The General Lee is an orange 1969 Dodge Charger driven in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard by Bo and Luke Duke and, in season 5, by their cousins Coy and Vance. It is known for its horn, its police chases, its long jumps and for its doors welded shut, so that the Dukes had to climb in and out through the windows. It appears in every episode but one.
1969 Dodge Charger R/T General Lee at a glance
| Car | 1969 Dodge Charger, orange |
|---|---|
| Series | The Dukes of Hazzard |
| Drivers | Bo and Luke Duke; in season 5 also Coy and Vance |
| Name | after Robert E. Lee, general of the Confederate States Army |
| Horn | plays the first 12 notes of “Dixie” |
| Doors | welded shut |
| Episodes | every episode but one, “Mary Kaye’s Baby” |
| Cars used | about 255 to 325 over the series (estimates differ) |
| Originals left | about 17 |
| Ballast for jumps | 500 to 1,000 lb of sandbags or concrete |
English Wikipedia is the only source used here; it gives two estimates (about 325 and about 255) for the number of cars used and says that about 17 originals survive.
History of the 1969 Dodge Charger R/T General Lee
Why a Charger
The idea for the General Lee grew out of the bootlegger Jerry Rushing’s car, named Traveller after Lee’s horse, which was also the name of the car in the 1975 film Moonrunners, the forerunner of the series. Series creator Gy Waldron first considered a Pontiac Firebird, but deferred to stunt coordinator Al Wyatt Sr., who knew the 1969 Dodge Charger from the 1974 film Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, where he had used three for stunts. Many stunts in the series were similar, apart from the long-distance jumps, so he chose the Charger.
The cost of the jumps
Jumps called for heavy modification. Anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds of sandbags or concrete was placed in the trunk to stop the car nosing over, and the front end was raised by adjusting the torsion bars to the maximum height. Some jumps were more than 40 feet in the air, and the landings were violent; the unibody construction usually failed, so every car used in a big jump was retired and more than one General Lee was discarded per show.
How many were built
Former cast member Ben Jones and builders put the total at 325, others say about 255, and about 17 originals still exist. Chargers of model years 1968 and 1969 were bought and converted to General Lee specification, with the taillights and grilles changed; no 1970 cars were used until the 2005 film. When Chargers became hard to find in Southern California, Warner Bros. moved the building in-house and the producers used more jump footage from earlier episodes. In the last season radio-controlled miniatures were occasionally used.
The first cars
Episodes 1 to 5 were filmed in the Georgia towns of Covington and Conyers in November and December 1978, with five Chargers. The first three cars were labelled LEE 1, LEE 2 and LEE 3. LEE 3, the first close-up car and the one in the first publicity photographs, was a 440 Magnum R/T SE with 375 hp.
Design and features
- Colour: orange, with a battle flag on the roof.
- Welded doors: the Dukes enter through the windows.
- Horn: the first 12 notes of “Dixie”.
- Stunts: sandbags in the trunk and raised torsion bars for the long jumps.
1969 Dodge Charger R/T General Lee versions
- LEE 1: second-unit car with a roll cage and a 383 V8.
- LEE 2: second-unit car with a roll cage, a 383 V8 and a floor-shifted automatic.
- LEE 3: first close-up car, a 440 Magnum R/T SE with 375 hp.
More Dodge cars are in our Dodge collection, and other American V8 icons are in Muscle Cars.
Sources
- General Lee (car), English Wikipedia: history, numbers, first cars
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