower pads / installed upper pad. Sorry for the crappy pic- it was really late and I was ... Err...really drunk:




So- while I still have a ways to go, getting the door panels and seats in will be a huge step. Then it is suspension/brakes, headliner, and about 9000 little things I am not happy with. Progress is progress I guess.

One thing I am unsure of- the car had had quarters, rockers, floor and trunk floor put in. What I don't get is why the entire floor/ jams, dash, etc were painted dark red? That would have to have been done after panel replacement but this was clearly not a rotisserie resto by any means. The underside had some red on it too but that could have been overspray.

All in all I am extremely happy with the progress so far.

[JB400]

Looks good

                 

[Indygenerallee]

Good to see the kick panels and a pillar trim put to good use!! Looks real nice!! 

[1965gp]

You were right- fantastic condition. Not brittle at all and took the paint great. I really appreciate the hook up!

[fy469rtse]

Easy answer on the red on floors, donor car was red , car looks great 

[mightywing7]

Great progress.....looks great!! 

Keep the updates coming!

[tan top]

  good stuff 

[1965gp]

Thanks guys- hoping to have the seats done in the next couple of weeks and I can actually drive the damn thing!

[tcs69rt]

Looks cool! I could not help noticing the 25th Anniversary TA up on the lift! I had one that was a manual with T-tops. I was told they only made 150+ with manuals trans out of 1250 cars made??? Maybe you can educate me, thanks!

[1965gp]

I think they made 2500 94 anniversary cars. There were a handful of hard tops and a couple hundred convertibles.

I think it was about a 60/40 split between auto/manual. So rare yes, but more like 1 of 1100 instead of 150.

I've wanted one since high school (graduated in 94). They held their value for quite a while. This particular car was a mess when I bought it. Had chickens living inside and a pit bull on the roof when I got there. It did run though so that was a plus.

New paint, interior, big stereo and drop kit make for a fun ride. We got on an anniversary TA kick and now have all but the 15th anniv.

Here is are better pics:



In this pic you can see the 99 30th anniv and the 10th anniv.

[1965gp]

Updated pics with the Legendary Rallye seats:









Figured not everyone saw the seats in the legendary thread and I know a lot of people are looking at these seats.

The seats went together super easy and fast. Extremely well designed kit; top quality materials.

Not going to rival a new set if Recaro's but 10x better than stock. Best part is that the look completely factory when you just walk by.

[1965gp]

Thanks to this board I tried putting on the 69 camaro chin spoiler. Yet another great tip from this site. While I know it's not correct for the show, it does a fantastic job of hiding the front suspension.



Also took this pic- thought it had a cool vintage look to it.



Car went to my friends shop today to get the brakes worked out and some front end work. Still lots to do- really a lot, but it is definitely getting closer. Having seats in it helps feel a little more complete.

Got a nice scratch on the drivers quarter panel- now considering the vinyl top trim so I can use it as a place to break up the clear.

[Mike DC]

 

Save yourself some grief with water getting into the trunk through the vinyl top trim's mounting holes - glue the trim pieces on with adhesives instead.

[miamivice]

Awesome General Lee build!   

Love the Trans Ams as well   

[1965gp]

Thanks!

[Indygenerallee]

Looking Good!  Love those classic 80's skateboards on the wall!! 

[tan top]

 

[charge69]

You've done a beautiful job of restoring the Charger to "General Lee" specs.  Pontiacs are also awesome cars and a GTO was always one of my Dream cars!  My wife's first car while she was still in high school was a 1967 GTO. It was gold with black Vinyl top and interior. Also a 4-speed!  Someday, I will own a GTO !!

[Dino]

Dude is that a McGill??  That's my old board!  Bought it in '87 if I recall.

[1965gp]

Funny you say that charge- we picked up a 66 GTO (242) car that is going to be painted tiger gold with a black top in the next year or so. Just picked up a Tri Power for it. I wish it was a 4 speed!

Thanks for the comments guys- yes those are all old school boards; some original and some reissues.

On the boards...
My kids got me the blue, pink and orange Gator (reissue) for Christmas a few years ago (can't see in the pic) when we painted the 70 Blue and put the pink and orange stripes on it. I still have my original Gator hanging in my office upstairs so they nailed it with that gift. Then the 68 LeMans I pulled out of storage had an old Alva and a Sims board (Kevin Staab) in it so I put them together. Just so happens the place they ordered my gator is in my territory for work. Went to pick up some vintage looking trucks and wheels (remember slime balls, rat bones, etc?) and saw the Santa Cruz Jason Jesse V8. I loved it- kid in my neighborhood had one growing up. Had to have it and it is one of the most fun boards I have ever ridden. A few months ago I was in the skate shop and saw a purple McGill and told them if they had a silver one I would have to have it- wanted one when I was a kid and couldn't find one. They had a pro version there (exact 80's spec and wide bolt pattern) and I was sold. The red trucks are original gull wing pros that I found in the 68 LeMans.

So that's how my little collection got started- but a cool twist is that my girls (6 and 9) both loved them and wanted to learn. So now they take lessons and we skate on the weekend!

I turned 39 last week and let me tell you I never expected to be skating a pool at almost 40! Don't really do any tricks though- I think a fall could put me down for good...

The car is getting the brakes figured out now- can't wait to drive it finally!

It was surreal this week - after a handful of beers I was sitting in the drivers seat and my daughter asked how long I had wanted a General Lee- I couldn't tell her, I realized that I can't ever remember not wanting one! It was a weird feeling but we were both full of excitement.

[Dino]

My board was silver, it didn't survive the ages though as I used it as my main transportation for a while, not to mention the sheer amount of punishment that board had to endure eventually took its toll.  I'm 40 so I guess we grew up with a lot of the same stuff even though I was on the other side of the Atlantic.

[XH29N0G]

First time I saw this thread.  Very nice GL and I love the Pontiacs.   


Back story - the charger I have now is one my dad bought, but the first car I owned was a 1969 Lemans that my grandmother owned and I restored with my dad's cousins.  I wish I still had that car.

[1965gp]

As you get older nostalgia plays a big part. Not sure if I said this or not but our silver 70 LeMans was our family car growing up. Always wished it was a GTO as a kid. Now that 350 2bbl 2 speed auto is my favorite car. It literally feels like a time machine. I can remember riding to pre-school, junior high, driving it in high school and then stashing it in a barn after a tree fell on it in 98. So glad I didn't part it out.

[1965gp]

Getting closer on the car- show is about 10 days away. I feel like I am on a reality show trying to finish a build before an auction!

The car is at a friends shop getting the firm feel front end installed- hopefully done on Monday. The gas tank took an extra couple days to get here so we decided to go ahead and tackle the suspension.

Gas tank and sending unit are in, brakes are bled and serviced- it should run and drive pretty good at this point.

Planning on going to the upholstery shop this week to get the headliner installed- I don't think I am willing to tackle that myself.

After that it is a few days of misc trim items, installing the stereo and a lot of cleaning and polishing!

Putting the Bandit TA in with it so I can start detailing it now.