Aug 23, 2005 - The General Lee

Okay,

There's a lot of drama going on in my life right now that I just don't feel like getting into in such a forum (at least for now), but one thing that I am sure is to become a running theme in my posts is my 1969 and 1968 Dodge Chargers. The '69, my first Charger, was purchased primer black in Feb 2004, and just 3 weeks ago I painted it up to look like the General Lee from 'The Dukes of Hazzard' (show, not the movie). That car is my pride and joy. It has given me hours of driving pleasure that I would not give up for anything (not even money). It has also given me headaches aplenty and lots of sleepless nights.

I bought the '69 off of eBay (a gamble I admitt) from a guy on Long Island, New York on Valentines Day. My brother Jim and I rented a U-Haul car hauler and a good family friend Chris put it on his truck and drove Jim and I to NY to pick the car up. There were a lot of... issues getting it home, but when we did I was intent on NOT doing a General. Jim is older than me by about 5 years and he, unlike me, has vivid memories of 'Dukes of Hazzard' toys and he and I both owned more than our fair share of General toys.

Everytime he looked at the Charger, he kept insisting that it reminded him of a General Lee. I was able to tune him out until this past winter when he and I bought a '68 Charger. My prime concern before that was I wanted a stock muscle car without the General Lee bagage attached to it. With the purchase of the '68, I lost my argument.

Jim and I hooked up with people who actually worked on the show and some who built the cars (once I find a way to post pictures I will have some whoppers to share). It is now painted with all of the decals and just today we got the pushbar. Hope to be able to show what she used to look like and what she is now.


-Matt

Me

Aug 22, 2005

As it says above this is my first ever blog. For this post, I suppose it would be wise to give a sort of autobiography of myself.

My name is Matt Shine and I am a (NOW) single, 25 year old debt collector (which I'm sure will give lots of fodder for posts). I had heard of blogs before, but earlier today I had read an article in 'Readers Digest' at work about blogs and how they have helped people express themselves. I, like many, have an axe to grind and decided 'what the hell.'

I have never been able to keep a diary or journal or anything of that nature, so this is something of a test for me.

If anybody ends up reading this, hope you enjoy the future posts.


- Matt