Best Muscle Cars
Dukes of Hazzard Stunt Car. 1969 Dodge Charger.
This is the last surviving General Lee car from the hit 1980s TV show Dukes of Hazzard…………or is it (see update below)
The 1969 Dodge Charger is one General Lee out of around 256 used in the 141 episodes.
This article from 2008, which shows a General Lee being sold at Melbourne Motor Show, states ‘one of 23 surviving cars.’
If you are old enough to remember or have seen the re-runs, the series main characters were Duke cousins Bo and Luke and Daisy Duke, played by Catherine Bach.
A stuntman for the show bought the car after the show ended and kept the car at his home in North Carolina.
The car was bought in 2000.
This one started as an factory metallic green vehicle with automatic transmission.
The green paint job was scuffed and orange was applied. The Confederate Flag was then applied to the roof with other decals around the bodywork.
A push bar was welded to the front bumper and a roll cage was installed.
Gauge cluster, carpet and rear seat, gas tank were replaced. New fuel cell installed in the trunk.
All un-needed wiring – headlights and taillights were dis-connected.
As the General Lee spent alot of time in the air 500lbs to 1,000 llbs of sandbags of concrete ballast were placed in the trunk to stop the car nose diving.
Is this the last resting place for General Lee #51?
Melody Ranch Museum, Newhall, CA.
General Lee river jump
Yes, it was powerful enough to take off!
Wow!
The cast
….and the other/main reason for watching the show.
The Story Behind The General Lee.
Update.
General Lee #1 was sold at Barrett-Jackson auction for $121,000 in Jan 2012.
‘After 23 years in a junkyard, in Metro Atlanta, Lee 1 was rescued and professionally, passionately restored to pre-jump condition over a 16 month period.’
This stunt General Lee was sold in 2013 at Bonhams, Scottsdale for $52,000.
From the Bonhams website –
‘Jay Ohrberg dated September 5, 1986 confirmed the car was used during filming, showing this particular car was used as a stunt vehicle in the cult television series Dukes of Hazzard. In 1998 the car passed to the next owner and changed hands again in 2001, joining the Hollywood Rock & Roll Museum in Branson, Missouri. The car changed hands again later in 2001 and came into the present ownership in 2005.’
Air Filter signed by the cast of Dukes Of Hazzard
..and this one (General Lee #8) sold for $195,000 on ebay Mar 23, 2014, via Volocars.com
Bought by Warner Bros. in 1978 for use during the Georgia filming of the first episodes of Dukes of Hazzard.
Sold to a Warner Bros. employee after filming.
Before it was turned into a General Lee (the barely visible Gold car is LEE 1!)
General Lee #22 sold on ebay Jan 23, 2014 for $55,000.
From the listing, ‘This is car #22 which played a prominent part in the 2005 Movie. It was the car seen in the beginning where it was chased and got wedged between the farm equipment. It was also the car that was vandalized so it wouldn’t make the big race.‘
So, how many surviving General Lees are left in the world which were used on the original TV series?
With so many replicas and collectors who may want to remain anonymous, it maybe hard to tell.
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