A clamshell side opening is a door that opens outward in a hinged “shell” style. It’s used here so the Pink Panther character can come out in a controlled way.
The chassis is the vehicle’s underlying structural foundation that everything else mounts to—body, suspension, drivetrain, and wheels. When a custom car is “built on the chassis” of another model, it means the base structure is reused and then modified.
They’re saying the show reused old crash/drive clips instead of filming brand-new stunts every time. That’s a common way TV shows save time and money.
Part
beehive oil filter
They’re talking about a particular style of oil filter—something that looks distinctive and is part of the car’s setup. It’s not a normal “generic” filter mention; it’s a specific look they’re pointing out.
Headers are special exhaust pipes that connect to the engine. “Full length” just means the pipes are longer, which can change both sound and how the exhaust flows.
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Rose EP44: Hi. Happy Wednesday.
Emily EP44: It's warm enough. I'm wearing a sweatshirt. But Rose is only in a t-shirt.
Rose EP44: Yeah, I just put assembly, lube around it and just slip right in. Oh. I'd watch some video that made me think it was gonna put up a fight and it didn't. It's just like you couldn't go and get the new one off the shelf because it's not a new part nowadays.
I was all hung up on the percentage of people that had cars in the us which was 17% in 1925, and the road was enacted in 1926. And so I was all just like, whoa, why? You know, it's kind of crazy that they did this thing for such a small percentage of the population, but I forgot that it also was a heavily used military road.
Rose EP44: talking like Yoda today. Um, yeah. And uh, you know, well, hard to totally encapsulate what all 66 is all
Emily EP44: Always more insurance investigators. Uh, so we decided that we ha I mean, I had stuff that I'd written down and researched that I didn't get to talk about. So
Rose EP44: had a Rolls Royce front end, and they sued him. And so he went to Spain with his car.
Emily EP44: The credits are live action. I believe that the Pink Panther is live action and cartoon.
Emily EP44: it was, uh, designed by Ed Newton and then it was built by Ed New Newton, Dan Woods and Customizers Joe, uh, Bian.
you know, Because Dan Woods was doing the ice truck in 68, 9 70, like he got drafted to Vietnam and man, my voice is already going. Bear with me folks. So Dan had been drafted to Vietnam while he was building the ice truck, and then he came home and finished the ice truck.
Emily EP44: Since 1969, and then Story CARSs, 1969, Panther Mobile, the Pink Panther car. So
Emily EP44: 23 feet long.
Emily EP44: it had a TV antenna on the back too. Yeah. And then, um, the opening was, the side was a clamshell side opening, and the, uh, pink Panther was shown just kinda like walking out of it. Um, so apparently Pink Panther could stand up inside the car. It wasn't like, didn't seem like he was like sliding out of it.
Emily EP44: Yeah, I think it's really refreshing. I think it's really refreshing that they were getting paid to make the cars that they love and that we love today. Yeah, I think that's awesome. Um, it was built on the chassis of the, uh, front wheel drive os mobile todo.
Emily EP44: Yeah. Um, it, it,
the driver was on the very front of the nose of this car, and the front of it was wider than the Rose EP44: Oh, and then there's the, the rollback toys where it's got the big wheel in the middle, like the, you wind it up and it takes off. There's more shots of the toy. Oh,
Emily EP44: it was like that. It was like back and forth. And then when the car parks in front of whatever building it's dropping the Pink Panther and his buddy off at, I
They couldn't design it inside the car. And he does the panther figurine, which doesn't look good because he's just like, got his arm extended out. So
hold on. We'll have to cut this out because I'm have a really hard, hard time. A hard time. Oh
Emily EP44: Mm. Okay. An a An adjective is a descriptor. Okay. Um, smooth.
Rose EP44: It is a, it is a cool car. And I have to admit that like if somebody came to you and they're like, what is a Pink Panther drive?
Emily EP44: Oh my gosh. We're never gonna get over that one.
Emily EP44: Shit. Boy folks. I really botched that one. Guys. I'm
Emily EP44: Yeah. And that's what they were using new, new ones. Um, there was a guy that um, bought one for 9.9 million on eBay.
Emily EP44: I did read that that's what happened to him even. And the whole time he had his hands up and he was like, my account got hacked.
Emily EP44: And also to bump up the price of a car, Rose EP44: Misappropriation. Um, yeah, well, I think, yeah, I think that what they do is they make you come up on stage anyway at the next auction, and then you have to drop your pants and everybody laughs at you and then they make you walk to stage left and stage right with your pants down,
Because people kind of go crazy for that, uh, car. I mean, think of how many, um, what are they called? Replicas? Yeah, replicas. Or clones that there are of that car. A lot of people have that. But was it
Emily EP44: maybe he was going slow Rose EP44: Oh, oh, okay. I'm gonna pull this up for the good people, because we did, we did look this up.
Rose EP44: Now I had a friend in, in elementary school, Ryan Hagg, that would do that all the Rose EP44: Somebody on Reddit in our stupid questions asked, did the general Lee Horn, Dukes of Hazard and parentheses always play that ridiculous tune? What you think they just like, what guy
Emily EP44: What I think would be cool or I thought would be cool is if you get like a, um, novelty horn, but you have a switch where you could turn it into just a regular horn.
Rose EP44: M-I-N-S-T-R-E-L. Written minstrel written by Daniel Decatur Emmett in Ohio for white men performing in blackface. Oh,
Emily EP44: I think that there's a lot of problems with the, uh, with the General Lee. Um, as Emily Foss pointed out, like at least the rednecks were like, also hated cops, you know, they were kind of punks. Uh, but yeah, the, it's really unfortunate
That very clearly does not say where it came from be, but they do say, they say some horns get ignored, this one doesn't. Five quick notes and everyone looks, the dixie horn isn't just loud, it's recognizable, fun and tied to one of the most iconic cars in TV history. You've heard it at car shows, unlifted trucks in parades and maybe even from a side by side out in the woods.
Rose EP44: Uh, it says, it says AI generated answer. Please verify facts. Um, what verify that racism, uh, is like the, the home center is the south, or what was it? The turning fire hoses and German shepherds on black people after World War ii or castrating people or killing people for trying to vote or, I can't remember which part was that?
Emily EP44: there was some other things about, uh, the car, like it was, um, those doors were welded shut for the racing aesthetic.
Actually, I wanted to show you a video earlier when we were watching Instagram and it's like a eighties clip of a guy being like, yeah, they came around the, I seen some guys come up around here and then they came around the back of the barn and it was like, it was this news piece and it was like, even though they had escapes planned, they couldn't get out fast enough and it was like showed a ladder out the back of the barn. It was just so cartoonish
Rose EP44: Uh, that is one of my favorite parts when Homer is moonshine Emily EP44: Something also that was pretty interesting is by the sixth season they'd gone through so many cars that they were, um, recycling the stunt footage quite a bit.
Rose EP44: A MC ambassador, Rose EP44: Okay. I accept that. I'm trying to find a MC Ambassador General Lee. Okay. Um, I don't know. I don't know that I'm seeing it. Because these look like chargers. They look like the real deal. I wanted to find one, but it's probably just a wrecked car.
Emily EP44: Yeah. He, um, caught his foot and slid across the first time, and then he also hit the antenna. Uh, and the antenna was like, that kind of wasn't good to hit. So they took the antenna off the car and then they were like, Ooh. But that slide was cool.
Emily EP44: maybe he was trying to run around the, seems to me, Yeah. I would say that.
Emily EP44: cool.
Rose EP44: it's amazing. I mean, it's just, yeah. It's a quintessential hot rod. You, you really can't deny it.
Like I know, you know, like the Dan Woods cars that I'm obsessed with. But yeah, three 40 Cadillac, um, uh, 39 Ford transmission. Um, I don't know. I mean just like beehive oil filter and often Hauser fin valve covers and you know, the flexible upper radiator hose, uh, chrome generator. The, uh, you know, the exhaust is, uh, you know, the headers, full length headers there down the side of the car.
Rose EP44: was from my mother, the car.
and no. Oh, poor Mo.
But they were basically, there was like a few times where they got out of the cars, but mostly it was, this was an all car probably 80% of the time. They're just in cars driving.
Rose EP44: Jackie Gleason said that he couldn't do the part of Beaufort t Justice by himself, so they invented the character of Junior for him to be yelling at and abusing.
Rose EP44: You gotta wonder what was going on in the story before that element existed. Yeah,
Rose EP44: I, I did appreciate that, uh, that they were cool enough to, uh, have black actors in the movie. It is in the south and uh, that Jerry Reed and Burt Reynolds are seemingly not racist in the movie as characters. Mm-hmm. Uh, can't speak to their real lives, but I do like that after Jerry Reed gets his ass kicked, um, Lamar comes out and says, I'm real sorry about what happened. And then he just like, kind of pulls his head against his, you know, and then goes on. Yeah. That was a great
Maybe. 'cause he knew he was greasy. Yeah. That's the way he bit him. Yeah. Yeah.
Rose EP44: I mean, I like that part. Later my dad drove trucks so occasionally, you know, actually. Now that I think about it, my dad drove trucks. It wasn't later. He drove trucks while I was in elementary school because he picked me up one time.
Rose EP44: I am curious. That's the foggiest one in my memory. I, like I said, I think two is, I think I remember liking two more than I like, or they all just get watered down as it goes. But Burt Reynolds disappears by three and the snowman becomes the bandit. So there's no Burt Reynolds in three.
Rose EP44: and the big rig with the stagecoach mural on the side of it. Mm-hmm. Oh my god.
Speaker: 1-833-CAR CRUSH. That's one 833-C-A-R-K-R-U-S-H.
Rose EP44: But yeah, if you would give us a follow, follow car crash and, uh, maybe tell a friend about it if, if you like it, if you think it's fun.
About this episode
The hosts trade TV-car trivia and behind-the-scenes details, moving from the Pink Panther car’s oversized, quirky design to the General Lee’s racing setup and the production realities of classic car-heavy shows. They also dig into how quickly stunt cars were used up, with later seasons leaning on recycled footage. The conversation mixes nostalgia, oddball facts, and a few memorable price and size claims that make the segment feel especially specific.
