~ Auto Buzz ~: The General Lee

The General Lee in his natural habitat.

Picture this: a young kid is at home watching day-time TV during summer break. Then a commercial appears: an orange racecar without headlights and a pushbar flies across the air in various scenes. The kid is GLUED to the TV, trying to ID the car to no avail. Then it’s all over. Unlike other commercials, it never reappears. But the imagery is etched in the back of the kid’s subconscious, hoping that one day he’ll find more about it.

The same box art from the model kit I got. I can’t recall how many times I drew that box art.

The story above actually happened. To me. It was a commercial for the VHS release of a North-American TV series. You may have heard of it: The Dukes of Hazzard. It would’ve been easier to track it down hadn’t it been that I had yet to fully understand the English language. Thankfully, an AMT/ERTL scale model appeared in Kmart, which I built, played, wrecked and rebuilt again. I also received a VHS copy of an episode, also from Kmart. But before I was a fan of the series, I was a fan of the car. I was even applying its design cues to my drawings.

We all had to wait until the final (7th) season to finally know the General Lee’s origins. Let’s revisit the car had its huge chunk of fan-mail and that Hot Rod magazine has honored it as #1 pick in their Top 100 Hot Rods That Changed the World:

Disclaimer: The scenes shown in the video above have been edited together from the original episode.

Fresh off the police impound lot, the General Lee’s previous life seem to have reached rock bottom right after being stolen, used as a getaway vehicle and crashed. Not long after being left in a junkyard did two young Duke boys found it and agreed that it was salvageable. This black wreck would be transformed into a racecar that would beat Boss Hogg in a race in 2.5 days. To finance the build, Uncle Jesse, out of his love for the boys, reluctantly took out a loan from Boss Hogg. To get Boss Hogg to accept the loan terms and to help pay it off as well, Daisy traded in her overalls and sneakers for hot pants and high heels, and began her crash course as a Boar’s Nest waitress… literally.

With the crash damage fixed, the Charger got a new souped-up engine that the Dukes had built. Overall modifications (suspension, safety, etc.) were taken care of. Rather than waste time looking for paint elsewhere (and risk getting shot at by the “original owners”), the black Charger got a fresh coat of reddish-orange paint that was available in Cooter’s garage. The number ‘01’ was chosen as how the Dukes made it their goal to be #1 all the way. Uncle Jesse suggested ‘General Lee’ after the Confederate Flag and Dixie horn were added. From the get-go, the rebuilt Charger quickly proved to be something more than just a souped-up grassroots racecar.

Model kit-worthy. Just one of the many, many antics that the General’s been involved with.

As told by the Balladeer, the General Lee and the Dukes go through many off-the-wall adventures in unassuming Hazzard county. The General has experienced victory on and off the race course, seen more air time than Speed Racer’s Mach 5, been shot at countless times (many of those going to the windshield, radiator and tires), suffered mechanical troubles, received more than its share of damage (sometimes fixed with reward money, other times not), smoke-bombed, driven through fire, ended up in the water more than once, impounded (he probably has a reserved spot), stolen, commandeered, copied, repainted for different purposes, had individuals from foreign lands in his passenger seats, used as a test bed (Cale Yarborough’s supercharger), a prop (being rigged with r/c equipment), a glider pull-vehicle, and even had a starring movie role (within the series).

Let me take this moment to tip my hat to the comedic duo of Sorrell Brooke and James Best. Anyone that does slapstick comedy for as long as they did in the series should get some sort of recognition.

Pretty much the entire main cast and recurring characters as well have gotten behind the wheel: Bo, Luke, Coy, Vance, Daisy (who Rosco noticed that the General Lee was being driven more skillfully while she was behind the wheel), Uncle Jesse, Cooter, Rosco, and even Lulu (who was the roughest driver of them all. That was a great scene). I can’t recall if Enos, Cletus or Boss Hogg drove the General Lee, though. Flash never got to drive the General, but did sort of drove Rosco’s police cruiser.

Pictured above is the The Dukes cartoon –where the Dukes and Boss Hogg raced against each other around the globe- ran for two seasons with 20 episodes, on air during the DoH’s 5^th season. The show’s cast lent their voices to their respective cartoon counterparts. A limited batch of DVDs was released.

If you wish to include the “Reunion” movies as canon, the General Lee came out of storage for two more adventures: one involving a race to save some swamp land destined for “development” (as well as Uncle Jesse’s name) and in the other going back to Hollywood for a charitable cause that quickly got complicated. The General Lee and the Duke boys were featured in an AutoTrader commercial recently. I’ll admit that my blood boiled at the thought of the General being traded in, but because the company also buys and sells cars, the Dukes just bought another car to ease the burden on him. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it. Police cars are just a lot faster than what they used to be. But if the original General Lee is a family member you can trust, a Dodge Viper is a conniving mistress that will kill you if you don’t watch it. Still better than the 2005 movie…

This is the reason to watch the awful ’05 movie: the driving.

Oh yeah. That thing. There was a big Hollywood movie, with a bunch of mis-cast actors that butchered their respective characters (how can you possibly base 7-season TV-based character for a movie out of the first couple of episodes and still miss the point?). Only the General Lee stayed true to himself. There are subtle differences to the TV cars (the most welcome being the HEMI engine), and all the cars that were sacrificed were accounted for. Oh, and there was another made-for-TV- movie, whose synopsis did read like a DoH episode, but you could tell that they did some butchering as well. Besides, any movie based on a family-friendly franchise that resorts to include R-rated nudity, drug use, and even an “unrated version” is doing it wrong.

Visit the excellent dukescollectorblogspot.com for more pictures and a review in all of them.

So you still want to drive the General Lee but you’ve out-grown/broken all your toys and can’t afford/fathom owning a replica? There have been a number of videogames over the years that might help ya out until you finally get around to owning a replica in the metal. You might want to dust off your ColecoVision, though, and make sure you have the Expansion Module 2 (steering wheel and pedal). And your PlayStation2. Unlike Playstation3, it has backwards compatibility, so you can play your PlayStation games as well: The Dukes of Hazzard: Racing For Home, The Dukes of Hazzard: Daisy Dukes It Out and The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee. Skip the Nintendo version unless you’re a collector.

♪Car wash♪

♪At the Hazzard car wash, yeah!♫

It’d be more in fashion with this website to write a Car Disgust segment on what has to be one of the most popular machines on four wheels. We’ve done it before, haters be damned. But I won’t. Not because it would incite such passionate, angry comments and probably banishment from the U.S. and other countries, but because I’m yet one of legions of fans who’s lusted after this orange clunker car.

As we can all see, the doors were welded shut, because racecar. Uncle Jesse was not a fan.

That’s not to say there aren’t negative aspects to the General Lee fandom. The base car, a 1969 Dodge Charger has and will continue to appreciate in value; finding a cheap one to convert into a clone will require a redefinition of the word “cheap”. If you’re blessed with the dough and are willing to touch a decent example, prepare to experience the ire of the Mopar and/or musclecar cult. Buy a basket case and prepare to spend a small fortune in actually making it look like a car, let alone a trouble-free runner. Just buy a done-up clone. Check for damage, though.

Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads…

Then there’s that pesky thing called reality. You can forget about jumps, even lighter ones will wreak havoc on suspension components (If you’re so inclined to so, modifications will have to be in order to survive rally-style jumps. Anything more and you’ll be charged with wildlife endangerment to the car). Actor John Schneider, Bo Duke himself, has said that they were useless to drive on the dirt. And driving around in an orange car with a Confederate flag on top to begin with is not for everyone.

Duke antics or fan gathering? Both?

There’s also the fact that because the General Lee is still the most famous Dodge Charger in existence, and this permeates Dodge Charger ownership. The General Lee is to Dodge Chargers as the DeLorean Time Machine is to DMC-12s, how K.I.T.T. is to 3^rd-gen Firebirds, and what the Fujiwara Tofu Shop Panda Trueno is to AE-series Toyota Corollas. It must get tiresome to the owners of the standard cars. If you want a 1968-1970 Dodge Charger review in any sort of media without reference to the Dukes of Hazzard, you’d best set the WABAC machine to at least 1978. Unless you’re a fan of the show and/or have a mellow attitude toward this kind of thing, you might want to pray for patience for when someone gives you a yeehaaww!!

Gone “skiing”.

The General Lee is so beloved, that there’s little for me to add to it. Pretty much all that there is to be said has been written, and let me tell ya that it’s a lot. Fans can tell you at a glance which one of the first batch of General Lees used in the first episodes is which. They can also recite from memory the differences between the earlier car and the later ones, right down to the CB radio and antenna. Old magazines and websites have a wealth of trivia, from the engines preferred in the “ski” cars (the 318ci) to tire size (said to be P235/70R14 B.F. Goodrich Radial T/A tires, mounted on the famous American Racing Vector rims, usually 14”x7”. Not to be confused with Hurricanes I and II, as these had more spokes. Same goes for Western’s Cyclone series). All I can say is that he’s a 1969 Dodge Charger stripped of most of its trim and emblems; 440ci engine, automatic transmission, welded doors (it still has its windows), tan interior with rollcage and CB equipment; full set of wheels and tire-changing equipment in the trunk; Dixie novelty horn. Obvious outer styling cues are obvious.

Like sheep to the slaughter. Great, now I have that Iron Maiden song stuck in my head…

It’s not unusual for trivia to contradict itself. Of all the General Lee trivia, the one that divides more opinions than the rest has got to be number of Dodge Chargers used on the show. Numbers range from 250+ to 320+. I’ll go with the larger number just in case someone miscounted during the change-overs of General Lee builders during the show’s run, as well as the occasional jackass that privately imitated The Dukes of Hazzard with his own Charger in real life. It’s said that there were around post-series filming 17-23 survivors, depending on the source. According to a fascinating article on Mopar Collector’s Guide, 17 of those leftover General Lees, as well as parts, ended in the hands of true-blue fans.

As a car guy, it does sting that a chunk of Dodge Chargers are no more for the sake of entertainment. The only thing that helps ease the sting a bit of this sobering fact is the era the show was filmed: late-‘70s to mid-‘80s. Bear with me: at the time, the muscle car as it was known a couple of years earlier was dead and its first boom in the collector car market was some years away (and even then, only the higher-spec versions would be sought after, not all of them). Back then, Chargers were just handsome old cars. In a video interview with horrible audio, I understood that these cars were going for $1,000-$1,500 before the show took off. 92,000-96,000 ‘68s and 69,000+ ‘69s were produced. Barring salted roads on snowy areas, accidents, and driver stupidity, I’m convinced that there were still a good number of them available for mortals to buy and enjoy back then.

Not enough? Still think The Dukes of Hazzard’s crimes against automobilia are greater and deserve banishment from cable TV? Look at the era’s silver screen treatment of Dodge Chargers: Cannonball (1976): demolishion-derby’d and wrecked. Eat My Dust (1976): Off a cliff. A CLIFF. Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974): hit by a train. A TRAIN. Stepping a few years back when this bodystyle was new with Bullitt (1968): wrecked. The point is that Hollywood has been wrecking these cars well before The Dukes of Hazzard, and they would’ve kept wrecking them even if no The Dukes of Hazzard existed. Heck, they still continue to wreck ‘em!

With Gy Waldron’s Moonrunners movie reworked for the series, the ‘General Lee’ name was chosen over ‘Traveller’, the name of the well-respected Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s actual horse, which was used as the name of the car in the movie, as well as the real-life one that inspired it.

I still have this issue –August 2005. It was back when a DoH movie seemed like an acceptable idea. The General Lee would reappear on Hot Rod Magazine’s again, competing against another wheeled icon of the era. Other magazines have featured the General one way or another, including Car and Driver, Mopar Collector’s Guide and Mopar Action.

Just as how each episode of the series recaps what’s going on after every commercial break, the looks of the General Lee was chosen to leave as little doubt as possible about who and what he is: a flashy (orangey paint), powerful (muscle-car-era body, stance, glasspack mufflers) grassroots racecar (numbers on the doors) from Southern United States (Confederate flag, Dixie horn and name). Personally, I think they overdid it. The Dixie horn was installed after the producers, specifically the late Paul Picard, heard it on a car/truck/El Camino (depending on source), chased down the vehicle and bought the horn from the owners on the spot for a premium.

This picture appeared in the May 15-21, 1982 issue of Canada’s TV Guide, allegedly. Whether it was staged for the camera or not, it is true that most cars were painted that orangey hue directly over their original colors. It’s also true that wrecked General Lees got their roofs scalped along with whatever was deemed salvageable.

After the design was decided upon, the responsibility of the transformations of the General Lees were divided into three parts:

The Georgia episodes: The first season consisted of a mix of Warner Bros.-supplied General Lees as well a Georgia-built Generals.
The Veluzat era: Along with the salvaged Georgia cars, the Veluzat Bros. –known in the industry for their huge army vehicle rental business as well as their Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio- sourced, built, and rented out General Lees for season 2-4. It’s speculated that they earned a pretty penny for each one that was wrecked beyond repair. I’ve found no evidence as to the alleged reason why Warner Bros. pulled out of their business arrangement: the selling of wrecked cars with doctored VINs.
The Warner Bros. era: After a brief stint with contractor Ken Fritz- the studio moved all General Lee sourcing and building in-house. Attention to detail and consistency increased.

"I already told you, Bo. This is the correct shade of orange for this season! You can repaint it a darker tone in season 5. And I ain't helpin'."

Due to the switching of General Lee builders, there will always be a debate on how the General should look like: lighter orange vs darker/reddish orange, narrow pushbar vs wider pushbar, to keep or remove the sidemarkers, etc. Also, notice the lack of the ‘George Barris’ name anywhere. He’s credited for “modifications”. I’ve yet to find evidence of this.

Just another day at the office for young stuntman Corey Eubanks.

Barring the huge jumps, the Dodge Charger underpinnings were tough enough to withstand stunt duty, as Bullitt Dodge Charger fans happily attest. Speaking of which, stuntmen like the late Al Wyatt Jr., Corey Eubanks, Gary Baxley and Jack Gill (who would also work on Knight Rider) among others with stunt director Paul Baxley put the General Lees through their paces; head mechanic Tom Sarmento as well as Tom Serhton were tasked with keeping all vehicles running, sometimes resorting to backyards engineering in order to do so, as well as stunt work modifications.

The entire process was far more involved than just dolling up the most decrepit of Chargers and sending it flying. You may have heard of ballast in the trunk (ranging between 500lb-1000lb, depending on how big the jump) to combat nosediving or propped-up noses to avoid on-ramp damage. Full rollcages had to be installed on every car that was gonna catch air. In an interview with Dynamite magazine, Gary Baxley mentioned of special harnesses as well as a reluctance of some stunt drivers to do the jumps, having younger stuntmen take flight. While these are professionals, no matter how many precautions one takes, there’s always the probability of serious danger. There have been serious accidents, and even a fatality making these stunts.

While the use of scale models seem to be understandable for some truly outrageous stunt sequence, there were many instances that real cars could’ve been used instead. Heck, this is the show where a Dodge Charger jumped right through a barn! The reason that’s been shared the most was that the destruction of so many General Lees finally caught up with them. Not even milking out the cars was enough.

The most outrageous story that I’ve heard and read here and there about getting enough Dodge Chargers was that the production company used small airplanes to scout for them on the ground. I wish to know if this actually yielded satisfactory results that offset the cost or renting a plane, pilot and running costs!

This is the Auto World 1:18 scale General Lee, one of the best in this size. Released in 2012, the Confederate Flag was covered by an orange sticker, giving a bald look to it. The General Lee’s flag has been targeted for years, not just 2015.

Look, about the Confederate flag, I cannot say much, being an outsider looking in, though I know of the Civil War and its social-political triggers. I’m well aware of how it’s viewed by the media ever since I was little. I know the flag’s been under fire lately (figuratively and sometimes literally). This isn’t the first time that the General Lee’s flag has come to ruffle feathers and even been made fun of at its expense (Comedy Central, I believe), but it’s gotten to the point that even Warner Bros. killed one of their cash cows by terminating the licensing agreement to a scale-model company selling General Lees as portrayed. Other companies have taken similar knee-jerk actions. In the end, like Popeye’s tattoos and pipe, the General Lee’s image will and always will have that flag included, even if future products related to the series exclude it, regardless of points of view. Politically incorrect? Well, duh, the show came out in the late ‘70s. Keep that in mind. This brings me to another topic…

Fans wish that shows like this be remade in the 21^st century. That’s not gonna happen, at least not in the way they want to. We’ve seen it in theaters: Starsky and Hutch, The Brady Bunch, Lost in Space, The Beverly Hillbillies, etc., movies that take the base content, give it their own flavor and while some may be entertaining and acceptable in their own right, they miss some elements from the series that inspire them. The two recent Dukes of Hazzard movies didn’t escape this. In an effort to be more “appealing” they’ve became “edgier”, losing their relative family-friendliness in the process. TV is the same thing, whether it’s a cartoon series like Scooby-Doo or live action, like the last Knight Rider (2008-09) series. Speaking of which, the car’s distinctive silhouette was basically a stock Shelby Mustang GT500KR with a lot of CGI special effects. I bring this up because a DoH reboot would probably mean CGI stuntwork and even the elimination/restyle of the Confederate flag to appease the PC groups that were recently reminded of its existence. I wouldn’t be surprised if they shortened the name to “The General”. Only if the series goes animated (again), or is picked up by IDW Publishing for their ever-expanding retro line will the Dukes of Hazzard and therefore the General Lee will continue straightenin’ the curves and flattenin’ the hills the same way the original series did. I’m more than satisfied listening to The Balladeer tells us how it all started when the Dukes and the General Lee…