General Lee#1 . . . back from the dead!

[JMF]

Better restored I say, at least another Charger is back on the road, even though it's probably going to be a trailer queen from now on, what plans do they have for it? Is it going to a museum or will it be jumped at Dukes Fest?

[Old Moparz]

I'm glad to see it was restored, it looks nice & better than a blue shell rotting in a yard. If it still had the original TV show paint & hadn't been abused even more, I might see siding with the argument of leaving it alone. I can also see the significance of this one since it's the first, but I'd never tackle a project that big would've given up. Any other Charger, except for maybe a Hemi, would be a parts car.

Nice job.   

[6pkrunner]

Well.... if its anything like the original George Barris Batmobile from the original TV series, that sold for $250,000 or so.

Barris built 4 Batmobiles. The first steel version from the Lincoln Futura, and then 3 other Barris built fiberglass copies to be used as promos and to go on the touring circuit. The fiberglass ones had a nasty habit of cracking and to get around this they covred them in felt and called it "bat fur". Since that time they have been fixed and back wearing that three mile deep black paint. The steel one (last I had heard) was still in Barris' poccession while the others are/were owned by Dave Anderson, Pat Hart Collection, and Doug Jackson. The sale figures for 3 and 4 are in the $250,000 range.

[JMF]

Personally I think the 1968 Bullitt Charger is more of an icon than all this General Lee #1 fiasco, does a Bullitt Charger still exist or were they both destroyed?

[Mike DC]

 
There's some rumors that a backup "Bullitt" Charger got out unscathed, but I don't think there's ever any confirmation of anything.  It's another one of those tall tales in the hobby where the concrete information always seems to be just one more person away.

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The LEE#1 value is hard to peg.  Until recently there were so many fake GLs being bought & sold as "real ones"  . . . it really monkeyed with the percieved value of having a real one.  And LEE#1's restoration raises serous questions about whether it's really the same car or just a VIN & some occasional sheetmetal. 

Either way, I don't think there's gonna be any jumping in LEE#1's future.  That kinda deal is typically something that Ben Jones pays the stunt guys to do with bondo buggies at a "Dukesfest" event.  But LEE#1 is privately owned by someone who cared about it and paid to have it saved.  Different situation entirely.

 

[Mean 318]

IMO I would have left it alone and put it in a museum! But whats done is done, and it does look good! At least it didn't get crushed!

[Todd Wilson]

I think it needs to be jumped and rolled 5 times  at next years DukesFest!!!!!!!!!!



Todd

[Troy]

For those who say they'd have left it alone - have you ever tried dragging around a non-rolling hulk to shows? How about a non-rolling hulk AND a finished car? I don't remember the car as a crumbled wreck - only as a cool car that could fly. You can always put up pictures of what it looked like on a show board and I bet more average people are awed by the restoration than they would be by a moldy, bent, rusty, hunk of metal. Maybe not? I'd take a driver any day no matter what someone else thinks I should have done to it (partially why I would never own a car with "history").

Troy

[JimShine]

Hey guys, I will get some pics up soon. I have been away helping put Lee1 back together. 3 weeks ago that car was a rolling shell that was just out of the body shop. It took many long nights to get it back together, but it was worth it.

I am proud to be part of "Team Lee1". Our group that was assembled was top shelf blue collar Mopar fanatics. I do not believe anyone else could have pulled it off like we did (I guess that sounds cocky). All of us put in some serious personal time as we all wanted to see the job done right. It was difficult at times (imagine asking a glass guy to reinstall a busted windshield), but after the reviews of the diehard fans that saw it in person, it was all totaly worth it.

The antenna deal, that was the closeup car that had the antenna busted. This one was dead by the time that episode was shot.

[69charger2002]

the car looks good, people that nit pick it are too bored and don't have a life.. i've said more than once it should have been left alone. but it wasn't and that's all fine. i agree more than anyone with what troy said. it is EXTREMELY hard dragging a hulk around to car shows and events.. just to present it as is.. and while i agree with that and the owner's desire to be able to enjoy the car, i STILL think he should have spent the $30k or whatever he spent to buy LEE 1, then another $30k on a nicely restored replica to enjoy, and left the car as is. both problems could have been solved. i would rather a driver anyday than a lawn ornament to just stare at, which is why i sold the jumped movie car that i had. i used that money to buy another nice running driving charger. and left the jumped car as is for a museum to own.  but to each his own. i won't degrade or nit pick the car. it looks good, no doubt... i just preferred it when it was wrecked, it had so much history sitting as is.
trav

[JimShine]

I still understand the 'leave it alone' crowd as I was on that side of the fence originally. But what changed my mind was the amount of decay that occured in the years since it was found even though it was being garaged round the clock. Rust is called cancer for a reason. Once it starts you can't stop it unless you remove it. This car continued to rust away and eventually in 20 or so years who knows what state it would have been in. Now it is preserved. The rust is gone and it will outlive me. It is also a car that can be driven and enjoyed the way all cars are intended to be enjoyed. That is a good thing in my book.

[JimShine]

PS- To answer the concrete question, no concrete. The owner wanted to put the original slab in but we fought him on it and now it will be displayed with the car on the side.

Also, at the event a cool 500 showed up. Only a few really gave it a second look.

[bull]

PS- To answer the concrete question, no concrete. The owner wanted to put the original slab in but we fought him on it and now it will be displayed with the car on the side.

Also, at the event a cool 500 showed up. Only a few really gave it a second look.

That's kind of retarded hauling a slab of concrete around to car shows, isn't it? Take a picture of it and display it next to the car if it's that important.

[Charger_Fan]

Hey, I didn't think there were any unrestored 500's left.

For Jim Shine, Travis & the rest of the crew involved in bringing Lee#1 back, I would imagine that would be a cool feeling. Congrats, you guys.
I'm looking forward to some resto pics!

[Lowprofile]

PS- To answer the concrete question, no concrete. The owner wanted to put the original slab in but we fought him on it and now it will be displayed with the car on the side.

Also, at the event a cool 500 showed up. Only a few really gave it a second look.

That's kind of retarded hauling a slab of concrete around to car shows, isn't it? Take a picture of it and display it next to the car if it's that important.

I have to agree with that. I think some people take things a bit far.......

[JMF]

Yeah please post some more pictures, i've been reading back previous posts and am kind of interested by this car now, it's a shame how some of these cars were treated in the 1970's and 1980's

[tan top]

Also, at the event a cool 500 showed up. Only a few really gave it a second look.

looks intresting any more pictures on the C500 ,  don't see many un-restored survivors

[twilt]

Looks great. I don`t understand why so many people would have rather seen it remain a crumpled up heap of crap "for historical purposes"

[JMF]

There would be a similar debate regarding the Bullitt Mustang, someone owns the car, it still has all the camera mounts, dings and dents from the film and apparenty is in pretty rough shape, not been driven for years, now would this be better left as is or restored?

[JimShine]

Regarding the 500, I didn't get to look at it much. I was pretty busy with the event. My brother did manage to get some video before the battery died.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvzpYt00Uak

[blackcharger]

IMO I would have left it alone and put it in a museum! But whats done is done, and it does look good! At least it didn't get crushed!

EXCATLY. Now, what SHOULD have been done, was when the series took off, LEE 1 should have been put in a TV/Movie transportation/prop museum. that wasn't done. It was left to rot.
If it had been in as good of condition as the Landy Charger, then it should have been left as found. A man that worked on the car said is was rusting badly.So it needed restored plain and simple. Want to see it as found? Then THAT"S what the pictures are for.Now it will be around for future fans.
And like it or not, no one else stood up and bought the rusting hulk to preserve it.
and as for the Landy Charger, the damage should be repaired, and Dick Landy needs to build a correct Hemi for it. Then it should go to Big Daddy's Museum.
'nuff said on both.

[tan top]

Regarding the 500, I didn't get to look at it much. I was pretty busy with the event. My brother did manage to get some video before the battery died.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvzpYt00Uak

  thanks for the video link Jim  appreciated .  sure would like that C500

[JimShine]

I just noticed my video has some glitches. I will try to fix it. here is a cap of the tag

[PocketThunder]

I just noticed my video has some glitches. I will try to fix it. here is a cap of the tag

Hey!    that car was built on the same day as mine and only 4 cars behind in the assembly line....  my C500 is 214385.. well how cool is that.  it must have been Bronze day that day.  (or Brown for Charger_Fan and all you other poo poo's  )

------------------------------------------------------------------   <--- formerly MikeD style

back on topic, Its good that they restored Lee #1, otherwise the rust cancer would kill it off.

Paul
in St. Paul

[472 R/T SE]

The 500 is an SE with A/C too!