General lee information

[MoparManJim]

He is obviously confused. As mentioned, you can see the cars bend in half on most landings - and sometimes they may have repeated a stunt. There are 17 survivors that were sold by Warner Brothers (I believe this deal was set up by Wayne Wooten and is well documented). John Schneider sold his personal car a while back. It did have a Hemi installed (but not originally) and may have been used in one of the reunion shows - but not in the series. It was certainly not true to the typical screen used car. Even then, Hemi cars would have been too rare/expensive to buy for the show. The budget wasn't unlimited! I think some of the previous info may be incorrect: I thought the big block cars made the jumps because the small block cars couldn't accelerate in the somewhat limited space they had?

Troy

Dude, I heard the info about the engines from a interview from Tom S himself talking about the engines and what kind they used and why. Tom S was one of 2 main guys as the other was Rich Septon (R.I.P.) that built the General's for on the series and for the stunt work. So if your calling my info incorrect then you are also calling the info for one of the main guys incorrect as well and they was the ones that build the cars used the cars for what.   

John S General Lee was used in Hazzard In Hollywood which was the 2nd Dukes reunion movie that aired in 2000, the one scene that stands out is where it is driving down main and the camera is following it from behind. 

Thats where alot of my info came from was from Tom S back in 2001 DukesFest he is the one that told me about the 1 Hemi body used but motor wasnt in it he also told me about the jumps little small jumps a small block was ok but the bigger longer jumps big blocks was almost always used.

Now here there is 2 people saying the same thing and yet we have afew that are still uncertain about us and our info even though we both heard it come from the same source. One of the people that built the dang cars, they of all people should know.

[greenpigs]

Some of you are hard core DOH fans!

I remember a magazine article that had a right up on the GL & it was a 383 car that was used in all the closeups & some of the tire burning scenes. Think it had headers, aluminum intake and not sure what else.

[MaximRecoil]

Some of you are hard core DOH fans!

I remember a magazine article that had a right up on the GL & it was a 383 car that was used in all the closeups & some of the tire burning scenes. Think it had headers, aluminum intake and not sure what else.

Wayne Wooten has that car; one of the two closeup cars used from '82 to '85, thus one of the most commonly seen General Lees on the show. One of them was a '68 (converted to '69 appearance) and the other was a '69. Both of them were 383 cars. I remember a magazine article on Bill Packet's General Lee replica. He used Wooten's car as a guide, and built a nearly exact duplicate of it; right down to correctly date-coded hoses, exact make/model/size/date coded tires, DuPont ChromaVision-matched paint, and even the paint and interior dye overspray. The article was called "How to Clone a General Lee".

[Sabre]

The range of Chargers used on the show are anywhere from 256 to 320 destroyed.  It seems to vary by person.  Only 1968 and 1969 Chargers were used, 43% of those used were 68's Chargers were coverted to 1969 models.  The engines ranged from 318's to 440's  I've read that the car that did the two wheel stunts was a 318 (lighter) and easier to get up on two wheels.  In fact I seem to remember only one Charger did the two wheel stunts througout the series run and still exists today.  The Chargers that did the big jumps were 383's and I think a few 440's, but most were 383's.  As for a Hemi General Lee, John's Schneider's Bo's General Lee was used in the 2000 reunion movie and of course had a Hemi, no Hemi's were used on the original show.  The info above is what I've read over the years on the Confederate General Lee fan club message board.

Wait for Mike to reply, he's pretty knowledgable about the cars used on the show.

[MaximRecoil]

The range of Chargers used on the show are anywhere from 256 to 320 destroyed.  It seems to vary by person.  Only 1968 and 1969 Chargers were used, 43% of those used were 68's Chargers were coverted to 1969 models.  The engines ranged from 318's to 440's  I've read that the car that did the two wheel stunts was a 318 (lighter) and easier to get up on two wheels.  In fact I seem to remember only one Charger did the two wheel stunts througout the series run and still exists today.  The Chargers that did the big jumps were 383's and I think a few 440's, but most were 383's.  As for a Hemi General Lee, John's Schneider's Bo's General Lee was used in the 2000 reunion movie and of course had a Hemi, no Hemi's were used on the original show.  The info above is what I've read over the years on the Confederate General Lee fan club message board.

Wait for Mike to reply, he's pretty knowledgable about the cars used on the show.

That's known as the "ski car"; they did prefer the 318, and it does still exist today. It has welded spider gears in the rearend to allow it to do that type of stunt. An open differential wouldn't work, because the rear wheel that was in the air would spin while the wheel on the ground would do nothing. A clutch-type LSD (e.g. Sure Grip) would probably work somewhat, but not as good as true 100% lockup like you get with a spool, locker, or welded spider gears (AKA: "Lincoln locker").

They used various cars for the ski stunt (you can see various exhaust configurations on the cars doing the stunt on screen), but they probably eventually settled on one to always use, that one probably being the one that still exists today.

[Mike DC]

(Thanks Sabre, if you were referring to me!)


The various Charger wreck totals are all rooted in the Valuzets' figure of 229 General Lees, plus the smaller totals from the other crews.  But the Valuzets' trustworthiness about their figures has been, umm . . . well, let's just say it has been "called into question".  They sent WB the bill for 229 cars.  What number they actually used is open to debate.  

And the studio wasn't watching over the crew's shoulders to see whether a "totalled" car meant it was actually replaced, or it just took enough parts & labor to have paid for another Charger in theory.  (Remember the crews became VERY experienced fixing Chargers and they amassed a huge pile of free replacement parts on hand.)  Later in the series the WB crew and the stunt guys arrived at stricter guidelines for what was safe to re-use and what wasn't, but earlier in the series there was no telling what was happening.  


Just looking at the episodes, I might guess that 100-125 Chargers died onscreen deaths.  Maybe even less, depending on how much straightening work was done on the mildly bent ones (which was considerable in some cases.)    


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Engines:  383 was by far most common.  440 R/Ts were not all that rare on DOH but they were less common than 383s.  Lotsa 318 cars died doing jumps.  No Hemi engines were ever used on the set for sure.  They did once get a rolling shell with a Hemi K-frame in it, and nobody was checking VINs for original Hemi cars in those days.

In late 1982 they started using nitrous oxide on the jump cars to get the speeds up.   The nitrous was first used because they lacked adequate run-up space for a jump in a certain spot.  But they bought a pair of nitrous kits and continued doing it sometimes just to get more speed out of 318 cars.  

[tan top]

  some intresting stuff there ( MikeDC ) thanks for sharing 

[Troy]

Ok Jim and JT... the last post I read before typing my reply was 4 above mine (#12 "BY RSCO" meaning I hadn't even read Jim's yet). Second, nowhere do I say they never used a Hemi car. I said it wasn't typical and listed the reasons why. This was a direct reference to the original claim that all the General Lees had Hemis. I'm not a Dukes expert but I can spot BS with the best of them.

Troy

[Old Moparz]

Some of you are hard core DOH fans!

I remember a magazine article that had a right up on the GL & it was a 383 car that was used in all the closeups & some of the tire burning scenes. Think it had headers, aluminum intake and not sure what else.

I may still have a magazine with a very similar story, if not the same story. It was back in the 80's that I remember buying it & reading it. They had interviewed the guys who built the cars on the show & had said what engines they used. I may go look for it instead of doing some yard work. 

[mpdlawdog]

Thanks for all the info....I will let him read the thread when I get back to work tomorrow!  Not sure how he can argue with of a group of loyal charger owners!!

[Sabre]

(Thanks Sabre, if you were referring to me!)


The various Charger wreck totals are all rooted in the Valuzets' figure of 229 General Lees, plus the smaller totals from the other crews.  But the Valuzets' trustworthiness about their figures has been, umm . . . well, let's just say it has been "called into question".  They sent WB the bill for 229 cars.  What number they actually used is open to debate.  

And the studio wasn't watching over the crew's shoulders to see whether a "totalled" car meant it was actually replaced, or it just took enough parts & labor to have paid for another Charger in theory.  (Remember the crews became VERY experienced fixing Chargers and they amassed a huge pile of free replacement parts on hand.)  Later in the series the WB crew and the stunt guys arrived at stricter guidelines for what was safe to re-use and what wasn't, but earlier in the series there was no telling what was happening.  


Just looking at the episodes, I might guess that 100-125 Chargers died onscreen deaths.  Maybe even less, depending on how much straightening work was done on the mildly bent ones (which was considerable in some cases.)    


-------------------------------

Engines:  383 was by far most common.  440 R/Ts were not all that rare on DOH but they were less common than 383s.  Lotsa 318 cars died doing jumps.  No Hemi engines were ever used on the set for sure.  They did once get a rolling shell with a Hemi K-frame in it, and nobody was checking VINs for original Hemi cars in those days.

In late 1982 they started using nitrous oxide on the jump cars to get the speeds up.   The nitrous was first used because they lacked adequate run-up space for a jump in a certain spot.  But they bought a pair of nitrous kits and continued doing it sometimes just to get more speed out of 318 cars.  

Yep, referring to you Mike.

[mpdlawdog]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the info...it worked...he has not spoken to me since the last post!