For as long as we can remember, Dukes of Hazzard stunt jumps have been a sore subject for Mopar fans. It seems that whenever a Charger painted orange flies through the air, there is always a large group of people ready to flip out and bash the stunt guys. We can admit, we aren’t fans of it either; after all, it’s another Charger destroyed in a world where it’s getting harder and harder to find them. However, for the past number of years, most of the Chargers used have been pretty rough examples; as explained in this previous story we did. These cars are pulled out of a field, slathered full of bondo, quickly sprayed orange and usually have the worst of parts installed onto them. Close up, these cars are the true definition of putting lip stick on a pig.

When James Smith of Smith Bros Restorations was tasked to build and jump a General Lee stunt car for the 2017 Cooters Last Stand Event, he had a brilliant idea. Something we personally think will change the General Lee stunt car world for the good. While walking through his back field where two old Chargers sit, James says, “We usually take a car like this one or this one and cage it and jump it and crash it.” He continues to say, “This year we didn’t want to do that. I wanted to start with a car completely different. I feel if this car has a vin number, it’s repairable; no matter how much rust is in it. There are parts out there available to put it back together. If it’s too rusty to put back together, it’s too rusty to be a stunt car. It’s unsafe. So, to put it back together, it could be put back together on the road; not crashed and wrecked repeatedly”.

With that thought in mind, James got to work building his new stunt car. While the result may look like a ’69 Charger, it’s very much not. James took a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria, skinned it and installed brand new Auto Metal Direct (AMD) metal that can be purchased through places like our friends Classic Muscle Metal to make it look like a Charger. It’s brilliant! Take a look at the video below, it’s wicked!