How sad... poor 1968 Charger...

[JoeyGowdy]

How sad... a 1968 Charger converted to a 1969 General Lee that is used for jumping:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2097187



Atleast they restore it every time they jump it:

[Shakey]

deja vu

[Alain426]

the simple solution,  stop make it jump

[Mike DC]

The restored one in the pics was an original one from the TV series.  It got beaten to hell & back several times first in DOH and then in another movie and then in dirt-track racing, and then it sat for years. 


The jumped one you refer to was a former parts-car bare shell.  It was full of bondo (4-5 gallons used) and it was already structurally bent from a bad wreck many years before. 

[Magnumcharger]

I'm thinking that it would be a whole lot easier to build fiberglass replica bodies, molded in orange gel-coat, slap some decals on it, and mount it to a tube-frame chassis.
Something that could be re-used indefinately, with a suspension designed to absorb the impact of landing.
Kinda like some of those monster trucks, but smaller.

I'd pay to see that!

[tan top]

I'm thinking that it would be a whole lot easier to build fiberglass replica bodies, molded in orange gel-coat, slap some decals on it, and mount it to a tube-frame chassis.
Something that could be re-used indefinately, with a suspension designed to absorb the impact of landing.
Kinda like some of those monster trucks, but smaller.

I'd pay to see that!

good idea  less weight less impact damage

[Mike DC]

 
Word in the grapevine is that "Dukesfest" next year may be a ramp-to-ramp GL jump to preserve the car better. 

The stunt crew is pretty tired of trying to slam together another jump Charger every year lately.  In the last several years they've been driving all over the country just to find Charger shells with any subframe rails still under them, let alone trying to get cars with decent floorpans & drivetrains.

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The tube chassis/'glass Charger body thing has been talked about for years.  But it hasn't been done for several reasons.  Real assembly-line cars are by far safer than tube-framed cars.  They also look better and fly much higher/farther for the speed.  And real cars are cheaper to build each individual time the event is done. 


Most of those DOH stunt guys have jumped/wrecked a lot of different kinds of vehicles in their TV/movie careers.  They don't think too highly of wrecking tube-chassis vehicles with flimsy body shells.  Apparently it hurts like a MoFo compared to using a real rollcaged sheetmetal body.


The "Knight Rider" TV series tried a dune-buggy-type chassis with a 'glass Firebird body shell on it back in 1982.  It looked pretty bad, jumped even worse, and still got damaged a lot even on some relatively small jumps.  The producers did about half a dozen jumps that way and then switched back to jumping real cars.  (And they later went to using miniatures for some of the extravagant stunts.)

   

[69_500]

I don't know what all the fuss is about in seeing one jump in person. If you like watching a Charger jump that many times, get the DVD's. Much cheaper, and less carnage that way. Just my 

[Mike DC]

 
Try seeing one close-up and in person.  It's amazing as heck. 

Sorta like live music, live sporting events, drag/oval racing, etc.   


I'm not saying that justifies wrecking lots more Chargers or anything, but there is a difference between live versus video. 

 

[69_500]

I have seen one jump in person. Just wasn't as spectacular as everyone tries to make it out to be. Or at least not to me it wasn't. And with the right camera angles, and multiple angles of a shot, it could be just as impressive on a DVD in my opinion.

[Mike DC]

I've haven't liked the recent DF ones as much, especially on the Nashville racetrack.  Too isolatiing & far away for the crowd and not enough reference points around the event itself.  The big paved oval track can really make 80 mph look like 45 mph.


The 2005 jump at Oxford college, the Hardcore racing one, the 2003 Covington one above . . . badass. 

With some of those jumps, the crowd was close enough to get hit with chunks of plywood from the ramps.

[hemihead]

Why not use the new " Charger " to paste up with decals and jump it ? 

[Mike DC]

 
Well, that's already been MY vote for several years now!

   

[tan top]

Why not use the new " Charger " to paste up with decals and jump it ? 

Well, that's already been MY vote for several years now!

yeah i'm with that idea also 

[bull]

I'm thinking that it would be a whole lot easier to build fiberglass replica bodies, molded in orange gel-coat, slap some decals on it, and mount it to a tube-frame chassis.
Something that could be re-used indefinately, with a suspension designed to absorb the impact of landing.
Kinda like some of those monster trucks, but smaller.

I'd pay to see that!

Sounds like a hlpag car.

[Brock Samson]

here's yet another thread that's been posted on to death,...

you guys love running around in circles... you oughta drive in NASCAR...