garethj

Grippy tyres: achieved. A full set of 4 new tyres is probably the same feeling normal people have when their butler brings the port and cigars: a certain self-satisfaction knowing that all is well. I’ve no idea how normal people live or feel, being honest. New wiper blades front and rear too, the car must think its birthday has come around. The tiny thing keeps racking up the miles, filling the tank every 400ish miles is tedious but otherwise it’s a nice thing to zip around in. One of the better refills the other day, although I don’t think I’ve had lower than 46-point something when I’ve checked. Clutch change soon I think, looks like it’s the thick end of 500 sheets which seems a bit pricey but perhaps it’s not just my mortgage and cat food that’s gone up over the last year or so. Apparently the 1.3’s gearbox is a bit weak, worth thinking about if you want to get yourself some Swift action.

Brilliant test of 1979 4x4s here, the Renault 6 is a particular highlight, as is the Daimler Scout at the end

What if a Series Land Rover is just too refined? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155820773203?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=91zVUhy4Si-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Tidy looking Cinq. Before 4x4s we’re invented, mums used to drive their kids around in things like this all the time. Seems insane to imagine that now. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115953247348?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=-BnRI0WVSo2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Pillarless Metal-less https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276126087738?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=VNo9KxTNQQi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Boxy wedge for £2.5k https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314893529982?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=rrkybg0ytpi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I don’t remember ever seeing one of these without L plates https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204486235928?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=RPPao6UMR_2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Sweet Ibiza. If you think the bodywork colour is intense, wait till you see the inside https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276115367935?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=IzmzaUTuQ4S&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Do you like wheelspin? Lots of wheelspin? This Saab 900 V6 could be perfect https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266470154598?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=P0_ctA9bSty&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Mercedes S Class. Those Merc showrooms have really gone downhill. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125676228783?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SkiUbq0zTKW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

500 Sporting that needs work. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325857908243?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ThOpVeDbQbO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Turn night into Daewoo with this rally spec Lanos https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126157353748?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=3pM7LQ3RSEO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=y9xs1hiVQ9O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Could be, also the laserdisc version. You’ve got to wonder if the people who created the graphics for these had ever seen the film, or any other pictures of the car.

I can really geek-out over the Herbie films, I wrote most of a book on it, had a publisher but got blocked by Disney Publishing even after waiving taking money for it. Anyway, the door is cut away at the bottom so it doesn’t scrape on the ground. The numbers would look really out of proportion so rather than using a smaller sticker, they left it off completely. In the days before freeze frame on videos or DVDs it wouldn’t matter, but that picture was also used as one of the lobby cards and even the box art for the Revell model kit where it was added by hand.

I think it’s 318s and 383s, with maybe one or two 440s. According to super geeks, just because John Schneider was there at the time he didn’t necessarily follow the car builds closely. Why would he, when there were more womanly things to be interested in, thanks to just being made a sexy TV star.

Hmm, that figure seems a little high, I think there were only 6 Chargers in the first series. The guy who did the digging on which car was which reckons it’s between 150 and 200 tops. There are a lot of claims though. 1968 and 1969 models are very similar, with a change to the tail light panel and unscrewing the side marker lights it’s hard to tell them apart.

I think it’s the one that was built to be a 4x4. The arches were cut away to clear the wheels and it’s quite distinctive.

Sounds like the work of a lunatic to me😳

The definitive Sheriff’s car for me is the 1977 Dodge Monaco. They were used as other county’s patrol cars for a while then Hazzard County gets its own 1977/78 Dodge Monacos in season 2, first appearing in 'Days of Shine and Roses' Hatchapee patrol cars, the same type of Dodge Monaco Finchburg police too State police car, with a strong TJ Hooker vibe😀 Camouflage police car but with light bar. In the same way as people wear camo trousers and a high-viz vest. Obviously a Monaco again.

Police cars! We'll start with season 1. This had the largest variation, with different cars being used throughout the season, and the continuity was appalling - often a patrol car changes make and model several times mid-chase. Some of these early cars even pop up in later seasons when footage is re-used. You can see why they standardised the cars (and most of the cast's costumes) in later seasons. The first is from 'One Armed Bandits'. It's a 1970 Dodge Polara. This car appears in the opening credits; first when the show's title appears, and then pulling up in front of the pile of dirt for the Lee 1 jump. The other patrol car in 'One Armed Bandits' is a 1975 Dodge Monaco (very similar to the 1974 Dodge Monaco that appears in The Blues Brothers). In case you thought that it was a mistake about the patrol car used in the Lee 1 jump, the car that pulls up is the Polara (see above), but the patrol car that gets jumped was this Monaco - just one example of the bad continuity mentioned at the start of this post. By 'Mary Kaye's Baby' another Hazzard Patrol car appears - a 1975 Plymouth Gran Fury missing the 'T' from the hood letters - unusual because later vehicles had their branding removed or covered with tape. 'High Octane' sees the only appearance of a 1973 Plymouth Fury I. This is Enos's patrol car that Bo and Luke 'borrow'. When the filming moves to California, the patrol cars change. Here is Enos driving a 1974 Plymouth Satellite in 'Swamp Molly'. Also in 'Swamp Molly', the more familiar 1975/76 Plymouth Furys appear in Hazzard livery for the first time. By 'Deputy Dukes' the patrol cars have all become 1974 AMC Matadors. These were used until the end of the season. It's an AMC Matador that's seen chasing the General in the closing credits.

No, that seems to be a place where weird fans exist only to argue. For all the normal people, Lee 1 was the first car built and the one that did the jump that was used in the titles. That jump was made by stuntman Craig Baxley in front of Seany Hall on the campus of Oxford College, in Oxford, Georgia, on Saturday, November 11, 1978. The car’s first and only flight was 16 feet up-and-over the police cruiser, landing 82 feet from the ramp. After filming, the damaged car was taken back to the body shop and was never used as a General Lee again. It became a parts car for the body shop to build other General Lees; loaning doors, bumpers, the rear valance, tail lights, grille and other pieces to other Generals as needed. After the body shop took a lot of useable parts from Lee 1, the car was put into storage and left. During filming episode called “Repo Men,” Warner Brothers had already gone over budget for the show and had no choice but to recycle cars for various requirements so Lee #1 was called into use again. The car was not used as a General Lee but as the wrecked Richard Petty race car the Dukes boys buy in the episode. In order to get the car ready, it was repainted greenish-blue and then scuffed up with cinder blocks to give it a “banged up” look for the episode. Around the time the show left Georgia and moved back to California for further filming, around fifty or so cars including Lee #1 and a small handful of other General Lees were sent to a junkyard in the general Atlanta area. In 2000, after receiving a tip, some “Dukes of Hazzard” fans found Lee #1 in the junkyard along with the first two police cars made for the show (labelled Police 1 and Police 2), a parts ’68 Charger and the blue Fury that was blown up in the episode “Mary Kaye’s Baby.” While most of the cars from the show were scrapped between 1986 and 1987, it’s a miracle these few survived. Many say what saved Lee #1 was the concrete in the trunk from the jump as concrete couldn’t be put into the crusher. Not getting into the drama that took place during that restoration, but unfortunately, not much of the car remains original. A lot of the original parts were taken off and sold for profit. After the “restoration” was finished, it was used for a few promotional events before being sold at Barrett Jackson for $110,000 USD to professional golfer Bubba Watson.

One of the best known scenes, the train jump. Here’s the car that did it. This car first appeared in the episode GHOST OF GENERAL LEE and that this photo was taken during the filming of that episode. During the scenes where Rosco is chasing the ghost General around the town square, you can see this car with the same missing side marker lens. Only a few episodes later, this car was wrecked in train jump. One way to recognize this car is this bent trim. Something happened to this car off screen that damaged the driver side. A piece of trim is now missing. It is never replaced. They have also done a mirror swap on the door. You can tell only the mirror was swapped and not the whole door because you can still see a small nick in the 1 decal. They never replaced the side marker lens, they just painted over the white. You get a nice close up during the jump. As the car approaches the ramp and during the jump itself, you see the same missing trim. Zoom in as the car goes up the ramp and you can see the same replacement side mirror.

This General Lee was labelled as WGL 01. It was one of the longest lasting cars on the show. It went through several different changes and makeovers during the series. After the show was over, this car was sold along with the other remaining Generals. It was used for 1st unit and soundstage shots in season 3. All the early cars had some shade of brown or tan interior then when WB took over building them they went to the light tan. There's a few things to look for to identify this car. The end of the bumper on the driver side is turned downwards. If you look closely, you can see the chromed tray under the hood. And from the end of season 5 until the end of the series, this was the only car with a moved up side mirror and fat 01s on the driver side door. This car was used in the first 16 episodes filmed for season 3. It was not used in the last 6 episodes filmed for the season. It would appear again at the beginning of season 4, but the car had gone through some changes. Looks like it was repainted, as the decals were now in slightly different positions. The roof text was now lower and closer to the windshield. Roll bar padding was changed. The 01 decals were now a little lower than before. This car had the dressed up engine bay for under the hood shots. We get a few good looks during season 4. It’s a 383 engine. This car was only used in the first 10 episodes filmed for season 4. We wouldn't see this car again until the beginning of season 5, at which point it went through more changes. Wheel well trim was removed, interior was dyed light tan, roll bar padding changed again, and the General Lee letters on the roof were more spaced out. In the season 5 episode COMRADE DUKE, this car went through more changes. The fat style of 01 decals were put on and this was one of 4 cars that they moved the side mirror up on. It appeared in about half of the season 7 episodes.

Boss’ nephew, Hughie Hogg, owned what appears to be a 1971 Super Beetle (1302 in Europe). It was obviously styled after his uncle's white Cadillac convertible, complete with steer horn hood ornament. In reality, this Beetle was not a Karmann convertible, they just took a hard top car and cut the roof off. How many Beetles were used on the show as Hughie's car and what happened to them? It made its first appearance in UNCLE BOSS and was a standard model with torsion bar front suspension, you can tell by the different shaped front. It was used on the sound stage shots. And was used for the second unit driving scenes. The standard Beetle only appeared in one other episode, THE RETURN OF HUGHIE HOGG in season 3. What happened to it after that is unknown. The Super Beetle also made it's 1st appearance in UNCLE BOSS. It was mainly used in the junkyard scenes. Like all Hollywood “magnets”, you can see the car was actually being held by a cable that ran through a hole in the bonnet. The Super Beetle returns briefly at the beginning of ARREST JESSE DUKE. The Super Beetle last appeared in the season 5 episode THE REVENGE OF HUGHIE HOGG.

There were 8 different Uncle Jesse trucks, 3 were F100s. The rest were F250s. The first one was only used in Georgia. It is said to have been crushed in 1998. Fate - DESTROYED. The 2nd Jesse truck was the close up truck for the first couple of seasons. It was heavily damaged in a collision with a General Lee. They scrapped the body and used the chassis of this truck to build the Mean Green Machine. The Mean Green Machine was later blown up in a Fall Guy episode. Fate - DESTROYED. The 3rd Jesse truck first appeared in season 1 and made it all the way to the final episode. It was painted brown in the final episode and used as a bad guy truck. This truck is still around today and still has the brown paint job. Fate - SURVIVED. The 4th Jesse truck was used in season 2 and early season 3. You can spot it by it's yellow interior. This was the truck that rolled over in ENOS STRATE TO THE TOP. Fate - DESTROYED. The 5th Jesse truck was the close up truck for seasons 3-7. It was also painted brown in the Dukes last episode. This truck existed at least up until 1987. It was last seen in an episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. It has the same dents, same twisted front bumper and the interior is kept white. Fate - UNKNOWN. The 6th Jesse truck was used in seasons 4-7. It was also painted brown in the last episode. This truck was last seen near the end of the final episode. Fate - UNKNOWN. The 7th Jesse truck appears in seasons 4-6. After the first few episodes of season 6, it is never seen again. Fate - UNKNOWN. The 8th and final Jesse truck was only used as a Jesse truck in 1 episode, COMRADE DUKE. It’s thought WB only rented this truck because other studios used it as well. Thanks to General Lee Junkyard on Facebook for all this, his geek-levels on this are far beyond my own.