FYI: CRAZY LARRY'S CHARGER officially being released in 1:18, Dec. 2014!!

[jwramc]

IT'S OFFICIAL!!! Crazy Larry's Charger *WILL* be releasing this year in 1:18 scale! The studio licensing has been secured! The contracts are signed!



Many of you know of 2012's aborted attempt to make this happen, and the big let down we all felt when legal issues stalled the project. But that's ancient history now.

The basics remain the same, as previously mentioned...

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 2014, 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 this week that they'll be releasing the DMCL Charger in December 2014. It is already well beyond research and design phase, and samples of new parts are being test-fitted and adjustments made.

This will be a "Silver Screen" Series release, meaning fully licensed, with movie-themed box art, correct license plates and so on.

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.

Meanwhile, you can once again help by 'voting' your enthusiasm for it with a pre-order through 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... and it keeps their moral high, just as it does ours.

We don't know all the sellers that will be carrying this release, but two I know for certain are:

http://www.diecastmusclecars.com/moviecarscoming.htm

and

http://www.supercar1.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7059

Those of you that have bought Authentics Chargers in the past know the detail level of them is awesome. Until now, ALL the previous releases (except the General Lee) have been of factory stock cars wearing factory stock wheels or wheel covers... and even the General wears such skinny tires. That all changes with this Crazy Larry release. It will have 5-slot aluminum wheels in two depths (deep and really deep), wearing properly fat tires. Under the hood, a modified 440 with several non-stock items to give it that street machine vibe. No way would Larry's car run a stock air cleaner or black wires!! We may not have SEEN the engine in the film, but we all know what changes a 70s-era street machine usually had!

We hope to have some sample photos available to show you shortly. We've seen the newly molded parts mounted on a sample car and even tho the 'parts fitting' sample car is not Citron Yella, the new parts jump out at you and scream that you're seeing Larry's car emerge in the process.

I'm so stoked, my head's gonna pop off.  

And for Pete's sake, stop spending $200+ on eBay for old Ertl Chargers painted up like Larry's car!  

John

[Cooter]

 

[JB400]

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!!

I might make it a birthday present I don't receive until Christmas

[TruckDriver]

I will get one of these. This is my all time favorite movie Charger, and my favorite car chase movie. 

[timmycharger]

  Hell ya!

[69wannabe]

Awesome!! I will have to have one of those for sure!!!!! 

[nvrbdn]

i will definately be making an order.

[FastbackJon]

The slots will be cool and the correct GY3 with the stripes. I wonder if I could get a spare set of the slots somewhow to do a replica of my personal '66 Charger that wears them.

Also, don't forget the little drip rail antenna on the passenger side! And I hope they do the R/T version as well and not the base version.

How about a dented version later on with the crumpled front end too? haha

[Bob]

Christine's on that list also.

[Tilar]

For $80 it better have Flowmasters. 

[jwramc]

The slots will be cool and the correct GY3 with the stripes. I wonder if I could get a spare set of the slots somewhow to do a replica of my personal '66 Charger that wears them.

We're trying to get separate wheel sets made available, but AW hasn't committed a firm "yes" yet.

Also, don't forget the little drip rail antenna on the passenger side!

It will be there... and a CB radio as well, of course.

And I hope they do the R/T version as well and not the base version.

It will be the RT (tho we've also asked for (but likely won't get) a "chase" version (5 to 10% of the total made having something different about them which would be an SE (base badges front & rear, no "Charger" on the sailpanels for instance... the #2 car as I call it). I'll likely just make one myself.

How about a dented version later on with the crumpled front end too? haha

That one you can do yourself. Find a nice, heavy hammer and...

For $80 it better have Flowmasters.

Not too likely.

[jwramc]

Hey guys & gals - Gregg, Dave, and I managed to get our hands on some exclusive sneak peeks of AutoWorld's upcoming 1/18 Dirty Mary Crazy Larry Charger and we are sharing them with YOU! Keep in mind these are tooling samples for testing purposes, but it should give you an idea we are definitely headed in the right direction. Enjoy!

[TPR]

Looking good!
Keep those pictures coming.
TPR

[jwramc]

Here is some history on the Autoworld research and development effort that Dave, Gregg and I were contributors to.

The first collage is pics of various brand 5-slot wheels. To most folks, they're all the same, but stare long enough, the minute differences start to appear. The slot shape and size, the various circular edges and their placement in relation to the hub center and the slot edges, depth, cap style, etc, etc. Larry's fronts and rears are centered in the top row and NONE of the others is an exact match.

The second image the exact match wheel we went with (ignore the spinner cap). The rest of the pics here are what Gregg, Dave and I fought to have made for the car, knowing we wouldn't get most of it. But we figured ask BIG, and let AW whittle us down to the "must have" pieces. I actually ended up searching for and finding the EXACT antenna mount and correct CB radio, buying both on eBay just to get proper measurements and views from every angle. In the end, we are getting the wheels and tires, the antenna and the air cleaner for sure. The radio will likely be "any CB" for which a mold already exists. The bottom four items will almost certainly NOT happen, but we had to try! Deke's toolbox, the stolen money bag, Larry's gloves on the dash, and that chrome thingie Mary stole for Larry, laying on the center console.

[jwramc]

A new update on this release has been posted at http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,111544.msg1370249.html

[hemi-hampton]

I always thought the Aluminum wheels on Larry's car might of been Ansen Sprints? Anybody got a pic of those? LEON.

[jwramc]

The Ansen Sprint is shown at the top/right of the wheel collage above. Note the holes are far from the hub circle while the images showing Larry's wheels have the holes just about touching that circle. The INDY style (top/left of the second image) is the only wheel we found to match that detail, and they match all the other details as well.

[FastbackJon]

Don't forget the E.T. slotted mags and there's also a "Western Wheel" brand.