General Lee Trivia Question

[HKCharger]

one of my managers asked me today, what was the difference between the GL in the original pilot show vs. the general lee in the rest of the tv shows? Anyone know?

[WingCharger]

Most Generals had different interiors, and they used 68s, 69, and 70s. So, chances are, there was a different General in every episode! 

The close up car had a saddle interior, and field cars used for jumping had all different interiors.

The close up car had a 318, most field cars had 383s. Some jump cars had 440s.

[69charger2002]

they didn't use any 70's in the tv show.. 68's and 69's

[aussiemuscle]

Look on the web for the history of LEE1. basically it had more detail than later versions. most notable is the chrome strips on pillar and sill.

[THE COLONEL]

they didn't use any 70's in the tv show.. 68's and 69's

well, you beat me to it.  Yep, they didn't use 70's beacause too much would have had to be changed with the fromt clip.  Too much time to do,  when they turned them around in a matter of hours.

[THE COLONEL]

They also varied alot during the years.  There were so many small changes with marker lights, paint....etc.  There really is no way to have a correct replica because of this.   That Lee in the pilot was the only one to show the rocker panels too.  There was another (maybe more) that I have seen on the show, that had the rocker panels painted over.  The decals were different too as, they were more fat then the later series cars.  smaller push bar is another one, along with the antenna.  The early episodes used the teardrop antenna, and later in teh show, it becamse an Avanti.  Just a few things, but I'm sure there is more that I don't even know about.

[HKCharger]

something about a decal or something he said, flag or something somewhere. any pics?

[moparjohn]

The trunk filler panel has 2 crossed flags, 1 checkerd and 1 confed.

[THE COLONEL]

The trunk filler panel has 2 crossed flags, 1 checkerd and 1 confed.

yep...that too.

[BlueSS454]

If you look at some of the General Lee cars later in the series, the rocker molding was there, just painted over.

[jaak]

If you look at some of the General Lee cars later in the series, the rocker molding was there, just painted over.

Jason

[nakita7]

The trunk filler panel has 2 crossed flags, 1 checkerd and 1 confed.

That's the answer, you beat me to it.

Most every interior shot from Season 3 was a 68 through to the end. We own all 7 seasons, there were actually very few 69's used in the shots. Not sure about the jump cars, probably a bit of everything.

[Mike DC]

   
The Georgia GLs, the earlier Cali GLs (GA-style small pushbars), and the later Cali GLs (wide pushbars). 
Three different sets of people building the cars.

The little crossed flags were on all the GA cars, although there weren't very many chances to see them after the first episode.




All the '68 cars got the '69 grille dividers & taillights swapped in at the time the orange paint first went on.  After that, there was absolutely no preferential treatment for one year or the other.  Both years were shown for closeup shots, both years were jumped & killed, and both years were used for spare parts swapping. 

Later in the series, the '69 cars even got their rear valance backup lights erased in order to match the 68s (which never had them).  The TV crew truly did not care what was correct, they just wanted 100% matching cars. 

 

[bull]

I wouldn't think it would be much more time-consuming to swap out a front clip as it would to swap out a tail panel. But then I imagine they weren't being real careful with their work.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Local guy I know's GL clone.   Nice guy.   '68 but he swapped in the 69 tail panel.  It's not mine     The car looks decent.  He's still working on it.  He's getting around to all the local car shows this year.

Personally I'd have smoothed over the side markers like they did with all the cars on the TV show after awhile.     Then put in a section of 69 grill just like they did on the TV show to make a proper 68 jump car stand in so they didn't hurt anymore 69's   

[Mike DC]

I wouldn't think it would be much more time-consuming to swap out a front clip as it would to swap out a tail panel. But then I imagine they weren't being real careful with their work.

The '68 tail panels didn't actually get swapped out after the first Georgia shows.  They just re-cut the holes in the '68 panels to fit the wider '69 lights.  They patched the remaining gap at the top corner of the holes (from the original '68 lights) with sheetmetal & pop rivets. 

The '69 rear valance light holes were just bondo'd.


It wasn't so much an unwillingness to swap front ends that kept the crew from buying '70 Chargers, it was the lack of parts they would provide.  They needed all '68/69 front clip parts that they could get.  Those parts were some of the most commonly crunched pieces. 




The wider/heavier pushbar switch in mid-series was done partly just to save the '69 grille centers.  The original smaller pushbar was only fastened to the car at the factory chrome bumper, and it kept pivoting backward & smashing out the plastic '69 grille divider whenever the front of the car bumped into something. 


   

[Mike DC]

Here's late-series '68 grille "conversion."  It's a medium-condition driving/stunt car.

[sick dawg]

I'll sell you a real nice one! Make you a real deal if interested.

[General_01]

I think the biggest difference to the naked eye is the chrome rocker moulding. It may be on others and painted over, but the first one is the only one I know of that left them chrome. It is the car that makes the jump over Rosco's police car at the end of the opening credits to every Dukes episode.

[pettyfan43]

Also those crossed flags DID NOT just show up on Lee 1, but on all the cars used in the Georgia episodes. You can clearly see them in one shot in "high Octane" which was the last episode aired, PLUS a few of the EARLY cars in Georgia lost their fuel cap trim rings.

[JimShine]

The reason some lost the trim rings. They were removed to mimick Lee1, which lost its ring before being a General Lee. The car was hit hard on the driver side rear quarter and had a NOS quarter panel and trunk lid installed and painted gold to match. The broke dude that did it did not replace the gas cap ring or the wheel well trim that was damaged. To make the car look okay, he removed all the wheel trim. This work is also why the vinyl top trim was retained. They replaced the quarter (badly) making the seam under the vinyl top trim, not at the factory location. It was too much of a mess to clean up, so they just left the trim in place to hide it.

[Mike DC]

             
  .  .  .  and unintentionally made the car look better IMHO. 


There's a widespread feeling that 2nd-gen Chargers wear vinyl tops better than most cars of that era.  I think the visual break provided by that seam (vinyl-to-paint on the quarter panel) is the reason.  The GLs having kept that trim accomplishes the same thing with the painted top. 

       

[JimShine]

I agree 110%

[CHARGERMAN2007_69]

actualy i can gaurentee for a fact that they did use 70's in the doh cause theres a big dukes guy down where i am and he bought an 1970 general lee from the show that was setting in a museum

[General_01]

actualy i can gaurentee for a fact that they did use 70's in the doh cause theres a big dukes guy down where i am and he bought an 1970 general lee from the show that was setting in a museum

You can ask a few guys on here that have seen "original series used" GL's in car museums all over. Just cause the museum said it was a real GL don't make it so. From what I have seen and read the stunt team/mechanics from the show have said that no 70's were used because you had to change the whole front clip to make it a GL.