restoring original cars from the dukes of hazzard

[Bandit72]

i'm not sure i understand....you all want chargers to be saved...and in many cases they are...but if someone saves a charger to make a general lee you just look the other way...would you rather the car rusted out into a pile of rust on someones garage floor, or be saved as a general lee? You shouldn't look at it like another chargers being wasted to support someones fantasy of owning there own car that they grew up loving...you should look at it like another charger is being saved...period.

later 

[Ghoste]

I agree.  I'm not a big Dukes fan and I'm kinda tired of GL's but I'd much rather see 1000 GL clones running around than a single Charger so far rotted that it's nothing but shelter for mice in the winter.

[Mike DC]

         
Such is the love/hate relationship between Charger fans and "The Dukes of Hazzard." 

It's caused hundreds of Chargers to be smashed, and hundreds of rotting Chargers to be restored, and hundreds of decent surviving Chargers to be repainted, and gotten hundreds of guys into other Chargers & other Mopars . . . there's never a dull moment one way or the other.


I think the General Lee's total net effect on the Charger hobby has probably been more good than bad, although it's also caused some pretty frustrating things to happen in the process.

   

[TheGhost]

They should restore them all back to orignal Mopar as Chrysler and God intended. 

*snort*

All original is fine, if the car came mostly that way, and is numbers matching.  But to have EVERY car restored the way they came from the factory is just damn boring.


Greenpigs, what's wrong with restoring a cop car?

[hemihead]

i'm not sure i understand....you all want chargers to be saved...and in many cases they are...but if someone saves a charger to make a general lee you just look the other way...would you rather the car rusted out into a pile of rust on someones garage floor, or be saved as a general lee? You shouldn't look at it like another chargers being wasted to support someones fantasy of owning there own car that they grew up loving...you should look at it like another charger is being saved...period.

later 

I, in my personal opinion, would rather have the rust.They took a Mopar legend and turned it into a cartoon character.I owned a 70 before the DOH aired.Then that came on T.V. and the Charger became the joke.Glad I own a 3rd Gen now.

[MassCharger73]

I can't speak for Greenpigs, but I think the real value of the first DOH police car is in its TV history. It has much less value as an old restored police car. The first GL as it sat as a POS is probably more valuable restored.

[Mike DC]

         
I don't understand why there's this mentality that the ONLY  way to get one of these cars back is to restore the orignal hulk. 

It's not the 1970s anymore, and a cloned Hemi 'Cuda looks IDENTICAL to the original nowadays.  A 'Cuda clone doesn't have to look like a 318 Gran Coupe with a Maaco paintjob & a 1966 Hemi thrown into it anymore.

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You could build nicer-than-original clones of any of these Georgia "Dukes" cars for 1/3rd of the price of restoring them.  Particularly the cop cars.  With one of those things, the price of straightening out the unibody distortion alone could probably buy you another decent "builder." 

I mean, you can repaint & reupholster & rechrome the crunched oringinal metal or another car . . . it's gonna look the same when you're done no matter which car you start with.         

[mikepmcs]

I might know a guy who knows who owns the original police 1 and 2.  I've seen pictures of them that the owner gave to him.  I was in his shop in Tennessee not 2 weeks ago to pick my GL up.
If you want his information, then PM me and give me yours and I'll pass it along to him.  Don't want to breach his privacy until I have his permission.
v/r
Mike

[JimShine]

Police 1 and 2 were on eBay several times before they actually sold. The bidding was really low.

I don't care what people think of the General Lee. I know a local Mopar guy who has maybe 5 or 6 2nd generation Chargers. All are restorable and garaged, but nothing is done to them. He reamed me out on doing a General Lee paint job on my '69. Fact is I took my car from being a project in storage for 13 years to a roadworthy vehicle I drive regularly in 6 months time. Within two years time it was painted, interior done and still on the road. His cars have sat untouched. To some I drive a joke, but my car is on the road where it should be. I told him if he got just one of those on the road I would listen to him, but his word is worthless to me as anyone can buy up and store cars. It takes passion and dedication to put them back on the road.

[General_01]

Police 1 and 2 were on eBay several times before they actually sold. The bidding was really low.

I don't care what people think of the General Lee. I know a local Mopar guy who has maybe 5 or 6 2nd generation Chargers. All are restorable and garaged, but nothing is done to them. He reamed me out on doing a General Lee paint job on my '69. Fact is I took my car from being a project in storage for 13 years to a roadworthy vehicle I drive regularly in 6 months time. Within two years time it was painted, interior done and still on the road. His cars have sat untouched. To some I drive a joke, but my car is on the road where it should be. I told him if he got just one of those on the road I would listen to him, but his word is worthless to me as anyone can buy up and store cars. It takes passion and dedication to put them back on the road.

  Well said JimShine.

[Mike DC]

     

He reamed me out on doing a General Lee paint job on my '69. Fact is I took my car from being a project in storage for 13 years to a roadworthy vehicle I drive regularly in 6 months time. Within two years time it was painted, interior done and still on the road. His cars have sat untouched . . .

. . . To some I drive a joke, but my car is on the road where it should be. I told him if he got just one of those on the road I would listen to him, but his word is worthless to me as anyone can buy up and store cars. It takes passion and dedication to put them back on the road.

So true.

[blackcharger]

     

He reamed me out on doing a General Lee paint job on my '69. Fact is I took my car from being a project in storage for 13 years to a roadworthy vehicle I drive regularly in 6 months time. Within two years time it was painted, interior done and still on the road. His cars have sat untouched . . .

. . . To some I drive a joke, but my car is on the road where it should be. I told him if he got just one of those on the road I would listen to him, but his word is worthless to me as anyone can buy up and store cars. It takes passion and dedication to put them back on the road.

So true.

I know of several very nice mopars around me, that NEVER come out of the garage.Maybe, Maybe, once otr twice in 10 years. It's your car, do what make YOU happy.It's your $$ that has it out on the road.
Dave

[JimShine]

I am talking about cars that need work, but are not getting any attention. The justification is they are now out of the elements and someday will be done. I don't expect to see them all done in my lifetime.

[itchyballs]

i just can't understand why warner bros. would not want  some of the originals maybe to put in a museum or something. as big as the dukes has gotten i think  the show has earned it's part in the history books!

[Mike DC]

That last quote doesn't make a lot of sence. You can retsore a car from end to end and it will still look the  same when done? I beg to differ. When you restore a car, its sweet looking, not beat to crap like a Dukes car that had just been jumped and left for scrap.

I think you misunderstood my point there. 
I was saying that fully restoring a DOH car makes it look exactly the same as fully restoring another car to clone it.  Both come out looking very shiny & nice. 

I was saying why not clone the car instead of destroying the originality (and spending a hell of a lot more money) to achieve the same thing?  Whether it's the original hulk or a differnt one, you end up staring at 18 feet of brand-new DuPont unrethane enamel & Legendary vinyl either way.

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I say they should sell the parts that are left over from the past movie and be done, stop making movies and wrecking the damn cars, think about it, we don't many parts left around for ourselfs let alone the guys who do have these cars laying in they're yard that don't wanna sell them, are wanting big bucks cause of that stupid movie now and thinking, hey, lets cash in on the car and make a million off a pile of junk! Also, my dad had a 68' Hemi charger and a 69' R/T 440 car before the Dukes even came about, therefore making me a fan of mopars before they we're really trashed!
Yeah, I'm an anti Duke car fan.....oh well.........
Mark

Can you think of any group of people on earth who suffers more from the the high prices of Charger parts than DOH fans?  Every single damn one of us is trying to build the same '69 Charger before we die.  It's all we can do not to bid against our own buddies on Ebay all the time.

DOH fans weren't responsible for the bad movie that came out.  We can't control whether or not they do sequels (and most of us oppose it).  Even the decision to hold the live "Dukesfest" stunt shows was basically out of our control after the first Covington show in 2003.  These things are all corporate-run deals now.

   

[tan top]

      well said (MikeDC) 

[greenpigs]

I can't speak for Greenpigs, but I think the real value of the first DOH police car is in its TV history. It has much less value as an old restored police car. The first GL as it sat as a POS is probably more valuable restored.

Greenpigs, what's wrong with restoring a cop car?

Mass73 summed it up, to me a 78 cop car is nothing to get excited about or worth the expense to restore.

If they did the 1st general as it appeared in the show..blue..faded paint etc but fixed all the rust it MIGHT be better than restoring it to original. Kinda like the Joe Dirt Daytona, which looks rough in the movie but the car is solid and made to appear like A POS beater.[/b]

[Mike DC]

BTW:

There is already a perfect re-creation of the first General Lee.  It was done by Bubba Williams of Georgia.  Perfect down to the duct tape on the rollbar padding.

[69fourspd]

I just want to add that my Charger restoration is to clone a GL.  I am doing this to preserve the car, while having the one car I grew up to love.  If it wasn't for the GL, I would probably not be into restoring old muscle cars.  I do plan to restore one back to original one day, but in the mean time I will create the one car I really want.  By making a GL I do not plan on destroying it one bit, but keeping all of the cars integrity.  It may be orange and decaled, but remains the same in all other aspects.  I do not see why anyone would have a problem creating a GL - since I am not concerned with having a car I do not enjoy as much to try for a better return on resale.  With any car, It is great to keep the history of the car, but not at the expense of the owner fully enjoying it.  Hats off to everyone who brings these cars back to factory original, but I do not think it is reasonable to criticize anyone enjoying this sport recreationally while creating their vision.