FYI for diecast fans: CRAZY LARRY'S CHARGER officially being released in 1:18

[jwramc]

I mentioned this offhand in another thread, then decided maybe it deserves it's own thread.

We all  know General Lee merchandise has been available since the late 1970s, and diecasts of the car have been done in every scale multiple times.

But Larry's Charger in 'Dirty Mary Crazy Larry' has never had any 'stuff' available for us to buy...to show our love for that car. Until 2012, that is.

Autoworld, who've been offering high-quality 1:18 diecasts for a few years now (most importantly the 1968-1971 Dodge Chargers of the Authentics Series) announced December 29th, 2011 that they'll be releasing the DMCL Charger in December 2012. It is currently in the research and design phase- nothing physical exists yet, so no photos are available. It's been stated this will be a "Silver Screen" Series release, meaning fully licensed, with movie-themed box art, correct license plates and so on... but whether that part is for certain is still unknown. I personally don't care about boxes, but to some, they're important, so I mention it. This particular release is very near and dear to me as I'm religiously addicted to this film...so I need this car to be done really well. As luck would have it, I was asked to join the R&D team (as a volunteer- as in 'no money, Dudley') to assist in getting this car right, and I'm giving it my all, and the rest of the team is equally committed to doing Larry's whip justice.

I'm attaching a few photo edits I've done to keep the team's (and my) excitement level up. Hopefully, they'll have similar effects on you.

Meanwhile, you can help to assure this one really happens by 'voting' for it with a pre-order thru your favorite diecast seller. The more pre-orders Autoworld gets, the more confident they'll be that producing this car is a good business decision for them.
I don't know all the sellers that will be carrying this release, but two I know for certain are:

http://diecastmusclecars.com/moviecarscoming.htm (near bottom of page)

and

http://www.supercar1.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5951&zenid=9tu491dtoliqmmkecpem6beqh6

Enjoy the (faked) photos... (and for Pete's sake, stop spending $200+ on eBay for old Ertl Chargers painted up like Larry's car!  )

John

[aussiemuscle]

since the box doesn't mention the movie title, i'm assuming it's not licensed (which is the main reason merchandise like this doesn't appear).

[jwramc]

As I said, the photos are fakes that *I* created, just for giggles. The official release states they WILL be fully-licensed in movie art boxes.

[404NOTFOUND]

That's great news. I assume it will be an R/T which I'm sure we agree was the main car in the movie?

[jwramc]

Absolutely. (And you might notice the first photo I edited above is actually showing the #2 SE car as it approaches the collision with the red pickup- I altered the photo in several areas to make it appear to be the #1 car... like fixing the warped grille surround, lengthening the side stripe, improving the look of the passenger-side headlamp door and, most obviously, adding the R/T grille badge and a cleaner 'Charger' emblem.)

We know three cars were used in filming:
#1- the main "hero" car, a '69 R/T (whether truly an original R/T or not is debatable, but what we are meant to believe is that it's an R/T) which is what AW is working to replicate in most cases.
Cars #2 ('69 SE) and #3 ('68 R/T) are intentionally being ignored, again with rare exceptions.

I keep typing here, on this line, examples of what I mean, but I delete them again because it's so early in this, things could change wildly going forward, and I don't want to promise anything beyond that which is guaranteed- and nothing really is 'til we see a prototype sample...which is a few months away. So as much as I want to lay out what we believe we're going to get approval on, I don't want to jinx anything by specifying too soon. But I and honestly the whole team are all doing all we can to get this replica right. We've waited too long to settle for less.  

John

[71gtx]

        yes

[chargermike]

cant wait. been waiting for this car for a while. the coolest charger ever. this movie made me a charger freak. saw in when i was about 12. and had to have a charger for my first car. never could figure out why there are not more DM/CL cars around. so much better looking than them ugly general lees. 

[404NOTFOUND]

cant wait. been waiting for this car for a while. the coolest charger ever. this movie made me a charger freak. saw in when i was about 12. and had to have a charger for my first car. never could figure out why there are not more DM/CL cars around. so much better looking than them ugly general lees. 

X2

[jwramc]

X3... not that I'd kick a General out of my driveway. I'd just start planning its conversion into this car pronto.

I posted this in another thread, but as this one is DMCL-specific, here it is for those that didn't get to see it yet.
I took DVD footage and modern rock tunes and mixed it to create a more modern-feeling trailer for the movie. It's a bit rough, but fun anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZDRan97GUM

[nvrbdn]

the video is great and the car will be waited on like a slow catsup coming from the bottle. antisipation. i will no doubt see DMCL at least 3 more times before i recieve my car. thanks for doing this one.

[jwramc]

the video is great and the car will be waited on like a slow catsup coming from the bottle. antisipation. i will no doubt see DMCL at least 3 more times before i recieve my car. thanks for doing this one.

Only three?? I tend to pop it in at least once a month. The disc is always on my desk, at the ready for when I need a fix.

No need to thank me. I'm just 'consulting' via eMail with the team at AW. I'm just 'the DMCL freak' brought in to point out the details that a DMCL novice might not notice (like the CB radio was a Realistic TRC-46 23-channel unit and the R/T had no headrests while the SE had them removed, leaving the chrome mounts visible). I'm just helping to steer. 

[model maker]

JW I saw your post and I also posted over at Hobbytalk in the model car section. The picture the manufactuer was showing in your first thread showed the 68 charger raming the cop car before it was sent into the river, lets hope they get the 69 right and all dimensions are correct as i have seen diecast 69s that look crappy with to skinny of a grille etc. remember that although the car did NOT have a vinyl top the cars all retained the chrome trim ring around the roof sails. As  previous owner of car #2 ( also used as a camera car ) i found small pieces of black vinyl top material underneath the trim on the sail. Mine was badged as an R/T but it was not it had a 318 in it. I still have a few parts off the car that i have kept all these years such as the R/T badges and the charger emblems from the roof & the 6 foot stainless steel antennae seen in 1 chase scene as it made a hard right turn. the badges are somewhere in my huge 30 plus year collection of everything. I hope this car comes out looking correct in all aspects as I have seen GL cars that looked off in appearance. the car behind me in my avatar is my charger a couple of months after i aquired it in the 70's.
Bert

[404NOTFOUND]

JW I saw your post and I also posted over at Hobbytalk in the model car section. The picture the manufactuer was showing in your first thread showed the 68 charger raming the cop car before it was sent into the river, lets hope they get the 69 right and all dimensions are correct as i have seen diecast 69s that look crappy with to skinny of a grille etc. remember that although the car did NOT have a vinyl top the cars all retained the chrome trim ring around the roof sails. As  previous owner of car #2 ( also used as a camera car ) i found small pieces of black vinyl top material underneath the trim on the sail. Mine was badged as an R/T but it was not it had a 318 in it. I still have a few parts off the car that i have kept all these years such as the R/T badges and the charger emblems from the roof & the 6 foot stainless steel antennae seen in 1 chase scene as it made a hard right turn. the badges are somewhere in my huge 30 plus year collection of everything. I hope this car comes out looking correct in all aspects as I have seen GL cars that looked off in appearance. the car behind me in my avatar is my charger a couple of months after i aquired it in the 70's.
Bert

Interesting Bert that your car was badged as an R/T but was a 318 car. The emblems looked perfectly applied so, I'm guessing the studio might have aquired the car that way. That would also explain why you don't see huge displays of power or burnouts in the movie whereas the interceptor cop car (440?) smoked em real good. The 318 would have been adequate for what took place in the film. My own car was an R/T badged 318 when it was in Texas. Must have been a lot of that going on back then. Obviously the diecast should be R/T badged as well. BTW Bert, what was the original colour of your car? Thanks.

[model maker]

Mine was blue but not B-5 and the engine bay was white, back then i never thought of checking fender tags but it was a task to open the hood each time until i finally got it repaired and was waiting to have it restriped, the place that painted it did not get the color exactly right it was more  a light yellow and just a hint of green when you looked at it in the sun,. that was hort lived however when my soon to be ex wife chose to wreck the car, thinking about it now i wanna say it was intentional but i don't think she was intelligent enough to plan something like that. It was hinted at that she let her 13 year old sister try & drive it on a quiet side street and wrecked it or it could have been her boyfriend. all i know is that the car was in good shape when she insisted she needed it during the day something I never did and dropped me off at work and after work the car was towed home wrecked with suspension damage as well as body damage combined with the stress from the movie damage certain things that should have been replaced but were deemed ok could not take the added damage. we were involved in a divorce partly due to her dishonesty and theft and her newly aquired drug problem started when she met her so called boyfriend. maybe he wrecked the car and since i could not get a straight & consisted explanation from her on what & how it happened all i know is i walked away from the charger & regret it more than you could ever know 30 years later. sorry to vent and ramble here but each time i think about the wrecked car i relive that nightmare over again. so light blue under the yellow and white in the engine bay. I remember the rear RT badge had a wing nut on the bolt.
bert

[jwramc]

Model maker,

Good to chat with you!

I've heard before that you call your former car "#2", but I've always called it #1 as there was only one 1969 Charger badged as an R/T in the film...and that car is/was the lone survivor of the production. The car *I* call #2 is the '69 SE that is shown slamming the train at the end of the film (and the car shown approaching the crash with the red pickup). Just a semantic distinction, I know.

In the end, the car you owned is the one AW is working to replicate (tho to the film's fantasy specs, not the real car's specs- It will surely feature a detailed 440 under the hood). Here's a nice shot of a previous '69 Charger created from the same molds. The proportions and details are awesome. If you've never seen an "Authentics Series" Charger before, you WILL be impressed.


I promise there's no chance of a screw-up on this diecast that renders it anything but a '69 R/T. You might say that's the most basic of information regarding the car. As for the C-pillar trim, that may be omitted from this model for the same reasons it was left off the upcoming General Lee. The factory will not foil it on, and painting it on looks like crap...so it will likely be left to buyers to add adhesive foil to create that trim themselves. One of the compromises that we have to live with. That said, it's a really easy job to do yourself. I've done in several times already with good results...
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8731/lee283xj.jpg

Other things we are asking for but *I* think we won't get is the automatic pedals, shifter and transmission. AW only has molds for the 4-speed setup. I think many buyers probably think the car was a stick anyway and won't care (the film included some added sound from an unknown 4-speed car). I plan to correct my replica when it arrives. Also, it will probably have the usual Authentics sport steering wheel, though your former car (during filming anyway) had the standard-type steering wheel with the silver horn ring. Again, AW has no mold for that part, but if we can find something really close in their mold inventory, we'll ask for it. Other give-and-take will happen, I'm sure, but we're trying (like 'Crazy'?) to get it as close as we can to what the movie wanted us to believe we were looking at.

I can not imagine what your former car would be worth today if found! May I ask- when you bought the car, was the sheet metal MORE damaged than it appears in that scene with the tall antenna?

My guess is this is pretty much the way the car looked when you got it. Wrong?

[404NOTFOUND]

Thanks Bert. I was wondering about the original colour as it might be the only clue in case the car is ever found. I don't mind hearing you vent about what happened. I'd be bitter as hell too. At least your very interesting car history story is 100% believeable unlike most other stuff on the net.

[jwramc]

To All,

I'm by no means an expert of the various options and such available on '69 Chargers, so I need some help making sense of something.

Attached is a shot from the film showing the steering wheel in Bert's old ride during filming.

The insert shows another '69 Charger similarly equipped (ignoring the sh*t radio).

Was this steering wheel available as Larry has it...with the top portion of the horn ring omitted, or is Larry's wheel modified, and it originally looked like the insert?

John

[404NOTFOUND]

That's the original standard Charger steering wheel just as you see it there.

[jwramc]

Which one? Larry's wheel is missing the top portion of the ring. The other is a complete circle.

[404NOTFOUND]

Which one? Larry's wheel is missing the top portion of the ring. The other is a complete circle.

Sorry, where did you post a pic of one with a complete circle? I don't see it here.

[jwramc]

Same photo, look at the top right corner.

[model maker]

Yes that is a great looking diecast, I have a Jonny lightning in 1/25  and the front grille is too narrow from top to bottom. My charger was in the back of the dealership where they wasted no time parting it out and the entire front have was gone as were the wheels. had I been thinking clearly I would have saved the wheels as they were american racing slots. The 6 ft antennae was in the trunk and was sticking through the side of the back seat along the passenger side door panels and it wasn't until about a year or 2 ago that I was watching the movie and being able to pause the DVD & then zoom it in I noticed that antennae and found it strange that nowhere else in the film is it shown, and it suddenly dawned on me that I still had it and had used it on the truck i bought to replace my charger and used that antennae on my other trucks for my CB radio until i put away the CB for good. I was shocked to suddenly remember where i had aquired that thing and remembered it being in the car. The cars sheet metal looked pretty much the same except the right side had a big dent & scrape over the rear wheel well on the passenger side. The trunk lid was off and was placed in the trunk opening kinda sideways. there was also a ball hitch and steel framing bolted to the trunk floor for a camera and a sturdy lawn chair looking thing that locked to it and 2 black racing mirrors, a blue denim shirt large with a grease stain on the left shoulder, 1 tan fingerless glove. the inside "side" of the trunk lid had writing on it in black permanate marker that had rough notes with check marks on some of them and had references to  a helicopter and another that said "CAM" COPTER.

[404NOTFOUND]

Same photo, look at the top right corner.

Sorry, I couldn't see it on my smartphone. I see it now. The one with the complete circle is an optional deluxe wheel. Then there is the woodgrain version as well. Larry is holding the standard wheel which I'm sure is the one you want.

[maxwellwedge]

To All,

I'm by no means an expert of the various options and such available on '69 Chargers, so I need some help making sense of something.

Attached is a shot from the film showing the steering wheel in Bert's old ride during filming.

The insert shows another '69 Charger similarly equipped (ignoring the sh*t radio).

Was this steering wheel available as Larry has it...with the top portion of the horn ring omitted, or is Larry's wheel modified, and it originally looked like the insert?

John

Here you go.....Courtesy of Barry's site

[jwramc]

Thank you kindly, gents.