A question about cars used by TV companies.

[Beebo]

But yes, I read that The Dukes of Hazzard totalled over 200 cars which is really quite outrageous,

According to wiki they used 309 Dodge Chargers across 147 episodes.
They don’t record the number of police cars.

In reality I suspect they had loads of Frankenstein cars for the big destruction scenes.

 

[tyred]

The funny thing about the Dukes of Hazzard is that it was considered essential viewing in my youth yet if I try to watch it now it seems a load of rubbish.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Read the truth about a Bond car here.

As is often the case, there is a hidden industry at work here.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

The mechanics for Warner Brothers, for the ’The Dukes Of Hazard’ had to use ‘68 Chargers, as they started to have problems finding enough ‘69s

As far as l know there is (was?) only 1 genuine Generals in the UK
It was a ‘hero car’, with a 440 (cubic inch) Magnum, at the ‘Cars Of The Stars’ museum in Keswick
Sadly the museum is now closed/dispersed

 

[captain nemo1701]

I'm just watching a repeat of an episode of Heartbeat where an apparently immaculate Ford Zodiac was wrecked.

Do TV companies really wreck good examples of what is now a very rare car (and it would have been rare when the programme was made too, although not that valuable at the time) to make these sort of period programmes or is it really a complete basket case made to look presentable? Or is the actual accident some sort of camera trick and the car tweaked to make it look like it had been crashed?

Seems a waste of classic cars.

I suspect they don't. It may have been tarted up as that car but they wouldn't be able to afford to wreck it. In fact, some people hire out rare & vintage vehicles - often military period items - to TV & production companies so they probably couldn't anyway. On the other hand, it may have been an insurance write off they got hold of?.

If you've ever seen the Dukes of Hazzard or Knight Rider, they did trash cars. They were often cheaper models painted to look like the 'star car' and had only enough fuel in them to do the stunt jump etc. In Knight Rider, I read they used up to 14 over the 90 episodes, many often ploughing straight into the ground when KITT jumps - the landing shot used in the show always was at a much lower angle than take-off!. It got expensive so from season 2 onwards, miniatures were often used. The surviving versions were mainly the ones with the custom dash and not used in stunts.

One thing that often happens in movies & TV is that phone numbers and car reg's are faked. People will actually call phone numbers and websites used in TV shows/movies although in the digital age, some productions capitalise on this odd human quirk and you get to hidden websites with exclusive movie content etc.

 

[Fourelms]

Bit late to the party but, one of the very first General Lee 'jump' cars was found rotting away in a wooded ranch. Guy took years to purchase it

It was rebuilt using........a complete used body shell from another unrelated Charger....

View: https://youtu.be/V_BDOjfDuyA

 

[nickb]

Genuinely great cars are seldom trashed for the movies. It's mostly smoke & mirrors.

The Lamborghini Miura seen sweeping through the Alps in the Italian Job was replaced by a mock-up for the scene where the wreckage is bulldozered over the cliff.

Likewise, Charlie Croker's Aston DB4 ("pretty car") is actually a tarted-up Lancia Flaminia when that goes over the edge.

 

[Time Waster]

A former uni mate came from London and once he got stopped from getting into his car by a couple of people. Seems they were from a company that supplied cars for tv programmes and films. They wanted to hire his car for a few days. After being convinced he days he'll go and clean it up but they said that they wanted it for the condition it was in.

Anyway a few days later, during which time he had a courtesy hire car, he got his car back immaculately valeted with a nice bit of money for his "inconvenience ". I think he bit his car dirty again in the hope they'd come back!

He found out later what it was used for. Turns out it was used as a parked car in Eastenders that the characters passed once on camera.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I once met a chap who supplied the old Top Gear with a Triumph Dolomite Sprint , Rover 3500 and an Austin Princess . He wasn't happy as he had been told he would get the cars back .
What I have noticed with the new series is that cars don't breakdown as much as they used to .
Top Gear must have messed about with the cars as a rear door would not have fallen off the Rover without the hinge pins and check strap bring removed . Neither would the Sprint's rear bumper fallen off as it is held on by 4 bolts .'s

That's disapointing to hear, that episode used to be one of my favourites but in the nearly 15 years that have passed since it first aired I've come to appreciate British motor history a little better and I'd preferred the cars been treated a little better. To be fair they did do another episode later about British Sports Cars that was much more respectful to the cars.

Top Gear will have adjusted the cars in the British Leyland episode, they've made no secret that they do script events for the show so it was funny when they won the International Emmy for Best Unscripted Show.

 

[Illaveago]

That's disapointing to hear, that episode used to be one of my favourites but in the nearly 15 years that have passed since it first aired I've come to appreciate British motor history a little better and I'd preferred the cars been treated a little better. To be fair they did do another episode later about British Sports Cars that was much more respectful to the cars.

Top Gear will have adjusted the cars in the British Leyland episode, they've made no secret that they do script events for the show so it was funny when they won the International Emmy for Best Unscripted Show.

I have often wondered how many tons of water each car had to carry ?

 

[wiggydiggy]

I have often wondered how many tons of water each car had to carry

I've got no idea but that is something we could work out if you knew how much water (gallons/litres) they were carrying. I tried googling "how much water can you put in a rover sd1" but there's not much out there

 

[Illaveago]

I've got no idea but that is something we could work out if you knew how much water (gallons/litres) they were carrying. I tried googling "how much water can you put in a rover sd1" but there's not much out there

It must have been several tons if a cubic metre of water weighs 1 ton. The water would have made it into the boot so that volume would also have to be included . The seats would have absorbed water as they are made mostly of foam .