It’s a pretty poorly kept secret (it’s really not a secret at all) that most all of the “General Lee” stunt cars seen today aren’t really vintage 1969 Dodge Chargers but rather reskinned Ford Crown Victorias. If this is news to you, you might not have known that the iconic second generation Dodge Charger shares an almost eerily identical wheelbase to the venerable four-door Ford most commonly used as a Police Interceptor.
Although long since retired (back in 2011), nearly 85% of Ford’s 1.5 million “Crown Vics” were slated for police, government or municipal duty; and as government service vehicles are prone to do, have been (or soon will be) sold off at auction.
Stunt and entertainment operations like the Northeast Ohio Dukes capitalized on this striking similarity, and began retrofitting fresh AMD sheetmetal to as many decommissioned Fords as they could get.
Why? Because while many still want to see the iconic orange “01” Charger take flight, the public’s appetite to seeing them dash themselves across the asphalt has soured.
Second generation Chargers are becoming far too scarce (and consequently, valuable) to be accordion’ed like a Looney Tunes character – no matter how rusted or held together with steel tubing as one may be.
But nobody bats an eye when it’s a dilapidated police cruiser wearing a General Lee’s skin. In fact, the irony of seeing a squad car in “Dukes of Hazzard” livery being catapulted hundreds of feet in the air only to meet its demise is part of the appeal, and it’s certainly not lost on the Northeast Ohio Dukes.
Auto Metal Direct recently published a quick video from the Northeast Ohio Dukes’ garage as they prep yet another General Lee jump car for the “Full Hazzard County Stunt Show” happening this Saturday, August 1st at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana. (See flyer above.)
And again, none of this would be possible without Auto Metal Direct (AMD) reproducing the entirety of steel components and panels necessary to rebuild and restore these cars – and not just that, but bumpers, stainless trim, windshield and door glass, weatherstripping and even complete grilles! AMD has literally every scrap necessary to bring a ’68 or ’69 Dodge Charger back to as-new condition and that’s worth acknowledging.
