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Would You Rather?, The Evil Chevrolet Edition: Take Your Pick Between Cooter’s Chevelle And Sean’s Monte Carlo From Tokyo Drift!


Would You Rather?, The Evil Chevrolet Edition: Take Your Pick Between Cooter’s Chevelle And Sean’s Monte Carlo From Tokyo Drift!

Chevrolets were never meant to be full-on luxobarges. That job belongs to Cadillac, Buick, and in the past Oldsmobile. Chevy products are meant to be the workhorse, the journeyman’s car, the low-budget, high-return vehicle that anybody could get their hands on. For this edition of Would You Rather?, I picked out two of my most favorite purpose-built Chevy products from film and screen. They had to be modified from stock to perform far beyond original capability, and you had to know it was one bad mother from the first glance. This one was actually pretty difficult to sort out because of the sheer amount of cars available. The Camaro from Cannonball Run almost made it, as well as both fuel heist trucks from Fast and Furious 4 would make the cut nicely, but in the end, it was one A-body and one G-body making my final draw:

1. Sean Boswell’s 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

FNF Monte 1

Tokyo Drift might have been a giant steaming pile of cat puke, but Sean’s primered Monte was a star from the second it appeared on the screen. The visuals are perfect: a stripped-down NASCAR-style street burner, with everything it needs (huge big-block, four-speed, and of course a cowl hood) with nothing you don’t (95% of the interior, it seems). The cars built for the movie were just as badass: two of the cars packed Bill Mitchell crate engines (a 509ci and a 572ci) and the rest were 350ci V8s that were prepared for stunts, jumps and the like. If we were offered the chance to drive one of the big-block cars, I promise that there would be a three-way fight between Brian, Chad and myself for the chance to lay waste to those stock-car slicks.

2. Cooter’s 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle, Dukes Of Hazzard

DoH Chevelle 1

I’ll age myself nicely here: The Dukes Of Hazzard came on four years before I appeared on this planet. I’ve seen plenty of the episodes (including the horrific Coy and Vance ones…) but one car that stood out harder than the General Lee, and even more so than Daisy’s Road Runner, was Cooter’s 1968 Chevelle race car. Mostly because this was the kind of car, minus numbers, that I saw everywhere as a kid: tunnel ram, mags, and some mulleted psycho behind the wheel. I grew up thinking that kind of stuff was actually cool, and while the mullets can go, the Chevelle can stay. One of y’all will have to fill me in on the Chevelle’s actual storyline, but I did see where it was raced against the General Lee, so for assumption’s sake, I pictured it as the General’s Chevy cousin.

DoH Chevelle 2

 


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11 thoughts on “Would You Rather?, The Evil Chevrolet Edition: Take Your Pick Between Cooter’s Chevelle And Sean’s Monte Carlo From Tokyo Drift!

  1. 1966longroof

    Completely forgot about Cooter car. I wonder how many got trashed making Dukes?? Two different chevelles in the pictures.

  2. jerry z

    Don’t remember Cooter’s Chevelle on DOH. It doesn’t matter cause the Monte wins by a long shot. Who could say no to driving a Bobby Allison Coke Cola style Street car!

  3. Tom Slater

    Aren’t they both A-body cars?
    The 78-88 Monte was a G body, sure, but as of ’71 it’s an A body (right?)

    1. Turbo Regal

      From Wikipedia:

      “In 1969, GM introduced the Pontiac Grand Prix, a two-door that used A-platform layout that was stretched ahead of the firewall to make it 210.2-inch (5,339 mm) long. This gave the design an unusually long hood design helping the new Grand Prix to outsell its larger B-body predecessor, despite higher prices. The new layout was first known as the A-body Special, but would evolve into its own class known as the G-platform.”

      The 70-72 Montes used the same platform.

    2. Doug aMay

      I’d say they were both A-Bodies as well. Most part are interchangeable up to 72, diffs, spindles etc.

  4. In4theaction

    Oh, man and though Cooter could build some engines, if Sean’s Monte really had the Bill Mitchell 632 in it! cant pass that up. Think they used a 572 and switched the valve covers for the shot in the opening credits and then of course it becomes a small block when it meets its untimely demise.

  5. Dave

    Performance would pretty much dictate the Monte… but I’d rather have the history of having a DOH car, one that I had totally forgotten about – Cooter’s car.

  6. Don Hilliard

    The Monte Carlo is cool, no doubt. But I, like the author LOVED Cooters Chevelle. It is the style I saw as a kid too. The Chevelle is in the episode Duke vs. Duke. Cooter buys a (I believe) Cale Yarborough big block to put in the Chevelle to win one of the many Hazzard road races we see in the series. Anyhow, Cooter hurts his ankle, and Luke Duke ends up driving the Chevelle in the race to help Cooter since he mortgaged everything on the car to win. If Cooters car won, he would be able to sell the engine for a substantial amount of money. There was stipulation that all losers would lose their car to Boss Hogg, therefore the Dukes had to win as well as Cooter. Anyhow, Bo and Luke race each other and just happen to cross the finish line in a tie. So the Dukes keep the General Lee, and Cooter sells his engine for big money, so everybody wins except for Boss Hogg. Anyhow, I’d take that Chevelle any day over the Monte Carlo, and hope to one day build one similar, just not green.

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