Anyone else notice this about Coy and Vance episodes of the Dukes of Hazzard ?

[Charger-Bodie]

I've noticed that the General Lee has extra crappy paint in the episodes of DoH with Coy and Vance. It could just be my imagination , but I've always wondered if the crew building the cars was kinda striking a little themselves by making the cars look extra bad in retailiation to the goings on at the time. Anyone else ever notice this? Is it old news that I don't know about?

[keith88]

The general had crappy paint jobs on her before that .. but that was the beginning of the end of the show that is for sure . I'm sure they were trying to cut cost where ever they could by that point.

[Charger-Bodie]

I'm a paint and body guy and it just stick out in those episodes. Like the cars were painted with spray cans instead of a gun.  I totally understand that they all had subpar paint jobs but it sure seems like the coy and Vance ones are far worse.

[Mike DC]

  
What do you mean by "crappy" paint?  If you mean flat/satin finishes, that was often intentional.  Glossy finishes reflect light in annoying ways on the set.  Film crews will purposely scuff down paint, spray over stuff with dulling clear layers, cover chrome trim & side mirrors with silver paint, etc.


They were throwing a ton of cars in the air during that season though, in attempt to make up for the missing actors.  The crew were known to touch-up stunt cars with paintbrushes or spray cans when they got in a hurry.  They weren't going to paint a whole car that way but sometimes that's what it took to get a repair job out the door in a hurry.  

(People always say DOH is nothing but the cutoff shorts & car stunts . . . but if you think about it, season#5 literally put that to the test.  There WAS more to the show than that and the ratings fell during season#5 to prove it.)



Remember that those episodes were built to stand up to the audience of the time.  That was before VCRs were commonplace and not everyone had cable channels.  That means an episode got one viewing straight through without any pausing & rewinding & slo-mo.  People watched it on a little glass TV perched 5-10 feet away.  One viewing, maybe another one next summer, and that's it.    

Modern TV/movies look and stand up to scrutiny much better.  They also cost much more.  So the studios do remakes & sequels all the time instead of new material because it's less risky.  It's a mixed blessing.  

[Charger-Bodie]

The more cars being used factor could explain it. As for the satin- flat finishes ,I see your point but the ones I'm referring to are really splotchy . Not just dull.

The cars in the Bo and Luke episodes just seem to have had more care .

[Dino]

I haven't watched doh in a very long time, but I recall the cars were looking extra crappy in that season.  I also recall in the first episode of that season when those guys got introduced that they jumped over the house or barn and it was insanely high.  It doesn't always have to be a shark.  

[69wannabe]

I have all the season's except for season 5. I really need to purchase that one tho.... I would like to have seen Bo and Luke go up against the mean green machine just one time!!!

[Daytona R/T SE]

I can honestly say that I've never been able to sit through an entire "Coy and Vance" episode.

I've tried.

Can't do it.

[Charger-Bodie]

I can honestly say that I've never been able to sit through an entire "Coy and Vance" episode.

I've tried.

Can't do it.

Although they are cheesier than normal Dukes episodes . I like watching them now because I haven't seen the 300 times each like the Bo and Luke ones . When I was 10 and they were on there was no way I would watch them. As it would have been an insult to Bo and Luke then.

[marshallfry01]

I met Byron Cherry (Coy) about two weeks ago. He signed my glove box door. Awesome guy. Very down to earth. One of the friendliest dukes characters that I've met so far. Most people don't like the coy and Vance episodes, but I thought they did pretty good for the shoes they had to fill

[Mike DC]

I haven't watched doh in a very long time, but I recall the cars were looking extra crappy in that season.  I also recall in the first episode of that season when those guys got introduced that they jumped over the house or barn and it was insanely high.  It doesn't always have to be a shark.

That jump (in a blue 73/74 Plymouth) cracked a vertebrae on the driver.  He was wearing their special spine-saving jump harness and it still wasn't enough.  

They had to put nitrous on the car for that.  Very short space before the ramp + heavy trunk ballast & rollcage + smog motor = needed HP in a big way.    




Coy & Vance -

A lot of the "bad acting" with those two was because they actually read the scripts that they were given. 

Schneider & Wopat had enough leeway with the producers to change their lines around a bit and try to make them sound a little better on the fly.  The scripts really sucked.

[Dino]

I haven't watched doh in a very long time, but I recall the cars were looking extra crappy in that season.  I also recall in the first episode of that season when those guys got introduced that they jumped over the house or barn and it was insanely high.  It doesn't always have to be a shark.

That jump (in a blue 73/74 Plymouth) cracked a vertebrae on the driver.  He was wearing their special spine-saving jump harness and it still wasn't enough.  

They had to put nitrous on the car for that.  Very short space before the ramp + heavy trunk ballast & rollcage + smog motor = needed HP in a big way.    

Wow that sucks.  I remember the car being blue but didn't remember what it was.  Left over Daisy car?

[Mike DC]

No, not a Daisy car.  They did use a few 73/74 Plymouths later in the series after Daisy's cars were gone. 

The stunt driver wasn't paralyzed or anything.  He recovered & lived to jump another day.  But he did feel like he should have backed out of doing that stunt in hindsight.  They were mostly young guys on DOH and there were lots of others waiting to take their jobs if they didn't wanna take the risks.

[Dino]

I'm glad to hear he recovered.  A bit crazy to go risk it all again but I can understand why.  He may have added depends to his jump suit though.   

[Brock Lee]

There were a lot of changes going on behind the scenes just prior to the Coy and Vance era. This was post Veluzat built cars. There was the very brief Ken Fritz era followed by Warner Brother assuming total control of production of General Lee's within that period of time. Different crew, different look. I think the paint is mainly a product of the crews getting the hang of spraying single stage orange. They got better with time and practice.

[Charger-Bodie]

I met Byron Cherry (Coy) about two weeks ago. He signed my glove box door. Awesome guy. Very down to earth. One of the friendliest dukes characters that I've met so far. Most people don't like the coy and Vance episodes, but I thought they did pretty good for the shoes they had to fill

I agree. They did good considering .

[wingcar]

It was never intended to be Shakespeare.....    

(* To Jump, or not to jump...that is the question.....etc. etc...)   

[Kern Dog]

I met Byron Cherry (Coy) about two weeks ago. He signed my glove box door. Awesome guy. Very down to earth. One of the friendliest dukes characters that I've met so far. Most people don't like the coy and Vance episodes, but I thought they did pretty good for the shoes they had to fill

I met Byron at the Spring Fling car show a few years back. I was unable to meet the other guy because he is dead.

[GL#10]

They put in more stunts and focused more on the comedy of Sorrel (Boss ) and James (Rosco)  , you notice a lot in the intro's of each episode they focus more on stunts and the comedy .

The Mean Green Machine  used in two episodes of S5  was in fact the #3 Uncle Jesse Pickup that was wrecked on set .

[VegasCharger]

They put in more stunts and focused more on the comedy of Sorrel (Boss ) and James (Rosco)  , you notice a lot in the intro's of each episode they focus more on stunts and the comedy .

The Mean Green Machine  used in two episodes of S5  was in fact the #3 Uncle Jesse Pickup that was wrecked on set .

Yea they kinda lead you on after the first Mean Green Machine show "The New Dukes" (S5-E1) at the very end where Waylon Jennings narrated "I got a hunch that someday it will be showing up in Hazzard again" as they show track marks of the vehicle with the vehicle nowhere in sight.

It shows up again in "The Return of the Mean Green Machine" S5-E14

[Homerr]

 

[VegasCharger]

Here's one. Crappy but it's a pic of the 73/74 Plymouth RR/Sat jump at it's peak of Coy and Vance's introduction to the show.

[Mike DC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpOxDfeVcGw

Video clip of the blue Plymouth jump.

That thing landed very flat on all four wheels.  That's partially why the impact was so hard on the driver.





This was one of their highest jumps ever.  One of my favorites from the series.  

The camera man was lying down under the ramp looking forward - that was a risky thing to be doing, even though the ramps were staked down with axleshafts pounded 2 feet into the ground.   The cars would hit the ramps violently enough to bend the unibody & send chunks of plywood into the air.

That jump landed pretty flat too.

[tan top]

I can honestly say that I've never been able to sit through an entire "Coy and Vance" episode.

I've tried.

Can't do it.

Although they are cheesier than normal Dukes episodes . I like watching them now because I haven't seen the 300 times each like the Bo and Luke ones . When I was 10 and they were on there was no way I would watch them. As it would have been an insult to Bo and Luke then.

I remember watching them the first time round on tv ,  even then I thought it was pretty false over acting , was only a kid then ,  not sure how old I was ,  but  did not care really  , only watched the show for the General lee 

[Mike DC]

    
The Bo & Luke cloning makes more sense when you realize that nobody expected that strike to last so long.  They were thinking in terms of a couple weeks, not a whole season.  They had already done temporary clones of other cast members several times in the past.  The show hadn't been much worse the wear for it.  "Quick, let's get some out-of-town Duke cousins to show up! We're gonna delay the shooting schedule if we wait any longer!"  


The editors were still free to borrow shots from old chase footage if the new guys don't look much different.   The directors could still shoot the existing scripts they had been given for season#5 as long as the temporary Duke boys didn't show distinct new personalities of their own.  Just cross out "Bo" and write in "Coy".  Cross out "Luke" and write in "Vance."  



The producers would probably have pointed a little more writing/development at the C&V characters if they had known the strike would last almost the whole season.