The Dodge Charger R/T is undoubtedly a true muscle car. It was a favorite choice of film and TV producers when filming wild driving scenes.
The Dukes of Hazzard
Warner Bros. TV series The Dukes of Hazzard has helped to immortalize the Dodge Charger. The main characters are two young cousins and their cousin. They kept getting into trouble while cruising around in the "General Lee", which was a 1969 Dodge Charger R / T with the Confederate flag painted on the roof. In almost every episode, the car performed a big jump. Special cars were used for the jump stunts. The doors were welded shut and the trunk was filled with cement to prevent the cars from tipping forward. Eventually, the technicians managed to get the cars to hover, but almost all of them ended up as wrecks after the impact. In total, over 300 cars were used. The production team therefore had to spend a lot of time searching for cars that could be sacrificed for new stunts.
The Duke of Hazzard, AI-generated with Waylon Jennings' opening song
The TV series has probably made many people associate the Dodge Charger with American Southern patriotism. This has hardly dampened the interest among car enthusiasts and collectors. Of the over 300 cars used in the TV series, only 17 are said to remain. In 1991, Warner Bros. sold these to collectors. Some have been resold at high prices. The interest in the “General Lee” has created a market for replica cars. Prices here have been reported to be several hundred thousand USD.
NASCAR 1969 and 1970
There was a victory in NASCAR with the Dodge Charger in both 1969 and 1970, but not in 1968 when Dodge entered Charger 500. It wasn't fast enough. To create a faster car, they fitted a beak at the front and a huge rear spoiler at the back. The model was called Charger DaytonaNASCAR rules require that all cars entered be mass-produced in a certain number and sold through dealers for homologation. As a result, 503 Charger Daytonas were produced for sale to customers.
Do you recognize the car?
The same NASCAR conversion was also done on Plymouth superbird. Like the Superbird, the Daytona was not very popular with dealers. In retrospect, however, the NASCAR versions have gained more followers. One of them was Ted Janak who started making parts to convert the 1969 Dodge Charger into Daytona look – or replica. He started the company Winged Warrior Body Parts which can supply everything you need to convert the 1969 Charger and 1970 Roadrunner to their respective NASCAR editions (link).
Dodge Charger 2nd generation
The second generation Charger model was released to dealers as a 1968 model. The engine range was the same as the previous year, with the addition of an inline-six. At the top of the engine range were the 426 Hemi and 440 Magnum. The 1968 model can be recognized by the vertical ribs in the grille and dual, round taillights. The 1969 model received a center splitter in the grille and rectangular taillights. In 1970, the cars received a new front bumper that formed a ring around the grille.
Prices for cars from 1968, 1969 and 1970 are high, probably driven by popularity and demand. Show-room cars with 426 Hemi or 440 Magnum can cost over 1 million kroner. The most expensive cars are probably the special editions 1968 Dodge Charger 500 which was the NASCAR edition that year and only 302 were produced for homologation. Cars from TV and film shoots are of course very expensive because of their history.
About the pictures
The photo of the yellow car in the main image was taken at a car meet, probably at Ekeberg Camping in Oslo. The photos from The Dukes of Hazzard is based on film clips. The blue car with the white roof participated in a Right On car meet at Isegran near Fredrikstad in 2023. The red race car comes from a car museum in Los Angeles. Photo by Karolis Kavolelis, Shutterstock.com. The car with the extra lights in the grille participated in the "Fête Americaine" in Argeles-sur-Mer, France. The car with the text "NOT For Sale" participated in a car show in Morden Park, London, 2022. The film clip of the red car after burnout was filmed on the occasion of a car show of classic cars at Sea Terrace Restaurant in Bumble.
See
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