10 THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE DUKES OF HAZZARD GENERAL LEE

There have been some memorable TV cars like the 1976 Ford Torino in Starsky and Hutch or KITT, the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am from Knight Rider, but none is more iconic than Bo and Luke Duke's General Lee. The 1969 Dodge Charger from the hit series, The Dukes of Hazzard, is easily the most recognizable car from TV and probably even film. From 1979 to 1985, the General Lee was the biggest automotive star in the world.

The Dukes of Hazzard wasn't a particularly well-written show, but it was no worse than anything else on TV at the time. It is however unlikely that millions of people would have tuned in every week to watch a show about some goofy hijinks in a small Southern town, without that amazing set of wheels. With no disrespect to John Schneider and Tom Wopat, the Dodge Charger was the real star of the show. The thrilling stunts, gritty chases and of course those amazing jumps are why the series was such a success.

Like its human counterparts, the General Lee was an actor and a lot of what appeared on-screen was make-believe. The Mighty Mopar had stunt doubles and often relied on Hollywood special effects magic to pull off some of its more memorable feats. Though definitely scandalous not fodder for the tabloids, there are many things you probably didn't know about the number one Dukes of Hazzard star, the General Lee.

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The General Lee Was Inspired By A Real Bootlegger

The Roots of NASCAR

Though they didn't really explore the bootlegging aspect in The Dukes of Hazzard, that's basically what the boys were supposed to be. Running moonshine during prohibition, gave rise to car racing because the bootleggers would soup up their rides to outrun the revenuers. They eventually wanted to see who had the fastest car and before long, NASCAR was born.

NASCAR History

• The first official NASCAR race was on February 15, 1948 in Daytona Beach
• Driver Red Byron won the race in a Ford
• Somehow NASCAR was officially founded by William France Jr. on February 21, 1948

Real life bootlegger, Jerry Rushing, had a modified Chrysler 300D called "Traveler" that he named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee's favorite horse. His story served as an inspiration for the 1975 film, Moonrunners, which in turn was reworked into the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. The General Lee is both a nod to Robert E. Lee, but also bootlegger-turned-race car driver Jerry Rushing.

The General Lee Was Not Hemi Orange

Factory Paint Fail

One of the biggest misconceptions about the General Lee was that it was a Hemi Orange car. Though Hemi Orange and Man-Go are official Dodge paint codes that look more or less orange, neither of them were used on the General Lee. Apparently, Hemi Orange looked too brown on film and literally nobody wanted to see the Duke boys driving a brown car.

General Lee Paint Details

• Confederate flag on roof
• "General Lee" next to flag on roof
• Number 01 on both doors

Some people thought the General Lee was Chevrolet Hugger Orange, while others assumed it was 1975 Corvette Flame Red, but it turns out it wasn't even a car factory color at all. Motorious had the opportunity to scan the trunk lid paint on an Original General Lee and discovered it was something called "TNT Express" which was used by a shipping company on their delivery vehicles.

No General Lee Ever Had A 426 Hemi

Legendary Car Lacks Legendary Engine

When you're thinking about second-gen Chargers or pretty much any classic Mopar muscle car, it's hard not to imagine them with a 426 Hemi. This is because that engine is as iconic as the cars themselves, but the reality is, no TV General Lee car ever had one. With all those insane jumps and every time the Duke boys left Boss Hogg's henchmen in the dust, it was assumed they had Hemi power, but it's not so.

1968 Charger R/T 440 Power and Performance

318ci engines were used in cars that involved stunts driving on two wheels, which happened a lot, because they were lighter weight. Most of the "up-close" cars had 383ci engines, for reasons no has ever bothered to explain. For the major jumps, the stunt drivers demanded 440ci engines because of the added performance. Also, despite it often sounding like the boys were jamming through a four-speed manual, almost every General Lee had a 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

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The Dukes Of Hazzard Started With Three General Lee Cars

Humble Beginnings

The Dukes of Hazzard was originally slated to be a nine-episode mid-season replacement, but turned out so well that Warner Bros. signed it as a full series. The first five episodes were filmed in Georgia, but after it was green-lit, production was moved to the studio lot in Burbank, California. Originally, there were only three General Lee cars for filming.

The Dukes of Hazzard Show Stats

• Show premiered on January 26, 1979
• It was the #2 TV show for the 1980/1981 season
• Last episode aired on February 8, 1985

Named LEE 1, LEE 2, and LEE 3, it was actually the latter that was the star of the show. The LEE 3 was the main car and was equipped with a 440ci V-8, while the other two were second unit cars with 383 Magnums. After filming the initial episodes, it was pretty clear that they were going to need some more cars, because the first three were getting beat to hell.

There Were Eventually Over 300 General Lee Cars

General Lee's Army

Every fan of The Dukes of Hazzard tuned in not to just see the General Lee, but also to watch it make incredible jumps. The problem is, when you launch a 3,100-pound vehicle with 1,000 pounds of ballast 100 feet through the air, it comes down with such force that the suspension crumbles and the frame bends. In other words, the car is totaled and since that was a mainstay of the series, they went through a lot of General Lee cars.

General Lee's Unique Features

• Doors welded shut like real race cars
• American Racing Vector turbine-style wheels
• Horn plays the first 12 notes of the song "Dixie"

No one is 100 percent certain how many cars were used for the show. Some say it was around 300, but star John Schneider estimated it was 329, as he told Studio 10 in an interview. His reasoning was that they destroyed an average of two cars per episode and the show ran for 147 episodes. That doesn't equal 329, but they certainly could have destroyed more than two an episode and who's a better expert than Bo Duke?

Not All General Lee Cars Were '69s

Even The Car Was Acting

Because the show was going through so many 1969 Chargers, they had to scramble to find more and that often meant altering '68s to look like '69s. The process was relatively simple and just involved altering the grill, replacing the tail lights and removing the round side marker lights. '70 Chargers were not used because making them look like a '69 was to deemed too expensive and time-consuming.

The Dukes of Hazzard Cast

• John Schneider - Bo Duke
• Tom Wopat - Luke Duke
• Catherine Bach - Daisy Duke
• Denver Pyle - Uncle Jessie
• James Best - Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane
• Sorrell Brook - Boss Hogg
• Ben Jones - Cooter Davenport
• Sony Shroyer - Deputy Enos Strate

Not only weren't all General Lee cars '69s, some of them weren't even Dodges. According to The Vintage News, the Production crew actually made up some AMC Ambassadors to look like General Lees. Even more humiliating, radio-controlled miniature cars were used in the final season. Things were so desperate, the production crew would fly around the Los Angeles area in small prop planes looking for '68 and '69 Chargers they could hopefully buy.

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The General Lee Used To Get Fan Mail

The Car Was The Star

General Lee was the true star of the Dukes of Hazzard, but it was still a machine, and yet, it got fan mail like a human actor. In fact, during the show's hight of popularity, Warner Bros. Studios received around 35,000 pieces of fan mail a month, addressed to the General Lee, which is exactly as crazy as it sounds.

The Dukes Of Hazzard Spinoffs

• 1980 spinoff show, Enos
• 1983 Saturday morning cartoon, The Dukes
• 1987 made-for-TV movie The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
• 2000 made-for-TV movie The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood

Fonzie, the character played by Henry Winkler in the popular sitcom Happy Days, used to get a lot of fan mail but at least that was a person. Then again, it was probably an ego hit to Mr. Winkler that fans were writing to his character and not him specifically. Of course, for the human stars of The Dukes of Hazzard, it probably didn't feel great to know that a car was getting more love from the public than they were.

Pro Golfer Bubba Watson Owns The 'Long Jump' General Lee

LEE 1 Sparks Controversy

The opening credits sequence of the Dukes of Hazzard ends with the General Lee jumping over Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. That 16-feet high, 82-feet long jump was performed by LEE 1, the very first General Lee made. As was already mentioned, those jumps destroyed the cars and LEE 1 ended up in a junkyard, where it remained for decades. Apparently the car had been repainted before it was scrapped and nobody recognized it.

The car was rediscovered, restored, and sold at auction to pro golfer Bubba Watson in 2012 for $121,000. Then in the mid-2010s there was massive public backlash over the Confederate flag, one of which is painted on the roof of the General Lee. Watson claimed he had an American flag painted on his roof but as Fox News points out, he has never released a picture of the altered General Lee.

The General Lee's Career Didn't End When The Show Was Canceled

General Lee Rides Again

The entire living cast of the original TV show were offered cameos in the 2005 movie The Dukes of Hazzard, but refused because the script was so awful. Being a machine, the General Lee wasn't afforded the luxury of that same veto power and was pressed into service for the film. The movie recreated several General Lee cars, even converting some 1970 Chargers, but no original car appeared.

Famous '69 Chargers in Movies

• 1969 Charger in Death Proof
• 1969 Charger in Cannonball
• 1969 Charger in Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry

After the show was canceled however, several of the original General Lees were repainted and used in other shows and movies. The Kibbie and Friends Show podcast was able to track down some OG General Lee cars that appeared on The Scarecrow and Mrs. King, the short-lived show, Street Hawk, and the Mel Gibson movie, Forever Young. It's also possible one was used in the Ken Wahl movie, The Gladiator.

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17 Original General Lee Cars Still Exist

Beware the Impostors

Asking how many General Lee cars still exist is like asking how many were used in the show: there are too many different answers. We know for sure Bubba Watson has one and according to Mopar Insiders, there are 16 more survivors for a total of 17. There are plenty of replica General Lees out there, but only the originals have true value as a collectible. Only one of those 17 has a 440 or is a true R/T, and that happens to be owned by Bob Hartwig from Movie Machines, who has owned it for over three decades. It was restored to its full glory in 2005 and considered the single most important General Lee in existence.

General Lee Cars In Museums

• The Miami Auto Museum in Miami, Florida
• The Hollywood Star Cars Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee
• Volo Auto Museum in Crystal Lake, Illinois

John Schneider retro-modded an original General Lee, dropping in a 426 Hemi, and put it up for auction. The bidding ended at almost $10 million, but it turned out the high bidder was a joker and the car went unsold. The story gets even more tragic because it would seem the same car was destroyed in Hurricane Ida, when a tree on Schneider's property crushed it. Making things weirder, Schneider says the General Lee was a stunt car from the show that was a Ford Crown Victoria altered to look like a '69 Charger.

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