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The General Lee is the car driven by the Duke cousins Bo and Luke in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard, known for chases and stunts in every episode
The General Lee is the car 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 Jerry Rushings car, which was named for General Lee's favorite horse, Traveller. This was also the name of the car in Moonrunners, the 1975 movie precursor to The Dukes of Hazzard.
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Description
Bo Duke, right and his cousin Luke Duke in their famous car, The General LeeThe General is an orange 1969 Dodge Charger with a Rebel flag painted on the roof, and the words "GENERAL LEE" over each door. Each door also has a large "01" in black. The upper left corner of the "1" in the "01" differs on occasion, causing continuity errors. When the car's horn is pressed, it plays the first 12 notes from the de facto Confederate States anthem "Dixie".Though The General Lee is often used as a daily driver by Bo and Luke, the implied primary purpose of the car is dirt-track racing. The car has often been chased by the Hazzard police, being Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane, Deputy Enos Strate, and Deputy Cletus Hogg. Most of the time, the car outran the police or the Dukes figured a way not to get a ticket after they were stopped by the cops. Its windows are left open because the doors are welded shut—explained on the show as a common trait of race cars, especially those used in NASCAR racing events. This leads to various entry techniques, depending on the age and flexibility of the subject. Uncle Jesse is often picked up by Bo and Luke and lifted in, feet first. When in a hurry, others enter head first. Luke sometimes jumps onto the roof from the driver's side and enters the passenger window from above, or "knee-slides” across the hood to get to the passenger side.The doors were actually legitimate doors. In a 1995 promotion for a NASCAR Busch Series BellSouth/Opryland 320 at Nashville Speedway USA, Prime Time Country host Tom Wopat actually opened the door of a restored General Lee to let David and Jeff Green ride for a few laps around the track.
History
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 is the car seen jumping 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. 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. All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired because of frame damage.
The General Lee takes flight.From 1979 to 1985, Chargers of 1968 and 1969 vintage were sourced and converted to General Lee specifications. Despite popular belief, 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. The cars required the entire front clip transplant from a 1968-69 car, which sustained the most damage in the jumps. Obtaining cars was not an issue until later years. By that time the car was the star of the show and Warner Brothers moved building of the cars in-house to keep the cars consistent in appearance. This is when side marker and rear backup lights are seen which were deleted on 1969 models as well as 1968 (seen from the start of the show).
Engines
Engines in General Lees were all sorts: 318, 383, and 440 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 383's. The stunt drivers tended to prefer 440's for jumps, which were often saved for the higher and longer jumps (440 engines were often transplanted into other cars for this purpose, too). And, though sound effects lead many people to believe otherwise, only a very small handful of Chargers on the show were actually manual transmission cars.
Exit and entry
The General Lee, except for the opening 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 were not fixed. The driver and passenger must slide in the window (as in NASCAR). For a running entry, Luke also slides over the hood rather than walk around the front of the car.
Exhaust systems
Exhaust systems were basic: some had glass packs, 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 glass pack/cherry bomb sound, but the sounds were dubbed in after the scene was filmed.
Myths
All Legends have some Urban Legends behind them. These are the more popular ones:
- 1970 Dodge Chargers were used on the TV show. 1970 Chargers were never used except maybe as car parts.
- There was only 3 or 4 General Lees. There were at least 309, some sources say 329.
- The General Lee did not have door handles. Every General Lee had door handles. Infact, they would often make it a point in the show to have the bad guys try to open the door, but it would be welded shut.
- Sometimes they used other B body Mopars for jumps. They never did this. In the early days the cars were plentiful and cheap. By the end WB knew the audience was looking closely at the cars, so using a non-Charger would not work. Thus the miniature era came to be.
- There was a Daytona made into a General Lee. This is not true, but it came close. The scouts were offered a Daytona in a package deal, but the price was too high, so they passed. Some Mopar nuts like to use this rumor to disgust people even more with the shows destruction of cars.
- The General Lee had a Hemi. Not in the show, but yes in the movie. There was an actual Hemi Charger that was sold to WB and turned into a GL, however the engine was gone before they bought it. Had it came in with one, it is a safe bet it would have been taken care of as the mechanics were Mopar fans.
- My dad had a real General Lee. I hate to break your heart, but most likely did not. These cars were valuable to WB. After a jump the cars were dismantled of all parts and the roof skin was cut off before being taken to the scrap yard. WB insisted this be done so nobody would attempt to rebuild these cars. The ones that did make it out were some gifts (like Waylon's car), and the cars leftover after the show wrapped up.
- A stuntman died jumping the General Lee. No stuntmen ever died making the Dukes of Hazzard. The only death while filming happened when a camera truck doing 35 miles an hour overturned and killed a cameraman named Rodney Mitchell.
- There are General Lee's at the bottom of a pond in California. This stems from the couple times we see them jump Lee's into ponds. It is not true. These ponds were artificial and have since been filled in or have dried up.
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