1968 dodge charger used in DMCL: What do we know about it?

[tan top]

First shot of the Charger at Dutton Flats is the base model, but when they actually fire it up and scream out of there, it's the R/T.

yep

[Khyron]

o.k. then we have some confusion, and those posts are the posts that I remember reading SO that it seems I was right in the part that the R/T was sold wrecked by a production staffer.

Now, the director himself said that only 3 cars where used. we have the R/T that was sold, the 69 smashed by the train, so the 68 much have been smashed and junked?

[Ghoste]

That'd be my guess.  This is one of those automotive mysteries that might never be solved.

[FastbackJon]

Yeah, I don't know where he got the number 8 from.

Maybe "1 of 3" could look like "1 of 8" if you have sloppy handwriting?

[FastbackJon]

Found a good spot in the movie to see the differences between what we think may be the only two '69 Chargers used in the movie, a base model and an R/T.

Underlined words in this post are links to screen captures.

Starting at 1:12:34 we see the base model Charger and they zoom in on it slowly. We note that it has...

• No driver's sail panel "Charger" emblem
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• High bumper guards
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• No driver's dash speaker
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• Headrest chrome pieces
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Keep watching and at 1:12:54 you can see the '69 passenger front (orange) and rear (red) fender markers as the Charger hits the truck.

We then see a mangled Charger R/T spin around at 1:13:01 and then they come in on the passengers and you can note the...

• Driver's sail panel "Charger" emblem
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• Low bumper guards
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• Driver's dash speaker
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• No headrest chrome pieces
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So it's kind of cool you can clearly see the differences in both cars all in the frame of about 30 seconds.

Then less than a minute later you can see the '68 Charger with its round side marker light and the similar damage in the front, and the hacked in '69 tail panel.

And watching a few other scenes seems to confirm that the R/T did not have headrests and it had the low bumper guards, and that the base model (originally) had the headrests and high bumper guards. Likewise with the dash speaker. This would make sense with the other post where the guy said he got one of the cars used in the movie (he said he got the R/T but I believe he remembered that part wrong), which had a 383 in it and headrests in the trunk. The 383 and headrests in the trunk would make sense with getting the base Charger as seen in the film.

I have noticed a second scene (1:10:36) where the base Charger is missing the driver's "Charger" sail panel emblem. I have not verified if this is consistent throughout the movie. You can see in many scenes that the R/T has that driver's sail panel "Charger" emblem.

I also am not convinced they ever smashed the front of the base model Charger. If they did, I don't think they could have sold it afterwards, and also I have not seen a frame that shows the smashed grille without the R/T emblem, or with the high bumper guards. I think this would also make sense since a movie is not always shot in sequence. They had to leave one not wrecked throughout the filming in case they needed to film more scenes for earlier in the movie with the Charger not wrecked.

EDIT: Just watched the Charger hit the train. It is a '69 that hits the train as evidenced by the reverse lights and side marker lights (pic1 pic2). What is very strange is that it appears to be missing the dented in driver's quarter panel that occurs at 1:20:32 that we see the '69 R/T driving around with in the later part of the movie, and the train Charger also is missing the driver's "Charger" sail panel emblem.

Just the quarter panel makes me wonder if the train car was the base car...? Or was there a third '69 Charger they used especially for the train stunt?

Thought I had it figured out and now I'm more confused than when I started.

[Mike DC]

 
Wow, that's a hell of a good writeup there Jon.  Especially with all those screen-shot pics included.

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The original 3-car theory still stands.  One base '69, one '69 R/T, and one '68 stunt car with a rollbar.  Right now it looks like the base '69 car did most of the closeup work, the '69 R/T did most of the stunt driving, the '68 wasn't used much, and then the base '69 went into the train & burned.



The truck hit:

You're right; it looks like a '69 went into the truck judging by the marker lights.  And if you look very carefully, it looks like there might be a hint of the silver "Charger" emblem on the sail panel in the blurred image of the car.  That would make it the '69 R/T hitting the truck.  Makes sense.

The more I look at the truck hit, the more I think there was more to it.  The hit in the movie doesn't look like a huge hit for that much body damage to the car.  There's signs of a pyro explosion as the car goes by.  And the side of the truck looks like it's already been struck with a previous take.   

It makes me think that the truck hit itself was redone a couple of times.  And the appearance of the front-end body damage on the Chargers afterwards might have been mostly a creation of the film crew, even on the Charger(s) that actually did the hitting. 



The train hit/explosion and burn:

I see the base '69 doing the whole thing.
I don't see anything to specifically contradict this idea. 

 

[TruckDriver]

Just a off the wall idea, but is the directer of the movie still alive? Or one of the producers? Someone should find out, then drop them a email on this subject. Might get the answers that way instead of speculating. 

[Khyron]

Just a off the wall idea, but is the directer of the movie still alive? Or one of the producers? Someone should find out, then drop them a email on this subject. Might get the answers that way instead of speculating. 

the director is still alive. He also did the commentary in the DVD. I've been trying like hell to get some email addresses for susan, peter, and the rest so I can ask if I can send a part of my car for an autograph.

[tan top]

good investigating  Jon  ................... hmmmmmmmmm going to watch it a gain to night now 

[TruckDriver]

Did you try this place Jason?

http://www.contactvip.com/

Both Peter & Susan are listed. I forgot the other guys name, the mechanic.

[FastbackJon]

Mike

I also see the Charger sail panel emblem in the truck wreck scene, but that's on the passenger side. When I noticed the missing one in the other shots, it was always on the driver's side, except in the train wreck scene, where I can also see it missing on the passenger side. And I think if you look close (would be nice to have this in Blue-Ray) the center tail panel emblem does look wider and narrower (top to bottom) in the shot from behind the Charger going into the train, which would go with the base model.

If the base '69 hit the train (as evidenced by the non-damaged quarter panel), then that means that all three Chargers would have had the front end damage inflicted on them, or they just decided to not do the front end damage to the base '69 and just towed it into the train as-is, possibly being done with all of the "straight" Charger shots but still needing to film the damaged Charger driving around evading the police (using the damaged R/T for this).

Again, I don't think we ever see the a base model '69 with the damaged front.

One last thing, noticed the R/T has some paint missing at the leading edge of the door. PIC1 This would probably be from the fender being pushed back into the door, and then the door being opened.

Along with the missing damaged quarter panel, we do not see this damaged paint at the leading edge of the door in the Charger that hit the train. PIC2

[Khyron]

Did you try this place Jason?

http://www.contactvip.com/

Both Peter & Susan are listed. I forgot the other guys name, the mechanic.

whoah! I'm going to do this. I'll post my success or failure!

[FastbackJon]

Did you try this place Jason?

http://www.contactvip.com/

Both Peter & Susan are listed. I forgot the other guys name, the mechanic.

Adam Roarke passed in 1996.

[JimShine]

Another difference between the two 1969's is the base line has metal Anco Anti lift wipers while the R/T has black aftermarket blades.

[NMike]

in the extras the director explained how the did the scene in one take. the had used a cable to stop the car and trigger the explosion.

[autodynamics]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGO5f3JfdLg&feature=related

ok here if you look in the vid you can clearly see the 68 door knobs on the door..so the in car scenes has a 68 ..check it out...

[Mike DC]

Okay, here's proof that the '69 R/T didn't hit the train -- The door handle pushbuttons.

The pushbuttons were black on the '69 R/T, black on the '68 R/T, but chromed on the base '69. 
The train-hit car had chromed handle buttons.

So the base model '69 definitely hit the train as long as we're still only talking three cars. 


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I also find the super-slo-mo shot of the '69 hitting the train notable for the editing. 

The shot is edited, to the frame, so that the audience couldn't see whether the front end of the car was bent or straight before the impact.  Maybe another indicator that the '69 car going into the train was not bent before the impact. 

(And I personally think it would have been more dramatic if they had showed the whole hit from before the car was touching the train.  If you don't know the cable trick was used to pull the car right where it was supposed to go, then the shot looks like a truly amazing piece of timing.)

[FastbackJon]

Yep, I noticed too how in the edit of the train hit, you can't tell if the fender is already smashed or not. Excellent call on the door handle push buttons, I never would have thought of that.

Too bad they didn't mount a camera on the train from the Engineers perspective looking at the oncoming Charger, that would have been cool.

[tan top]

wow must of watched that film thousands of times & frame by frame of the charger never noticed the black boor handle buttons . awesome spot   

[Mike DC]

Thanks.

I got the idea from thinking about the headrests & the higher bumper guards.  Both of those differences suggest a 1969 R/T built early in the model year, and a post-Jauary-1st build date for the base model '69.  The pushbutton was another mid-year change for the '69 cars. 

[Todd Wilson]

Looks like that big chrysler cop car is about to eat that charger for lunch!       



Todd

[Khyron]

Okay, here's proof that the '69 R/T didn't hit the train -- The door handle pushbuttons.

The pushbuttons were black on the '69 R/T, black on the '68 R/T, but chromed on the base '69. 
The train-hit car had chromed handle buttons.

So the base model '69 definitely hit the train as long as we're still only talking three cars. 


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My Charger has black buttons on the door handles. Maybe mine where replaced because mine is a base model.

[Mike DC]

The button changeover was a mid-year 1969 difference for all Mopars.  It wasn't related to whether the car was an R/T or a base model. 

[Charger_Fan]

Interesting thread you guys, nice detective work.

[FastbackJon]

Ok, so now who can figure out what Larry's belt buckle says?