Dukes of Hazzard Star Breaks Down Top 5 General Lee Mistakes
John Schneider helps would-be Dukes avoid common pitfalls when building their General Lee replicas.
What’s the most iconic Mopar muscle car of all time? Almost everyone can agree that it’s the General Lee Dodge Charger from the classic TV show The Dukes of Hazzard.
As a result of its popularity, many folks have worked hard to build General Lee replicas, spending many years and many thousands of dollars to make their childhood dreams come true.
In this video John Schneider — you may know him better as Bo Duke — breaks down the five biggest mistakes people make when they build their General Lee replicas.
Mistake number one is pretty basic — interior color. As Schneider explains, “I don’t know why, but a lot of times, people will have General Lees that have black interior.” Every General Lee ever seen on The Dukes of Hazzard had a tan interior.
According to Schneider, mistake number two is thinking that there’s only one way to build a “correct” General Lee. Now, this may seem counter-intuitive, given the contents of the list, but he has a point.
For example, on his personal car, Schneider has no roll bar in place. He likes giving people rides, and says that getting people into the back seat with a roll bar in place is “just kind of a pain in the butt.” He goes on to point out that there are several occasions on the show in which the General Lee is see without a roll bar.
It’s no secret that they went through Dodge Chargers like toilet paper when filming stunts on the show. Many of the stunt cars seen in the show have poor quality bodywork, or show minor year-over-year trim differences. Even General Lee-specific details, like the push bar, changed during the show’s run.
Speaking of minor trim differences, mistake number three is having a rear view mirror on the passenger side. The General Lee only ever had a mirror on the driver’s side.
Mistake number 4 is having the tail panel painted orange instead of flat black. Schneider stresses that this should be painted flat or satin black, but never gloss black. He does admit, however, that due to an error, a General Lee with an orange tail panel is visible in one of the TV movies.
Mistake number 5 relates to the fuel cap. Schneider points out that a good replica should use a 1969 cap that says “F U E L,” instead of a blank 1968 cap.
To close out the video, Schneider shares some interesting trivia about the original General Lees. He says that “They had 13 General Lees ready to go at any time, on any day.” Seeing just one is impressive — we can’t imagine what seeing that must have been like!
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