How about some honesty now. How much did DOH influence your driving habits

[bull]

I'll be the first to admit that I slid through the open window a few times to get behind the wheel, did more than one "power slide" on a dirt road, slid across the hood once (didn't quite make it) and even had the poor old '70 airborne once back when I was 18-19 years old. How about you guys and gals? Can you point to one or more incident(s) where you tried the same thing Bo and Luke did during the opening credits of DOH?

[Ghoste]

Honestly?  None at all.

[Mike DC]

 
My first car was a very rusty/raggedy GL replica when I was 16 years old.


I've done pretty much everything you'd see in DOH except launching the car over roadblocks & rivers.  Powerslides, brief air times, two wheels (accidentally), etc.  I even put the pushbar to work a few times. 

The hood-sliding and thru-the-window entry was more or less a daily occurrence for me & my high school friends.

 

[RallyeMike]

Got my first 69 in 79. My teenage driving record was reckless to say the least, but I never wrecked or got arrested. Overall car culture and motor sports has been much more of an influence - the Dukes is only a small part of that. The window entry really doesnt work that well when you are tall. A few attempts had me convinced real quick to use the doors.

As far as continued influence, these days I drive faster than the Dukes with a little more control and a whole lot less air. Yeeehaw!

[bull]

Honestly?  None at all.

Did you have a Charger when you were young and dumb?

[Hemidoug]

Not a lick...and I had a Charger WAYYYYYYYYY before they were "cool". Back in my day Mopars were the underdog...so a lot of Chebby's got to see Mopar tail lights!

[Charger-Bodie]

The only influence it had on me ,showed up when the end of the day school bell rang in third grade , I ran down the hall yelling YEE HAAW ! but I never tried to jump beaver creek gulch with my charger .

[TruckDriver]

Honestly?  None at all.

[6pkrunner]

Not an iota.

[greatwn73]

None, I had enough trouble trying not to be the village idiot without emulating the worst TV show written.

[TeeWJay426]

Not at all.... I was nuts enough at a young age without it influencing me.... and the only reason I ever watched it back in the day was to check out Daisy and her shorts, anyway!

[dodgecharger-fan]

None really.

I had a Charger before the show came out... a 73
I was pretty much passed dong anything crazy in a car by the time DOH would have had a chance to influence me.


I do recall sliding in through the window and an attempt to slide across the hood, but I really don't recall in which car I did those things. (Might've been the 'vette for all I know. Chevette, that is.  )


I did do some silly stuff in cars, but I'm pretty sure it was before the days of DOH.

I ditched the Charger in the winter time once... got it sideways around a 90 degree bend and it just kept going. Slid it right in completely broadside - no damage at all to the car.
The star of the movie, Humungous and future mayoral candidate of my home town, Garry Robbins, pulled me out.

One day, I decided that all that snow in the school parking lot didn't mean squat to a /6 backed up by some new snow tires..... Until I got into it and realized it half buried the car.. two guys were able to push me out of that mess though...

I dented the gas tank one night... I'll leave that to your imaginations..

[BrianShaughnessy]

I wasn't home on Friday nights to watch it.    I didn't even know the show was on until the guys at my job told me abou it.  I was out driving my 69 on the back roads around town and then going down to Gratiot or Woodward.

I tried a hood slide once.      The ridge in the middle of the hood and my butt didn't get along.

[bull]

I think I was at just the right age and situation for it to influence me. I grew up in a very small logging/farming community when DOH was at its peak (before I could even drive) so that country boy mentality was already deeply ingrained in me and DOH pretty much solidified it. The show introduced me to the 2nd gen Charger because none of the 1,100 people in my home town had one and I actually found my first Charger on my school bus route. I was 15 and it was sitting on blocks ~ love at first sight. It's not like I was doing DOH imitations 24/7 with the Charger but I tried a few things just for fun. WTH, I was a teenager. This was back when 1/4 of the studend body brought guns to school and yet no one had ever heard of school shootings.

[69bronzeT5]

Well I cant say that its influenced my driving because well...I cant drive yet but I have tried my fair share of going through the window and hood slides. The go through the windows were successful, the hood slides.......not so much

[SRT-440]

I wasn't old enough to drive when the show was on.. HOWEVER..it did influence how I rode my "general lee" bike..I jumped everything and thought I was invincable on that bike. 
When I did turn 16 back in '90 my parents gave me a 80 Buick LeSabre and I crawled thru the windows a few times and I would have slide across the hood if it wasn't for a piece of molding that was right in the center..

[bordin34]

Don't try to hoodslide an SE hood, they have an emblem. 

[joflaig]

A lot, but now that I can actually tool around in a GL I certainly don't thrash it. Instead I refurbished my old go-cart and drive it with more abandon than those good ole' Duke boys would. That gets it out of the system every time! 

[Charger74]

Didn't effect me any.  Hood slide!!! No way, 3rd gens have huge hoods with a nice big ridge down the center, add to that the SE emblem on the front and my brain was like no flipping way cause that will hurt   .   Slide in entry, yeah.  I actually didnt' have a choice for a while.  My hinge was out of whack and I didnt' dare open the door until I could get another hinge.

Sliding the car, once in awhile on a dirt road in AZ.  But for the most part, I agree with one post above, I mainly watched it for Daisy's shorts.

[Charger_Fan]

I can honestly say I've never wanted to jump my Charger off anything...so, no. No DOH influence on me.


Smokey & the Bandit however, is a whole 'nuther story. I have, in fact, outrun cops in my youth & would probably attribute that almost directly to a certain black Trans Am. 
Looking back, I'm not very proud of that...I did cause myself a situation one night, that I'm still dealing with today.

[Judhudson]

I tried the jump into my window of the 73.  Didn't turn out to well.  Broke the wooden door lock off with my butt and hit my head on the top of the window. 

I'm going to try it with my 68 once it is done though.  Should be a lot more room hopefully.

[69charger2002]

here's my honesty. i grew up with the show. i credit the show with me falling in love with mopars, specifically chargers... BUT yet i don't do any of the foolish driving or jumping or sliding based on that show. now of course i have tried to slide into the window. but being 6'2 it is HARD! i don't know how john schneider did it so easily. he is much taller than me. but the car had way more influence on me and my huge hobby than it did my driving habits.. now i respect and love the cars too much to abuse them, i just drive them
trav

[UFO]

Gotta watch those through the window slides.If the door lock knob doesn't get you in the goodies it will get you mid back.

[70 Charger RT]

I started driving in 1972 before DOH hit the airwaves so I can honestly say it never influenced how I drive.  I did my drivers test in a 70 RT (my brothers car).  And bought my second Charger when DOH hit the airwaves.  I did enjoy watching the show though, especially Daisy Duke.

Oldfart.

[69bronzeT5]

I did my drivers test in a 70 RT

I know what Im doing my drivers test in

[Johnny Daytona]

None what so ever. Power sliding was a normal every day thing for me before the DOH ever went into production. I never wanted to watch it. I Thought it was stupid. I am a country boy from moonshine country. If we wanted some fun we would just fill an old ex trooper satellite trunk with oil.  When we get to court house square. We pull the string attached to the rubber stopper in the trunk and make a lap.  With one deputy on duty at any time we could clown for 30 min. before we had to get out of town. And then it was which one of a dozen cars would the Sheriff chase after.  We would meet back at the ponderosa. A pasture with a barn that the sheriff owned where he had drink machines filled with beer for $1 a can  There was a wrecker driver in town that would sneak up behind you at night with his lights off and get up against your bumper and when you go to slow down, you didn't!  The roads had nick names Curves had names like double branches the loop moony's Come down the hill through the loop moony's get the ebarke turn whell left to lock and count how many times you went around as you crossed the bridge. That as honest as I can be. I have a nextell cup driver to back up my story The DOH had no influence what so ever on my driving. The question is did my driving habits have anything to do with The DOH 

[sunroofsuperbird]

Yes it affected me I was into GTOs at first. then the dukes came on and a guy here had a nice 68 Charger R/T so he painted it orange and set it in his front yard for sale for $400.00 so i bought it and painted the 01 and flag on it and had me a general lee to drive to high school. I had no Idea what it was worth or what it was R/T wise But it run great and I beat that car to death in a year so bad you could hardly tell what it was. and yes it did do a few 10 ft or better jumps a few times a week leaving school. the frame rail ended up braking out on pass side is why i junked it. but that is what got me into the mopars. I bought a nice 67 GT Dart and put the 440 auto out of the charger in it. and it was very fun also. Now that I look back I wish I hadn't beat that car to death as it would probably be worth alot now. 440 auto floor PW PB am 8 track it was loaded.

[BlueSS454]

My driving style....no influence really.  My influence kinda depends on how bad the road rage sets in on a daily basis.  Normally I just go along minding my own business until I encouter some moron that completly lacks the ability to drive, which is becoming more and more often lately.
Although I will say, I've always been a fan of doing burnouts, donuts, drifting, and powerslides .  As for climbing through the window, that takes too much energy and you have to watch you don't catch yourself on the door lock knob.

[sick dawg]

It didn't , my driving was  bad enough back then.
In high school I couldn't afford a car and had an old H-D sportster ( insurance was like $60 a year) . Anyway my cousin knew  this gal that liked to ride on bikes, so on sat. night he would trade me my sporty for his '69 charger. It was real nice and I liked to drive it. So one sat. night I tried the window thing from the DOH.  Big mistake, the knob on the lock was missing and the threaded part under it tore my jeans and gave me 22 stitches on the back of my thigh and but.  I was sitting funny for a while after that one. 

[BrianShaughnessy]

I know what Im doing my drivers test in

[BMOTOXSTAR]

I jumped a set or RR Tracks when I was 16 in my 1st Charger (85' 2.2), feeling like I was a Duke. Man I went flying', landed kinda' hard though.

[Ghoste]

Honestly?  None at all.

Did you have a Charger when you were young and dumb?

Yes, actually and it was during the shows reign.  I did all the usual young and dumb driving stunts but it wasn't to emulate the Duke boys.

[DukesofHoward]

None. We were all doing that crazy stuff waaay before DOH came on. I got my license in '74 and learned my habits from the older guys. We didn't do too much jumping because we needed the cars for transportation.

I get a kick out of the kids today who think 'drifting' is something new. We used to have powerslide contests all the time. The muscle car guys would do it on the pavement while us 6-banger guys would head for the gravel roads. My first car was a '59 Ford Fairlane - a big, black, four-door, 6-banger that everybody called the Batmobile. It couldn't do squat on the pavement but get on gravel and the heavy ass-end of that thing could be hung out for quite some distance

The real exciting rides were road races down Hwy 87 to Boonevile. 23 miles of hills and curves. As far as I know a 318, '73 Challenger still holds the unofficial record of 28 minutes. You really didn't want to be riding with Chuck when he got an urge to make that run. By some amazing chance, he's still alive today!

[71ChallengeHer]

I know what Im doing my drivers test in

[BMOTOXSTAR]

No matter what, smoking the tires was the best over anything.
Back when I was in high school it did not matter how the car looked as long as it could smoke the tires. 
Most of the kids had old muscle cars, most in primer, headers and air shocks. That was the standard. 

[Khyron]

It influenced my love of Chargers, But I try not to drive the car that way....

Thats my story and i'm sticking to it.

[OldGuy]

DOH was way after my time.

Now if you want to talk about real influence - how about Bullit.  I saw Bullit when it was first released on the "Big" screen back in 1968.  The scenes going down the streets of San Fran was like riding a roller coaster.  Bullit had a big influence on my buying my first 1968 Charger R/T before the 1969's came out.

IMO - DOH was an after thought.

[TripleBlackGator]

None whatsoever. Stupid show.

[8WHEELER]

None whatsoever. Stupid show.

   I had one Red 68 Charger and one Red 69 Charger when the show came out. All my
friends at school laughed at me about how all the Chargers were getting smashed, So nothing
on that show effected how I drove, never entered my mind to go fast over a raised set
of railroad tracks by my house, but a ''friend'' of mine that was not real close, always bragged
a bought hitting those track at 70 mph and seeing sparks coming out the back of the car on the landing 

Dan

[sdcharger]

I think the show really did spark my love for mopars too. About 10 years ago I jumped my firebird, although it wasn't really on purpose...and for a split second in the air the DOH did cross my mind.

[Ghoste]

Maybe an equally valid question would be, how much of the DOH drving stunts were influenced by the real life exploits of typical Charger drivers? 

[TK73]

Don't try to hoodslide an SE hood, they have an emblem. 

I too am considering a vasectomy...  how long was the recovery time?

[Sabre]

When I was a kid growing up in the 1980's I used to have a General Lee Big Wheel.  I'd race down the sidewalk as fast as I could peddle, then pull the handbrake and turn the front wheel making 180 degree turns. 

As for driving a car Dukes style, yes.  I did do a 180 degree trun in a 1979 Chevy Malibu wagon.  Of course I was 16 at the time and it was my first time with a V-8 powered car.  It was a rainy slick day and I was making a left hand turn on a back road.  I pressed down on the accelerator a bit too hard and RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....a perfect 180 degree turn.....by accident.

Fast forward to around the year 2000.  My friend and I were down at the beach it's about 11:30 p.m.  He had a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am and once we parked and got out of the car...whoops he locked himself out of the car.  There the keys were still in the ignition and he didn't have a spare set on him.  We walked down to a beach front hotel and asked to use their phone.  We called his parents and they weren't home, we then called a locksmith and they couldn't come out to help.  We even called the local PD and they told us they can't help.

So we asked the desk clerk for a hammer, went back to the car and my friend began hitting the window. My friend kept hitting the window with the hammer and it wouldn't break.  The sound of the hammer hitting in the window mimicked the sound of a gun shot from a pistol.  I saw people who were far away enough not see what was going walking quickly away.  I assume they thought shots were fired.

Finally the window smashes and my friend stands there for a second and goes back to the hotel to return the hammer.  He tells me to stay with the car and I do.  A good 15 minutes goes by and he's still not back, suddenly he walks rather briskly with his hand wrapped in a white towel covered in blood.  He tells me he needs me to drive him to the hospital ASAP.  I saw the bloody towel his hand was wrapped in and I thought he sliced open an arterie.  So I get into his car turn on the emergency lights and gun it.  I race out of the beach town going well over the speed limit.  At one point I had to pass cars by driving on the shoulder.  We leave the beach town and now were on the open road, (thankfully there are no cops) and thankfully most of the lights are green.  We're doing about 100mph and suddenly there is an intersection ahead, the light is red and all the lanes are blocked with cars.  I slam on the brakes and slide in between a car and the curb missing both.  I make sure the coast is clear and hit the gas again.  After running a coulple of red lights (thankfully traffic was amazingly low) we reach the hospital.

Turns out he injured his index finger, sliced it open down to the bone, but it wasn't life threating as I had thought.  I can remember on the way to the hospital my friend was amazed at my driving.  Sliding in between a car and a curb missing both, driving on the shoulder at 100 mph missing cars etc.  At the time I joked that maybe I watch too much Dukes of Hazzard.  There was no reason to drive like I did.  I feel like such an ass looking back on that night.  I could have killed someone or my friend and myself.  If I had known it was just his finger I would have driven to the hospital at the speed limit.  Yet he was in serious pain and I saw quite a bit of blood so I thought differently.

[The70RT]

NONE. I was driving mine then too. I did hit a big dip in the road once and left the road for a few feet.  As I was tearing the car down last winter two of my bottom leafs on the right side were broke in half.  I didn't know it till they hit the floor after I removed the U bolts. Maybe a contributing factor.

[BB1]

As you know I had a 69 Charger in high school in the early 80ds. I watch the DOH every week, but still never drove like Bo or Luke.

[BROCK]

We played Starsky & Hutch in a 74 Charger SE 440 back in 77.   

[73chgrSE]

I jumped the train tracks once..............Never again.