TMCP #660: Nathan Warren’s Crown Vic General Lee – Building a Full-Function Drift Car
What if I told you this drifting General Lee didn’t begin life as a Dodge Charger?
This week, I’m joined by Nathan Warren of Warren Customs to discuss one of the wildest General Lee builds we’ve ever featured. Created for professional stunt performer Kevin Waterman, this purpose-built drift car started as a former police-package Ford Crown Victoria.
Nathan removed nearly the entire Crown Vic body, leaving behind its frame, floor, firewall, and key structural components. They then assembled a 1969 Dodge Charger body around it using reproduction sheet metal, custom supports, fiberglass doors, and plenty of creative fabrication.
This wasn’t built to be a disposable stunt-car shell. The doors open and close, the hood and trunk function, and the hideaway headlights, taillights, and interior controls all work. Nathan even retained the Crown Victoria’s interior hood release—and discovered that its trunk hinges lined up remarkably well with the Charger trunk lid.
The project later received an LS3, six-speed transmission, certified roll cage, rear passenger seating, digital gauges, custom wheels, and additional suspension work. The result is a convincing General Lee that Kevin can drift, drive hard, and use to give passengers full-throttle thrill rides.
Nathan also shares why the finished car remained hidden for nearly two years, how its original Formula Drift plans changed, and what happened when the “General Drift” finally debuted at the NOPI Nationals Motorsports Supershow in Atlanta.
From the grandstands, almost no one could tell that it wasn’t a real Dodge Charger. They simply saw the General Lee sliding around the course in a massive cloud of tire smoke!
You can learn more about Nathan and his work through Warren Customs.
