Behind the Scenes Dukes of Hazzard TV pics- General Lee

[JT01]

AWSOME PICS

[tan top]

                                     
There were no Hemi GLs in the old TV series.

In the 17 cars that WB gave out after the TV series ended, there was one 318, two 440s (one of which was an RT chassis and the other was not) and the rest were all 383s.  That gives you some idea about the kinds of cars they used.  

They did buy a fair number of 318 cars, but those were the first ones in line for jump duty.  So the only 318 car left at the end of the series was their purpose-built car to balance on two wheels.  It had a 318 for lighter weight and some other bracing & mods on the chassis.    

 

 

would of loved to know what the chargers were option wise , remember reading something in an old wingedwarroires/ NBOA news letter from the mid ish 80s !! 84 to about 88 !!    some guys pulled all the tags off the used up generals , & were or had complied a list of what options were on the chargers , as they had printed in the issue i was reading , a list of challenger options from the fender tags they had pulled off at wrecking yards about 60
also in this letter, i mentioned in an Aero thread a black daytona being used as a police patrol vehicle &  getting wrecked  

[Mike DC]

           

The typical preferred GL options list was a 383 4bl, a floor-shifted 727, power steering, and a LS diff.  The majority also came with vinyl tops and A/C + tinted windows.  They used 68s (with grille dividers and wide taillights added on) just as often as 69s. 

The cars were picked from the standard run-of-the-mill 1968/69 Chargers on used car lots in SoCal at the time.  Most Chargers already suited the bill.  The only Chargers they really turned down were aero cars, Hemis, slant-6s, and sunroof cars. 



They did get some 4spd cars and manual steering cars.  Pretty soon the crew had so many spare Charger parts lying around that it was easy to swap in power steering or automatics when they needed to.   

[Ghoste]

As cool as wrecked Chargers are I think the best behind the scenes DOH pics would have to be from Daisy's dressing room.  Just saying.

[Bob T]

Lots of pics I hadnt seen before, thanks for posting em up Cody.

Maybe Ghoste can post some too... 

[Ghoste]

If you mean Daisy in the dressing room pics I'm afraid I don't have anything like that.    (and probably just as well)

[LoneStar Mopar]

Really cool to see! Thanks for posting.

[mAdMoPaR]

Awesome pics! But a bit painful to see..

[MoparManJim]

Awesome pics! But a bit painful to see..

well the way I see it, it doesn't matter anymore. The show was film back in 1978 to 1985.. the stuff is done and over with  . It doesn't pay to cry over the cars that was used on that show or not like the show either as it's all over and done with  . There is no point in not liking the show because of the cars and what they did to them, it won't bring the cars back that was wipe out back then. 

What is painful to see is the clubs that are taking these classic's and jumping them.. now that is painful. 

[model maker]

I just don't understand WHY, they didn't just use the same jump scenes over again instead of reshooting them with a fresh charger, they all look the same anyway. what a shame it was to destroy so many chargers & then the movie did the same thing. Oh well, whats done is done. By the way, stuntman al wyatt Jr & his dad al wyatt SR. both drove in the movie dirty mary crazy larry, and are listed in the credits.

[Ghoste]

Now thats some trivia I never knew. Thanks.

[MoparManJim]

I just don't understand WHY, they didn't just use the same jump scenes over again instead of reshooting them with a fresh charger, they all look the same anyway. what a shame it was to destroy so many chargers & then the movie did the same thing. Oh well, whats done is done. By the way, stuntman al wyatt Jr & his dad al wyatt SR. both drove in the movie dirty mary crazy larry, and are listed in the credits.

1) if they did that, it would have been boring to watch knowing you was about to see the same jump coming up over and over again. And they wanted something fresh for each one.

2) the charger at that time wasn't so demand for them as at that time back then they was just another car on the streets running like new cars are now days. They could find the chargers very easy back then on the streets in back yards and use car lots and not many people was kinda into the cars. So at that point in time it wasn't a shame to jump a charger as those kind of cars was everywhere back then and cheap also to get. Alot of other TV shows was getting other old cars also and wracking them as they was also just like the chargers was.

You think they went through alot of chargers? think about how many dang potrol cars they went through!  . Double the amount of chargers. They went through so many potrol cars and chargers in around 1984 and had a shortage in the cars that they went to using minutures for the stunt work. And the studio knew by then that the show had ran it's course just about.

Here's some trivia for you all, As I understand it.. The Dukes was only planed to be a mid season replacement for the time slot for the show it was replacing for that one part season as they had another show line up for the time slot after the other show ended to soon that the Dukes took the spot for as kinda filler I guess. I believe the show it replace was The Hulk series.. but when Dukes aired January 26 1979 they didn't know so many people was going to love the charger so much and after the first five episodes the show got pick up for a season and was move back to CA and stayed on that channel in that time slot.

[Sabre]

I just don't understand WHY, they didn't just use the same jump scenes over again instead of reshooting them with a fresh charger, they all look the same anyway. what a shame it was to destroy so many chargers & then the movie did the same thing. Oh well, whats done is done. By the way, stuntman al wyatt Jr & his dad al wyatt SR. both drove in the movie dirty mary crazy larry, and are listed in the credits.

They did shoot some jump scenes at different angles and used those different angles for a few episodes.  They also showed some jump scenes in more than one episode.  The famous jump you see in the opening credits (Santa Clara river jump) was used in at least two episodes and the first reunion movie.  Of course they couldn't resuse the same footage over and over and over again.  What if one scene called for a car chase and jump with mountains in the background (for good scenary) but they only had footage of a jump that was shot with no mountains in the background.  See what I mean?

[Mike DC]

    
DMCL - Al Wyatt Sr is the gaspump guy that Peter Fonda drags away holding the pump handle.  Al Jr is the cop in the passenger seat of the police car that almost runs down Al Sr.  

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Probably 1/3rd to 1/2 the total GL jump shots in the old series were earlier stunt footage being recycled.  

As long as there wasn't anything visibly pegging it to the specific episode, a GL jump would probably get used at least twice.  Some of them showed up 3x or more.  Other jumps were totally fabricated in the editing room with pieces of 2 or more previous jumps. 

I can think of at least one instance where some of the camera angles kept another car out of the frame, probably just to make the footage more re-usable. 
       

[Bob T]

If you mean Daisy in the dressing room pics I'm afraid I don't have anything like that.    (and probably just as well)

I remember seeing this article in a MCG mag back a few years about the wheelstanding General Lee and the fallout that ensued following its non- debut in the final episode, I dont know if its been posted up here before
Keep hitting the zoom button to read it. I wouldnt normally copy &  post a mag article , it just has relevant interest for this thread

[Mike DC]

 
Yeah, I wonder what will become of that car.  It's still with the northwest owners last I heard.  The Dukes mechanic who built it has died recently so the legal battle seems to be over.


Looking back now, IMHO it was probably not the ideal way to build a wheelstanding prop-car GL for the show.  But it would have made a badass exhibition drag car if the stars had lined up better back in the day.

[MoparManJim]

 
Yeah, I wonder what will become of that car.  It's still with the northwest owners last I heard.  The Dukes mechanic who built it has died recently so the legal battle seems to be over.


Looking back now, IMHO it was probably not the ideal way to build a wheelstanding prop-car GL for the show.  But it would have made a badass exhibition drag car if the stars had lined up better back in the day.

Ah, try afew years ago bud.

[Mike DC]

      
"Recently" in the sense that it was after the MCG article posted above.

   

[NHCharger]

Note: Corey Eubanks was one of the main stunt guys for the show. He was 19 when the first picture in this post was taken.

Wow, I would have loved to have a job like that when I was 19.
Thanks for the pics Cody.