1968 Dodge Charger

The Dukes of Hazzard originally aired between 1979-1985 on CBS and featured one of the most recognized classic American muscle cars. The 1969 Dodge Charger R/T was named "General Lee" and owned in the show by cousins Bo and Luke Duke. The story of the General Lee began with the two cousins looking for a fixer-upper to enter a local race. They found the Dodge Charger (then black in color) with a busted front end. With the help of Cooter (the local mechanic) and their family, the Duke boys put together an orange race car with the doors welded shut (for safety), a confederate flag on the roof and a big "01" painted on the doors. The boys won the race in the Charger, a car with classic lines and world-beater performance.

Over the years, audiences found themselves getting attached to famous vehicles that became characters on their own rights, and one such car is General Lee: the iconic 1969 Dodge Charger used by cousins Bo (John Schneider) and Luke (Tom Wopat) Duke used in The Dukes of Hazzard.

Using the General Lee, the Duke boys pulled off amazing stunts that would make professional racers envious. But in reality, a retail-bought Dodge Charger wasn’t capable of such tricks, forcing the prop masters and mechanics to modify every Charger used for the show.

Every time the General Lee made one of hundreds of daredevil jumps, it soared in the air and landed rear-wheels first. Realistically, this was impossible because the bulk of a car’s weight is in the front, meaning that it would nosedive into the ground.

To avoid this from happening, the General Lee was loaded with extra mass by placing concrete ballast, sandbags, or weight boxes in the trunk. This meant that its heaviest side was now in the back, allowing the Charger to briefly fly in the precise way that the directors wanted it to.

The General Lee is known for many iconic features, one of which is a horn that plays the Confederate song "Dixie." But unlike the show’s intricate stunts and car chases, the use of the Dixie horn was the unplanned result of pure luck.

According to the show’s creators, they were on the road when they heard a passing car blare its horn to the tune of Dixie. They chased the car down and bought the Dixie horn from the driver for $300, thus upgrading an already iconic car to a legendary status.

The General Lee is known for making breathtaking jumps, with its highest peak being 16ft high across a distance of 82ft before crashing down. This jump over the squad car capped the show’s premiere episode and cemented the stunt that would become synonymous to the Duke boys.

If the General Lee could be considered to be a character in The Dukes of Hazzard, it only makes sense that it had stuntmen. In total, the Lee had around 300 doubles (26 in the movie) – all of which died during filming. Which caused a shortage of Chargers for the general public!

This is a 1968 Charger that has been cloned into a 1969’ General Lee. Well done clone driven by John Schneider Also signed by cast members of the show. Boasting a 383 bolted up 727 automatic transmission with a 8 ¾ rear end equipped with 3:23 rear end gears.