From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

The General Lee
Manufacturer	Chrysler Corporation
Also called	Dodge Charger
Production	1969
Class	Muscle car
Body style(s)	2-door coupé
Platform	FR B-body
Transmission(s)	3-speed 727 automatic

The General Lee is the automobile driven by the Duke cousins Bo and Luke in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard. It is known for the chases and stunts, especially high jumps, in almost every episode. The car's name is a reference to the Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The idea for the General Lee was developed from the famous bootlegger Jerry Rushing's car, which was named for General Lee's favorite horse, Traveler. Traveler was also the name of the car in Moonrunners, the 1975 movie precursor to The Dukes of Hazzard.

Contents 1 History 1.1 The Valuzet era 1.2 The Warner Bros. era 1.3 The General Lee from The Dukes Of Hazzard Motion Picture 2 Engines 3 Exit and entry 4 Exhaust systems 5 The original General Lee 6 References 7 External links

According to Ben Jones ("Cooter" in the show), as well as builders involved with the show, 309 General Lees were used to film the series. Approximately twenty-three still exist in various states of repair. Among survivors is the very first General Lee, known as Lee1. This car is seen in the debut episode and jumping a police cruiser at the end of the opening credits of every episode with John Schneider and Tom Wopat. On average, more than one General Lee was used up per show. When filming a jump, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds of lead or concrete ballast was placed in the trunk to prevent the car from nosing over. Later in the series the mechanics would raise the front end of the car to keep it from scraping against the ramp causing it to lose speed, doing this also provided a cushion for the driver upon landing. Stunt drivers report enjoying the flights but hating the landings. Despite the ballast, the landing attitude of the car was somewhat unpredictable, resulting in moderate to extremely violent forces, depending on how it landed. (On a DVD player, using slower settings will reveal that on many of the jumps the cars literally bent upon impact.) All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired due to structural damage. From 1979 to 1985, Chargers of 1968 and 1969 vintage were sourced and converted to General Lee specifications. Despite popular belief, and according to all builders involved over the years, as well as the VIN list supplied to Wayne Wooten of all Chargers used on the show, no 1970 models were ever used.^{[citation needed]} Obtaining cars was not an issue until later years. By that time, the car was the star of the show and Warner Bros. moved building of the cars in-house to keep the cars consistent in appearance. Late in the show's run, when it got too hard and/or expensive to continue procuring more Chargers, the producers started using jump footage from previous episodes (something that had been done occasionally previously, but not to such an extent).

Episodes 1-5 were filmed in Georgia November and December of 1978. Georgia episode cars consisted of 6 Dodge Chargers. The first General Lees were built by Warner Bros and shipped to Georgia where John Marendi (picture car coordinator) labeled the first 3 cars LEE 1, LEE 2, and LEE 3 in no particular order for film editing purposes. Lee1^[1], was a 2nd unit car with a full roll-cage. Originally a 383 V8-powered 1969 Charger equipped with air conditioning(A/C), gold body with tan interior, 3 speaker dash, and chrome rocker trim. The car is the only General Lee to have appeared in every episode. After the car had run its course, it was retired to a junkyard in Georgia, but later bought and restored. "LEE 2" was also a 2nd unit car with a full roll-cage and black interior. "LEE 3" was the closeup car. This car is the one seen in early promos with the doors open and no numbers on the doors. This car was a Charger R/T SE. It was powered by a 440 Magnum V8 and also had A/C with power windows. This car also had a tan interior and a removable roll bar that allowed installation of a camera for in-car shots. After the first 3 General Lees started to get badly damaged the crew had to start making more. The first General Lee built in Georgia was a 1968 Charger originally red in color and was converted to look like a 1969. The tail light panel, front grill, and front seats were taken from the wreckage of "LEE 1" (after the famous jump over Rosco P. Coltrane at the end of the opening credits). The paint on these cars was 1975 Corvette Flame Red. Interiors not originally tan were sprayed with SEM brand "Saddle tan" vinyl dye. All of the 6 Georgia Lees had a set of crossed flags (a Confederate flag and checkered flag) on the panel between the rear window and trunk lid. The 3 surviving cars went back to California and had the crossed flags removed upon reconditioning. The wheels were 14x7 inch American Racing brand "Vectors" throughout the show and were mounted on P235/70R14 B.F. Goodrich Radial T/A tires with the blackwall side facing out.

Andre and Renaud Valuzet built General Lees for Warner Bros. from the start of the 2nd season into the 4th season. Viewers can also see two Georgia cars used often up into the early second season. Lee3 and a specially caged car never appearing (but built) in Georgia were used heavily in early California episodes. The Valuzets were very inconsistent in how they built cars, so this is when the most variations are found. Color tends to be 1975 Corvette Flame Red, just like Georgia cars, but there does appear to be some variance here: interiors were rather consistently dyed a brown color and sometimes SEM Saddle Tan. It has been said the Valuzet's charged Warner Bros. $250 a week per car for rental and a lump sum of $2000-3000 upon destruction of the vehicles. This included police cars as well. Warner Bros. mechanics had to maintain the cars at company expense.

• Trivia: The money generated by building General Lees financed the Valuzet family project of restoring Gene Autry's Melody Ranch. This ranch is where many classic Westerns were shot as well as Gunsmoke. It burned down in the 1960s. Today, it is a fully-functional movie ranch where shows like HBO's Deadwood are filmed.

By 1983, Warner Bros. turned total control of building General Lees to a man named Ken Fritz because the Valuzets were caught selling back wrecked cars that had been somewhat fixed-up and tagged with forged VINs. Fritz didn't have the job long before he too was fired and at this point Warner Bros. moved full production in-house. The General Lee was now the highlight of the series. Warner Bros. was receiving an enormous amount of fan mail that nit-picked the inconsistencies of the cars. Because the General Lee was now so famous, WB had their staff mechanics build the cars to a strict appearance, even on the underside. All graphics had to meet specifications, all side markers and undercarriage chrome was to be removed, and all roll bars and push bars had to match. However, some changes were made before the specifications were laid-out: the push bar became wider, the interior became a light beige color, and the roll bars were covered in a black foam padding. During this period, the only true way for fans to distinguish the 1968 conversions from the 1969 originals is by the shape of the dashpad. As the WB era rolled on, finding the cars became an issue: Piper Cubs were hired to search out 1968 and 1969 Chargers amongst the populace; the jumped cars were now no longer scrapped after one jump if deemed salvageable, and were patched up and used until they could no longer function; and, as part of a last resort, miniature models were also brought in toward the end of the series, replacing most of the big stunts, thereby saving more cars. Taking full control also saved some money as now WB had the ability to buy cars, recondition them, and use them without paying daily rental fees. Considering that there were often a dozen General Lees on the premises, this was far more economical than renting.^{[citation needed]}

At the beginning of the movie, the General was a faded orange with a hand-painted "01" on the doors, black steel wheels, standard front bumper, and no Confederate flag. Midway through the film, Cooter repairs the General after it's vandalized by Boss Hogg's hirelings. He repaints it a bright orange and adds the well-known trademarks (American Racing "Vector" 10-spoke "turbine" wheels, octagonal "01", black grille guard, Confederate flag on the roof, "Dixie" horn, and "General Lee" above the door window openings). In an era of Political Correctness, the Confederate flag on the roof is made an object of conflict in the movie plot on two occasions when drivers passing by make remarks alternating between cheering the south and condemning racist rednecks, and when local African American youth are about to give them a physical opinion of their roof graphics and driving in blackface. The movie General not only flies and makes controlled landings, but in the age of The Fast and the Furious, also drifts with the aid of professional drifter Rhys Millen. During jump scenes, some stunt cars were jumped under their own power by stunt drivers; others had their engines and transmissions removed. The engineless Chargers were then launched without drivers by a gas-driven catapult similar in principle to those used on aircraft carriers. Approximately twenty-four 1968 to 1970 Chargers were used in the film.

Unlike the TV show era Lees, the movie cars used aftermarket graphic kits. Originally, die-hard fans shunned these decal kits for their inaccuracy. The movie gave them new credibility and are no longer considered to be an inaccurate choice. Otherwise, except for the white letters on the Goodrich Radial T/A tires, the exterior of the movie's "close-up" General Lees varied little from the TV show style cars. The body paint was Big Bad Orange rather than Corvette Flame Red, the interior ceiling was blacked out rather than the tan headliner, a different style roll bar was used; a 3-spoke Grant wood steering wheel replaced the standard wheel, an AM/FM stereo radio with Compact Disc player was installed in the dashboard; and the interiors were a custom color vinyl fabric made to look like the dye/paint used in the later eras of the TV show. One still can differentiate the '68 Chargers by looking at the dash pad, but now 1970 Chargers were thrown in the mix. Overall the cars resembled an average General Lee clone car from the late 90's to early 2000s, but the heart of The General Lee is still obvious.

Eleven of the cars used for the movie had been purchased from the Luedtke Auto Group. Many of the cars needed extensive restoration and most had been cut up to allow for inside camera views.

Two of the General Lees (one a 1969 R/T SE and one a 1970 made to look like a '69) were temporarily sold to Warner Brothers by Everett "J.R." Barton of Wichita, Kansas. The 1970 Charger was used to make the freeway jump, his car jumped the longest and is in fact the one that appears on screen during the movie and in the "outtakes". It is not the one that lands perfect, but veers off toward the guard rail. This Particular General Lee is up and running again it still wears it battle scars and can move decently under its own power, and can be seen at most mopar shows in the Midwest.

Engines in the TV show General Lees were all sorts: 318, 383,and 440 V8s were all used. The special purpose built "Ski Car" (the car that drives on the two-side wheels) had a 318, as it was lighter weight. Most of the workhorse stunt cars had 383s and 440s. The stunt drivers tended to prefer 440s (a higher performance engine) for jumps, which were often saved for the higher and longer jumps. Also, though early sound effects led many people to believe otherwise, only a handful of Chargers had manual transmissions; most had 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmissions.

The General Lee, except in the beginning of the movie, does not have opening doors. In the TV series, it is explained that racing cars have their doors welded shut. In the movie, the car has been repaired after being trashed, but the doors could not be fixed fast enough. The driver and passenger must slide in the window (as in NASCAR). For a running entry, Bo and Luke also slide over the hood rather than walk around the front of the car.

Exhaust systems were basic: some had glasspacks, but most had standard exhausts with the pipe cut just before the rear end. The sounds that can be heard in most of the California-era Lees is a glasspack/cherry bomb sound; the sounds came from the "close-up" Lees. However, the sounds were dubbed in after the scene was filmed.

The first General Lee ever built, Lee1, was salvaged out of a Georgia junkyard in August 2001 by Travis Bell.^[2] The car has since been fully restored to its onscreen appearance. It was officially unveiled to the public November 11, 2006 with John Schneider behind the wheel.

1. ^ About Lee1
2. ^ [1]

• Georgia Era Information
• TV Guide article (1982) by David Barry
• The 20th Anniversary Hazzard County Barbecue
• HazzardNet.com
• The General Lee Fan Club
• The Official Lee1 website
• 1968-70 General Lee Charger Decal Kit

v • d • e The Dukes of Hazzard
Characters	Bo Duke • Luke Duke • Daisy Duke • Uncle Jesse • Cooter Davenport • Boss Hogg • Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane • Enos Strate • Cletus Hogg
Minor characters	Lulu Coltrane Hogg • Hughie Hogg • Abraham Lincoln Hogg
Television	The Dukes of Hazzard • List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes • Enos • The Dukes (animated series) • The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (reunion movie) • The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood! (reunion movie)
Film	Moonrunners (1975) • The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) • The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007)
Other	The General Lee • Hazzard County • Boar's Nest • Daisy Dukes • Jerry Rushing • The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee (video game) • DVD Releases • "Theme from 'The Dukes of Hazzard' (Good Ol' Boys)"