THE DRIVER

[eventhorizon66]

Has everyone here seen the 1978 movie "The Driver" starring Ryan O'Neal and Bruce Dern?  I'm a sucker for a good car chase and this movie has two of them (three if you count the parking garage scene).  The best of these chases features a Trans Am against a red Chevy stepside (sounds like a big block) with a four speed.  When I saw that truck, I knew I had to buy this movie.  Also if you pay close attention the truck goes from floor shift to column shift and back again.  LOL flick-flubs.

Rent it and enjoy 

[Blazin]

I always got a kick out of the TV show The Fall Guy. The three of them would be riding along the streets of Hollywood bouncing around like they were on some dirt path, plus the truck was in park.
 Or they would be driving along in and 81 / 82 long bed GMC with a huge lift and huge x huge tires, then in the next scene they would jump or crash a 74 / 80 short bed Chevy with like 31s or 33s on it.

[JRConnieK10]

Nice, but ya gotta love the Duke's of Hazard, they would jump the car smash it and the next scene it was straight and perfect.And to here tires squeal on dirt.

[VileZambonie]

LOL I always get a kick out of tires squealing on dirt. What was that James bond movie where the car was on the beach with the tires squealing? 

[Fordeatinz71]

I always got a kick out of the TV show The Fall Guy. The three of them would be riding along the streets of Hollywood bouncing around like they were on some dirt path, plus the truck was in park.
 Or they would be driving along in and 81 / 82 long bed GMC with a huge lift and huge x huge tires, then in the next scene they would jump or crash a 74 / 80 short bed Chevy with like 31s or 33s on it.

whoever the stuntmen were that rode in those SFA GM's (some being 3/4 ton!) in those jumps should get combat pay...that must have been one PAINFUL ride...

[Lt.Del]

Speaking of old movies....did you know the Dukes of Hazard show was based on a 1975 movie entitled "Moonrunners"?  Gy Waldron reworked the characters and basic situations of his 1975 film into a TV series based on a real life Moonshine runner.   Many of the characters are the same...including the name of Roscoe Coltrane (no "P") in movie. I don't think Flash was in the movie. 

The Dukes of Hazard was my favorite show growing up, and still is on the top five for me as an adult.  Yes, I have all the dvd's.

I came accross a site yesterday (see link below)---talks about the guys who took the very first General Lee (you know, the one jumping the cop car--it was the opener for every show during the theme song). 




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEnE4nakqW4


The history of Lee #1 is quite something. Of course, after that jump, it was toast---front end all angled up and quarter panels bent up.  It is still the only car (of over 300 -69 chargers) that was on every show because of the opening credits--with Waylon singing away.

After it was totaled doing that jump, it was used in show #4 of season one (i think).  It was painted Petty blue and was supposed to represent Richard Petty's crashed NASCAR car in the show.

Well, after taping that show, it was put in the woods of some transmission dude's land.  The tranny guy did some work for the first shows on the trannys and in return was awarded with several of the totaled 69 chargers.  He sent each one to the crushers---except for a few that had a trunk full of concrete.  They put concrete in the trunks of cars that were involved in jumping to equal out the weight distribution due to the engine weight.

Well, the ones with concrete were just sitting in this Dawsonville Georgia area (near where the first shows were taped), in the woods--the GA clay kept them from rusting too badly.   Fast forward 28 years, These guys took ole General Lee #1, with it's Petty blue paint and stripped the paint off and low and behold, the orange color and hand-painted rebel flag on the roof was still there. (they used rebel flag decals for the roof after that).

The value of that puppy is over $1 million now.  They did a lot of work to straighten it all out, floor pans, q-panels, front clip/frame, etc.  What is so neat is, when Warner Bros bought up all those old 69 chargers in sourhtern california, the very first one had a sticker on the windshield of some community college in LA (parking decal).   Lee #1 still has the same windshield w/ the sticker still there.

check it out....  http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=119349
Well, excuse me while I go dig up that dvd showing the blue petty car---I wanna see that--the show is called "repo men" from the first season of the Dukes.

I still can't believe we Virginians voted Crazy Cooter (Ben Jones) to be a Senator in D.C.

YeeeeeHaww!
   

However, nothing beat the original "Gone in 60 seconds".  Something like 500 cars were crashed up during the 45 minute car chase in L.A.---never again will aproval be made for another movie like that in the streets of L.A.   Eleanor was such a nice mustang (from a mustang fan, of course).  That yellow and black 73, man she was hot. (pardon the pun, HOT)
 

[Fordeatinz71]

wow Andy, thanks for that piece of information!  i LOVE the Dukes, and know a good bit of trivia, but that's a new one on me.  i did know about the 1975 movie ties, but i didn't know all that about the General Lee #1.  that is so cool that they were able to save it.  it just goes to show ya that nowadays you can fix just about anything.  thank GOODNESS that guy didn't have that ONE crushed, huh?  it would be horrible if that piece of automotive history was lost forever...i remember "Repo Men".  i've seen it a few times...i LOVE that show, i think i've seen about every episode...

[Captkaos]

Yeah, I know I am pulling this up from the past, but here is the truck scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEzE2LvUdlQ

There are bunch of 73-78's in there....

[Lt.Del]

Awesome!  Love that music towards the end--the 70's at its best. 

[Dragon]

Great FlashBack Chris It's funny how many times they almost missed the same Ford Wagon, and Blazer/Jimmy in a couple scenes, and the same Laguna in multiple   Really got a kick of the scene between min 1:33 to 1:39, the floor shifted Stepside morphs into a column shifted model