1969 Dodge Charger - Bo Duke tries again

cbs2.com http://snipurl.com/1l8vs

The one-time star of the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV series says he won't get
fooled again when he puts his...1969 Dodge Charger called the "General
Lee" back up for sale on eBay [auction page:
http://snipurl.com/Dukes_General_Lee ]

John Schneider, who played Bo Duke on the 1970's ABC television series,
said only bidders with pre-qualified lines of credit will be allowed to
bid on his vehicle, which he built after the show went into syndication
several decades ago.

[A previous] winning bid of $10 million turned out to come from an eBay
account that had been hacked, and the supposed winning bidder had no
intention to buy the car.

Schneider's spokesman said 17 potential bidders have qualified to bid
on the collectible car...
==========
Starting bid is $1 million http://snipurl.com/Dukes_General_Lee

 

OK, but what about the bidders that were bidding against that
bidder? Why didn't the secord or third place bidders get it then?
Something still fishy, I suspect. See:
http://offer.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=250108256198

 

As I understand it, the second place bidder is OFFERED the car if the
winner renegs, but isn't obligated to take it.

 

Total failure! Only 1 bid for $100,000 - didn't even make the reserve
price http://snipurl.com/Dukes_General_Lee

HA!

 

Ha? What are you saying? If I was able to get $100K for that I'd be
jumping for joy. It's just a kit car, reproduction. No Hemi, the
suspension
and everything else isn't original, either. And it wasn't used in the
original
TV show.

Ted

 

What the hell are you talking about? It's not a replicar, it's a '69
Charger, just not stock. That crate motor kicks hemi ass if it puts
out 725hp. I hear it's worth about $150K but that's pushing it but I
have no idea what work they did on the motor. They are trying to get
more out of it because it is "famous", lol. You could build your own
for a lot less.

 

"just not stock" That one statement says it all.

You don't understand the value of a collectible car. Once you "improve" it
you destroy the value.

That crate motor kicks hemi ass if it puts

Exactly. Any idiot could take a collectible '69 Charger and destroy it
by tearing all the stock stuff off and slapping on all the fancy painted
aluminum.
But what you end up with is a car that is worth about what you put into
it for parts.

The valuable collectible cars are the factory-beefed-up '69 Chargers that
have been left exactly as they were beefed up in '69. Your buying a true
piece of history.

What they are auctioning off is nothing more than a fast, modern, hotrod,
it is not a classic. Maybe in 30 years if people are all nostalgic for the
"year 2006 D of H remake movie" then it might be worth something.

Ted

 

Actually, I do. There is more than one level of "collectible"
including Hollywood memorbilia. This is clearly not a "stock" Charger
restoration which is where I think you are confused.

True, any idiot can do that, but do you think that's the way they
would build a movie car that was never intended to be destroyed for a
jump/crash? They destroyed approximate 3 Chargers per episode of
Dukes back in the day, and likely none of them were number matching
classics. I recall in more than one instance the taillights were
round, which indicated a 1968 Charger in some scenes. Thats when you
knew they were about to jump/crash. There was usually a tough guy
stuntman at the wheel, too, no powdered-butt pretty boy like Jon
Schneider. He probably wouldn't even get in the passenger seat of a
car some hack built.

This car could possibly have more invested in the motor/trans setup
than any stock 1969 Charger is worth today.

Even bone stock the prices range from $50K to $200K+ for a Superbird
which was never titled

http://www.cars-on-line.com/29680.html Being sold for about $50K

So if they dropped about $100K on a ported/polished/crate motor, it
would follow my argument that this thing is worth a lot more than $50K
like in the above example. It was built professionally, not by some
hack. There is a difference.

Agreed, but that is not what this auction is claiming. They are
trying to cash in on the movie car fame. Did you read that in the
auction?

Now you are catching on. Look at what Carrol Shelby did with the AC
Cobra back in the day. Those cars went for $6000 or so but are worth
about $600K today. Do you think Carrol Shelby was a hack? Following
your logic, he destroyed the value of those cars.

What about Steve Saleen? If you buy a Saleen Mustang from Ford, it
costs a lot more than a stock Mustang GT or Cobra. Is it worthless
now? I think not. Saleen Mustangs from the 60's have appreciated
much more than their stock counterparts.

You may want to check out the show Musclecar on SpikeTV. Lou would
help you see the light and he has worked on movie cars for the show
and in real life.

 

I'm not arguing that. OK, I will admit I'm not up on the prices of race
motors these days - perhaps there is a lot more labor in this one than I
assumed. But, still, sounds to me like your talking 200K tops. In which
case why was he even on Ebay, and not down at the track thumbtacking up
pictures of his car with for sale signs on it like the rest of them are?

I understand that - but still it's kind of screwy. Part of the charm of the
original Dukes of Hazzard was the idea that a bunch of backwoods hayseeds
without 2 nickles to their name could doink around with a Charger and
get a fast hotrod out of it.

It was the same approach that Ford, GM and Chrysler took back in the
glory days of NASCAR in the 60's where they really did race real stock cars
and the general public could in fact go into a dealer and if they knew what
codes to spec on the order sheet, have a serious race car built for them.

Dukes could no more afford a modern $200K ported and polished race
motor with an engine computer than any average Joe Public could. So
emphasizing all this pro-racing hotrod stuff on the movie car - well your
taking all the charm of the hayseed-made-good approach and tossing that
into the crapper.

What you end up with is the image of "rich man A with toy competing
against rich man B with toy" This does not a classic movie make.

If you want to see a real classic movie car, watch the car chase scene in
Grindhouse; Death Proof. Tarantino ended up with the very last Grindhouse
car,
(the movie filming destroyed all the rest of them) and I would bet it
it ever went up on Ebay it would fetch a lot more than $100K.

Yep - but, the D of H remake movie isn't going to be a classic movie 30
years from now. It's kind of like saying the Flintstones movie that came
out
a few years ago is going to be a classic someday.

Classics are either very very good or very very bad - stuff like Attack of
the Killer Tomatoes, or Barbarella are in the second vein - but the D of H
remake was neither very very good or very very bad.

Kept lady making toys for rich men to play with. No thanks!

Ted

 

I'm not arguing that. OK, I will admit I'm not up on the prices of race
motors these days - perhaps there is a lot more labor in this one than I
assumed. But, still, sounds to me like your talking 200K tops. In which
case why was he even on Ebay, and not down at the track thumbtacking up
pictures of his car with for sale signs on it like the rest of them are?

I understand that - but still it's kind of screwy. Part of the charm of the
original Dukes of Hazzard was the idea that a bunch of backwoods hayseeds
without 2 nickles to their name could doink around with a Charger and
get a fast hotrod out of it.

It was the same approach that Ford, GM and Chrysler took back in the
glory days of NASCAR in the 60's where they really did race real stock cars
and the general public could in fact go into a dealer and if they knew what
codes to spec on the order sheet, have a serious race car built for them.

Dukes could no more afford a modern $200K ported and polished race
motor with an engine computer than any average Joe Public could. So
emphasizing all this pro-racing hotrod stuff on the movie car - well your
taking all the charm of the hayseed-made-good approach and tossing that
into the crapper.

What you end up with is the image of "rich man A with toy competing
against rich man B with toy" This does not a classic movie make.

If you want to see a real classic movie car, watch the car chase scene in
Grindhouse; Death Proof. Tarantino ended up with the very last Grindhouse
car,
(the movie filming destroyed all the rest of them) and I would bet it
it ever went up on Ebay it would fetch a lot more than $100K.

Yep - but, the D of H remake movie isn't going to be a classic movie 30
years from now. It's kind of like saying the Flintstones movie that came
out
a few years ago is going to be a classic someday.

Classics are either very very good or very very bad - stuff like Attack of
the Killer Tomatoes, or Barbarella are in the second vein - but the D of H
remake was neither very very good or very very bad.

Kept lady making toys for rich men to play with. No thanks!

Ted

 

Back in the mid 70s, that was entirely possible. The car itself was 6-8
years old and not worth two nickels at the time. It would have been much
better for us today if the show had destroyed a bunch of '78 Monte
Carlos or some other late 70s POS, but at the time it would have been
too expensive compared to dime-a-dozen old Chargers. No one really knew
that they'd skyrocket in value 30 years later and that everything made
after '74 would be considered crap. Don't forget over on the other
network, Charlies Angels were driving Mustang IIs. Heck, I went to
high school with a guy who picked up (and drove to high school) a decent
condition '69 Charger R/T for a few hundred bucks in about 1978. Parts
were cheap and plentiful. And "hayseeds" are often more intelligent
about making things work than urbanites who merely think they're
intelligent ;-) But honestly, all you have to do to make an R/T fast is
put gas in it and make sure all 8 cylinders are firing.