Fans of the 1969 Dodge Charger, you may want to avert your eyes.
To kick off the 2017 Detroit Autorama hot-rod show, stunt driver Raymond Kohn set up a Dukes of Hazzard tribute event outside Cobo Center. This wasn’t some low-key meet-and-greet; nor was it the staid unveiling of a perfect restoration of an original car from the beloved TV show.
No, this was a jump.
Kohn, an auto-repair shop owner from northeast Ohio, put together this jump-ready Charger from a wrecked, unrestorable shell in just one week. While it may look like a convincing replica as it’s flying through the air, it’s not?the grille and rear taillight panel are painted fiberglass stand-ins, as is most of the rear bodywork. The “chrome” window trim is aluminum tape, and as the car soars through the air you can appreciate the warped and crumpled bodywork underneath that safety orange paint. The 39-year-old mechanic turned stunt driver may seem brave?hitting a five-foot ramp at 55 mph, arcing three stories in the air for a travel of 134 feet, surely seems like it takes a lot of guts. But as Kohn told the Detroit Free Press: “A lot of people say, ‘You must be pretty brave to do that. How do you do that"’ But, I tell people, I’m not brave. I do it because I’m scared. The fear is overwhelming. I can’t even feel my face because of the numbness.”
Here’s what the stunt looked like:

To you and me, that landing looks pretty rough, ...