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by Patrick Rall

by Patrick Rall


The American Muscle Car Exhibit recently ended at the National Corvette Museum, having successfully paid tribute to some of the tuffest rides of the past half century. Few cars live up to the American Muscle moniker as aptly as the General Lee of "The Dukes of Hazzard" fame.
 
Collaborations between the American automotive industry and the entertainment industry have spawned some legendary cars, but few are as easily recognizable as the 1969 Dodge Charger from the TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard" which wore the name General Lee.  During the filming of the program in the 1970s and 1980s, the crew purchased and built 309 General Lee Dodge Chargers but the majority of them were destroyed during filming - mostly during high flying jump scenes.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

by Patrick Rall

The modern Dodge Challenger received upgrades for 2011 to make it one of the most powerful vehicles available in the US market, but in 1970, the Dodge Challenger Hemi R/T set the standard for high performance.  

The Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang are two of a handful of American performance cars that have secured their place in automotive history books. They both contributed to building the young performance market in 50's and 60's America, and then passed the test of time. The Pontiac Firebird, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Thunderbird, and Dodge Charger can also be counted amongst the most powerful cars of their day, though presently the Firebird is no longer produced and the Charger is offered as a performance sedan. Ford Muscle returned to classic styling with the release of the S197 2005 Mustang, a mega success. Around the same time, rumors of another vintage muscle car returning began to grow; this time for the Dodge Challenger.

It is assumed by some that the General Lee 1969 Dodge Charger in The Dukes of Hazzard was equipped with the 426 Hemi, but it was never stated nor implied. Exact numbers are not known, but the majority of the 309 General Lee's were packed with the 383 big block; many of the engine shots during the show revealed the 383. Deemed "close up cars", Chargers carrying the 383 were kept in better condition than those used for chase scenes. There were some designated with the 440 big block for long distance jumps and other high speed maneuvers, although many of the jump cars were powered by 318 cubic inch engines that weighed less. During those jump scenes, the rear of the cars would be packed with lead weights as heavy as 1000 pounds to prevent the car from nosing down on its landing. Almost all of the cars used during the jump scenes were destroyed on impact, as the incredible amount of weight added to the rear often caused them to fold in half. Even the very first General Lee, named LEE 1, was jumped in one episode and then wrecked in a later episode before being towed to an Atlanta area junkyard. Later, it was purchased and fully restored by Travis Bell.

The American muscle car scene created a handful of legendary cars such as the Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge Challenger, and the Ford Mustang. 40+ years later, those high performance street machines are still highly sought after. Not only do collectors pounce on the chance to own the vehicles, the entertainment industry has featured them prominently in movies and television as well: the 1976 Ford Gran Torino on Starsky & Hutch or the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit. Those cars are well known and often replicated, but no movie or television vehicle has stolen the hearts of gearheads the way a 1969 Dodge Charger named General Lee did when it roared through every episode of The Dukes of Hazzard.