Cast Signed General Lee: 1969 Dodge Charger
One of the most popular TV shows of the 1980s was The Dukes of Hazzard, a comedy/adventure about a couple of “good old boys” who were constantly in trouble with the law. One of the “stars” of the show was General Lee, a 1969 Dodge Charger the boys sped around in all over fictitious Hazzard County. This sweet replica was restored and signed by most of the original cast of the series. In great condition, the Charger is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is available here on eBay where the current bid is $60,000, the reserve is unmet, and the Buy It Now price is $120,000.
The General Lee in the show (which this car emulates) refers to Civil War General Robert E. Lee. It was orange in color, carried a Confederate flag on the roof, and had its name over each door as well as the number “01” (the Duke Boys raced it at one time, so the doors were welded shut). More than 300 of the cars were used in the seven-year production of the show and most were destroyed in the process (think of their collective value today!). Only a small number are thought to still exist, but replicas are probably far more plentiful. The 2005 movie about the show is thought to have used up another two dozen of the machines.
Decoding the VIN provided by the seller reveals this ’69 Charger may have been rather ordinary from the beginning (and the doors aren’t welded shut). It came with a 318 cubic inch V8 which has since been replaced by a 440 that is said to produce 400 hp. It also has a performance suspension, likely added later, along with disc brakes at all four points. We’re told the machine runs and drives great, in part to a restoration the previous owner did some five years ago.
The body and paint look good and we’re told this Charger has never had any rust. The interior appears to be period correct and was likely also redone by the previous owner. When you pop open the trunk, you’ll see signatures from all of the major cast members except Uncle Jesse (actor Denver Pyle had likely passed away before this work was done). There is also a box that includes a moonshine jug. There is no indication or claim that this car had anything directly to do with the TV show or movie. So that would make it a tribute car that fans would appreciate. But is it $120,000 worth of admiration?
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Comments
I would say that toppling a General Lee statue is more than trying.
I remember the show fondly. Its been a while. I couldn’t even legally drive then. Maybe I can buy this and take Daisy on a dream date for my retirement celebration
Actually according to Wikipedia Catherine Bach is still in pretty good shape, don’t think she needs a walker yet. I thought it was a cool show, and I especially liked the basset hound on there.
You’re way off, man.
See my response to Edsel above.
You could go to her retirement community, I hear Fridays they have Bingo!
I was a small boy watching the show, and I KNEW there was only one car, that it could fly and not be damaged. The Matchbox (or whatever brand) that I had could do the same stuff and not be damaged. It was a great time to be a kid.
Maybe if this show had never happened,there’d be
a lot more ’69 Chargers surviving.
Personally,I never cared much for that show.I also
don’t get why everyone thinks these need to be made up
like this one,or that anyone would pay a LOT of money for
one.
AGREE 1,000%! They wrecked THREE HUNDRED Chargers for Dukes. With
that said, I did meet John Schneider at the Charger Nationals outside of San Antonio with my 69.
It’s the same mentality that causes plain white VW Beetles to get circles containing the number 53 on the doors and a couple of stripes over the top…
angliagt- That’s what I thought but someone else pointed out that the show also greatly increased interest in that model, thus perhaps some were saved that otherwise would have been scrapped. We’ll never know the final result because we have no baseline data.
Love the show. I remember S1E1 there used a 68 Charger. And Sheriff pulled them over. And told them your tail light is out. And then he took his night stick and broke it. To give them a ticket. That episode was only one with the 68. The rest was 69 and up. It was hard finding 68 Charger they were a little different. The scout team was in NY area buying Chargers . One of my friends back then told me a friend was driving a 69 Charger and the team stopped him. Offered big bucks and sold it to them. It was a 318 model. And he walked home with cash and a story to tell. Yeah it was a different time . I miss it was fun and you had ups and downs. But not like today. Oh I was driving a 70 Challenger RT 383 Magnum. … Would I drive the General today? HELL YEAH!! and blowing the Dixie horn!! 😄🐻🇺🇸
Other than all that, does anyone besides me think this is a really nice car with a beautiful restoration?
It’s merely a copy of a fake prop car from a television show. Not quite up there with the Gettysburg Address…
“Four score and 300 Chargers ago…”
And your comment is aimed at who?
What he said……..
As I was looking at the ad on Ebay, the BIN price dropped to $98K…. Still not worth it for a replica.
68-70 Chargers will bleed your bank acct. these days. And no, the prices are not coming down, they’re only going up.
This is a beautiful car and it brings back fond memories of the show (and Daisy). :)
I don’t think I’d have painted the bottom of the car orange but maybe that’s so when I jump it over people, yelling “yee haw!”, they can look up and see that the underside matches the rest of the panels.
Was just aware of the show back in the day. Much later, when I heard how many Chargers they totalled, took a dim view of it altogether.
Sure miss my ’68 383 Charger…
I concur- I found that it lacked the level of intellectual challenge found, say, on Baywatch or Hee Haw, for example.
This made me chuckle.
Thanks, John!
Yeah, but you said it in a derogatory fashion (heavily implying politics). That’s why you were flagged.
yeah right…..and who made you the vocabulary police?…thats the call for Barn Finds to make..which they did..your opinion is just that=yours
John speaks the truth!
I’ve been saying this for years!
Let it be a site/forum for automotive enthusiasts!
Nothing more, nothing less.
You guys act like that flag is innocuous and “doesn’t mean anything”.
Yet if I took an orange Charger, painted a Union (*ahem, non-traitor AMERICAN*) flag on the roof, and named it the “General Grant”, a lot of commenters would be furious!
What does that tell you about that flag, and those people who venerate it?
It’s simply a symbol of “regional pride”, like flying a Packers flag! I think that was the most unreal comment I saw. I wanted to ask them what it would mean if someone were flying that flag in say, the New England area or if someone flys a packers flag in London. The logic is fascinating.
YES, THANK YOU!! A lot of comments were removed, deservedly so, including one of my own which was sarcastically responding to the other comments removed.
Honestly, the site shouldn’t have featured the car and made certain comments within the write up. They should’ve known what sort of comments it would elicit, but kudos to them for removing them. This site is about cars, nothing more.
The car itself as presented calls out its roof, like it or not. Perhaps BFs should not put any more General Less on this site. There are plenty of 1969 Chargers you can put on here, why display something controversial then pretend to get all upset when people express their opinions?
Then there are other problematic cars, Porsches for instance as referring to the companies war history. Of course I have never seen a 356 here with a swastika on its roof and named The Doctor Mengele, but even without it, some people have opinions on that company. Fords in general could be called out for its founders unfortunate opinions outside of the automotive realm.
Where do you draw the line? Perhaps the site needs to stop censoring posts and let people speak. Acting like Big Brother isn’t cool.
Why does the site put cars on they know will cause these situations? Elon Musk would agree with me, and know he is popular on this site.
How many cars are featured on this site that cause “situations”? .5%?
This site, Twits-er, and the like are all private platforms that have the, wait for it….. freedom, to operate as they choose. They aren’t “big brother” (I don’t think people that use this reference have actually read the book), they just want to keep the conversation focused on the cars. I and I’m sure many others appreciate that.
If Elon Musk is so popular on this site, why don’t all the Elon fan boys go discuss how you can’t show your support for a treasonous flag on this platform over on that one?
Some of us are trying to live in a society free from hate and in peace. Platforms like this and topics like cars are a nice escape from the constant drone of noise and chaos from people that for some reason don’t want that.
Eric –
Agreed! Thank you for being a voice of sanity on here.
As far as the “Elon” thing goes, it would be unfortunate if it turns out he really is popular on here (though I have rarely seen him brought up).
Musk has done nothing for car culture (and I am NOT necessarily trying to knock electrification here), and is just politically nasty.
Even though it is not the cars fault, the peoples reaction to them would seem to make them a bad choice to put on this platform, would you not agree? Why does the site keep putting them on? It is not like they are something new to behold? Are they trying to make a political statement themselves? They say they want no political talk here, yet they know this is going to cause a reaction.
Gary:
I agree that there is nothing good coming from BarnFinds putting “Dukes” cars on this site.
The line should be drawn when the vehicle itself promotes hateful ideologies. A car with a giant Confederate Battle Flag on it “fits the bill”. On the other hand, a car just from a brand that had connections to bad people a half-century ago is pretty innocuous (as long as the vehicle isn’t actively trying to PROMOTE) such ideologies.
You just described the root of what’s wrong today; money and greed over literally everything else.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is not a decision barn finds get to make. Whatever that car or any other has printed on it shouldn’t be censored. Our freedoms are being taken a little more each day and it’s funny people allow it to happen.
Barn Finds is a private platform with the freedom to operate as they choose. Thankfully, they’ve chosen to have three simple rules in their comments section to keep things civil and focused on topic; no personal attacks, no profanity, no politics. Comments were removed that fell under that.
Concerning the car; THEY featured it on their site and did not say anything about censoring what’s on it.
What’s (not) funny is that many freedoms are actually being taken away or attempting to, but they have nothing to do with freedom of speech as you’re implying.
I look at it like this: By simply seeing “General Lee” you already know what the car is. You can’t pretend to be shocked and therefore “offended” because you already the content prior to scrolling. If you continue forward, it’s already on you in how you’re going to feel. If it upsets you that much, you could have just easily skipped this particular listing. Also, it’s just a car. Get over yourselves. (For the record, I have no interest in this specific car… you’ve seen one clone, you’ve seen them all. )
Really guys? Both sides post stupid comments and then throw tantrums when we delete those comments. We have rules to keep the peace and we have the right to delete anything we feel is breaking them. We also have the right to post whichever car we choose. This is a sweet machine for someone who is into the Dukes of Hazard. But just as with anything we post (and in life), if you don’t like it, then just move on to the next one. Thanks.