One of the most popular TV shows of the early 1980s was The Dukes of Hazzard. And one of its primary characters was not a person but an automobile – a 1969 Dodge Charger named the General Lee. Though not considered politically correct today, the General Lee is still one of the most recognizable TV cars of its era. We’re told this Charger is one of five cars used in the ‘80s to promote the show, not one of the “jumpers” that were wrecked during filming. Unrestored and now in Pittsfield, Illinois, this television artifact is available here on eBay, where it can be yours for $125,000 ($82,000 is the current bid with an unmet reserve).
The Dukes of Hazzard was on network television from 1979 to 1985 and was #2 in the Nielsen ratings in 1982. Estimates are that at least 300 of the 1968 and 1969 Dodge Chargers were used in the production of the action show, with only a handful known to have survived after 40 years. Although not much can be found about them online, General Lee Enterprises may have supplied all or part of the inventory of Chargers used and abused in the show. Per the seller, five examples were used as promotional vehicles, and the one featured here is one of them.
Titled by General Lee Enterprises in 1981, this Charger’s VIN decodes as having been built with a 383 cubic inch V8. It’s not numbers-matching, but the original 383 is still around and needs a rebuild if you want to put it back into the Dodge. The indicated mileage is 31,000, which hardly sounds accurate unless the car spent most of its life in a trailer going from Points A and B.
We don’t know if orange was the factory color on this vehicle, and we’re told the interior has been replaced with one that replicates the days of Bo and Luke. Otherwise, it has not been restored, there is a bit of rust, and the hood sports the signatures of many of the people associated with the show. It has air conditioning (parts missing), something I doubt was important to either of the Duke boys. Would you drop $125 large for one of these rare survivors?
Technically the color of the original General Lee TV cars was not orange but rather Corvette Flame Red as it looked more orange on the film that was used for filming the show at the time. If it’s a real deal General Lee I’d imagine it’ll earn big bucks. Surprised it’s on eBay and not going to one of the big auctions like Mecum or Barrett-Jackson
“Late” 69 Chargers often had the wood shifter knob that was used on the 70.
I think that makes this somewhat suspect. I also don’t recall the interior ever being white on the General Lee. It was always tan in the interior shots.
I may be mistaken or perhaps nit-pickey, but that (1970-style) shifter is incorrect for a ’69.
Nothing much about the Charger, but I can recall watching the Dukes of Hazzard with my mom and older brother one evening, I must’ve been about six years old at the time because my brother had just started driving. He’d come home with a big bag of McDonald’s French fries – that was a huge treat. We did not eat fast food all that much, so this was like Heaven – Mickey D’s fries and the Duke Boys! My mom was putting fries in my mouth as I laid with my head on her lap and eventually after probably the fifth or sixth fry, she dabbed one in some ketchup (which I thought I hated!) and stuck the fry in my mouth. I was thinking, what is that?! Tastes good! She and my brother laughed, “it’s ketchup silly.” My mom said, “see that is why you need to try different foods, you never know what you may like until you try it.” Good life lesson. Been hooked on ketchup ever since, and trying new foods for that matter. Kinda funny how some small moments in one’s life just seem to stick.
I suppose to someone like Mike 76 who has great memories of watching the show it might be worth $125,000 but to me a car that has some rust, the original motor sitting who knows where, parts missing for the A/C, and not much for interior. If someone offered them 8 1,000 they should have taken it.
It looks like they may have taken an $83k bid because the auction was ended at that point.
No sale. The auction ended at 83K, Reserve Not met.
Mitchell, the problem with the big auctions is the hammer price is not what you net from the deal, not even close. The seller pays to ship the car, pays an entry fee that’s thousands of dollars depending out how close the spot is to prime time, and if it doesn’t sell, you’re out all that money and have to pay more to ship it back home.
On top of that if it does sell, the seller gets somewhere around 10 to 12% less than the hammer price. The auction house takes their cut. Also the buyer pays the same percentage more than the hammer price, so if a buyer wants it for $125K total, they can only bid around 112K for it.
I’ve been to Barrett Jackson and Mecum, mostly just to watch the show. I’ve seen all kinds of crazy stuff happen at those places. I was fortunate to buy most of my stuff in the 1970’s through 1990’s before the prices got stupid.
In those days you bought the parts you needed at swap meets, some 57 Chevy parts were just starting to be reproduced. Camaro parts from a catalog didn’t happen very much in the 1970’s.
You are right. Has anyone ever paid attention to the price of cars crossing the auction block in non-primetime hours? The seller has nothing to loose by trying to sell it on other venues.
Steve R
*lose…”loose” is the opposite of tight.
Right on about the nutter auctions today. I regularly attended the Scottsdale auction when it was at the fairground,s and they were fabulous. When it moved to Scottdale, it started sucking and now really sucks for both buyer and seller. BAT has made a difference though, as you can get around the greed of the auction houses.
I see them showing shows of past auctions on
the channels I watch,& immediately change channels.
Just why would anyone want to see auctions that have
happened in the past,unless one of your cars that you
bought or sold was featured?
One of the better stories from The Dukes of Hazzard is Daisy Duke. A lot of people think that the Dukes of Hazzard producers hit a home run with Katherine Bach as Daisy. Their original idea was the Daisy Duke character was supposed to be a tall blonde.
Catherine Bach showed up at the audition and convinced them that she was it. Then she came up with the “Daisy Duke zero inseam shorts” and flannel shirt from her own wardrobe, that was nobody but her.
At least you have to give the producers credit for looking at talent that showed up and found them. It’s still better to be lucky than good. If they had been wrecking 65 Plymouth Belvederes, I’d still hate them. I never thought that much of 69 Chargers.
There were a few of these…
I read there was a shop in L.A. that did nothing but repair and paint General Lees. This car is incorrect as the original had the doors welded shut, and most came with a 440. Since the filming was done primarily in NC, they had car carriers that would bring the crashed ones back, and rebuilt ones out. I think they averaged 5 cars per episode. The ones that were jumped were usually toast even with suspension mods.
Only a handful of the first season was filmed outside of California, in Georgia, after that production moved to the area around Thousand Oaks California and the Warner Brothers lot.
Steve R
More the “Dukes of Thousand Oaks”.
Maybe “The Dukes of Ventura” (Thousand Oaks being in Ventura County…).
Many people my age consider the flag totally wrong and refuse to look at the car. I asked my Grandpa who I consider to be the smartest person I know, what he felt. He said back in that time, there were some people who used the flag as a symbol of hate but most people just used it to celebrate what part of the country they were from, a thing of pride. He said people didn’t analyze life so much in those days. More like live and let live. No reason to make a big fuss about it. He said people understood that symbols are not nearly as important as how you treat people in real life. I repeated that to some of my friends and they called him the R word. He said he always liked the look of the car, though he thought the show itself to be pretty lame.
So, if someone flies a red, black and white swastika flag and people get upset, they shouldn’t because they’re really just celebrating their German origins, where they’re from, a thing of pride?
Yeah. Why analyze flags and symbols?
So the hammer and sickle are allowed, because those are not symbols of whoever lost the war, right? And the Belgian flag is currently being flown the world over without any problem whatsoever. And how about France of Great Britain? Why are those allowed – particularly Britain, who instilled slavery in America? Symbols are meaningless without actions to back them. In that logic, the Star SPangled banner should be forbidden in Japan, and the Japanses flag should be forbidden in China. Thi can go on forever. Live and let live. And let the dead burry their dead.
So you win the car, take it home and are so damn pleased to get it, have it sitting in your garage. You hop into it on a sunny Sunday morning, head out for a nice drive to get some coffee. Pulling up people surround you, telling you how cool it is, the stories of watching the show, memories of cars they had that got away, or that you sold and regretted. Sounds like a nice morning, all that attention. How many times that happens and each time you go home wishing you could have a minute to not talk about the car, have your coffee and danish. How long could this go on?
You have to give the show credit. It put a lot of these Chargers out of their misery before the tin worm could finish with them off.
If I had make believe money I would MUCH rather have the 67 hemi charger posted a few days back for around the same number. Everyone it seems has a general Lee charger and they weren’t that great to begin with. Imo.
I met John Schneider at an auction in Newport beach about 20 some years ago selling one of his General Grants, He was a cool guy to talk to. I owned a Charger back in the late 70’s I wonder if it ended up being jumped in one of the shows?
USAF friend of mine bought an “authentic” Gen Lee, April 1991, from Warner Bros. with a Certificate from the Studio.
His was a mongrel of a 68/69 Charger, as you could see the 68 sidemarker (front fender) was patched over.
Seems that if it was “crashed” VS jumped, they would get “glued” back together.
I met the Dukes Stunt Team at the Charger Nats, Boerne, TX and they showed me the car they were planning for the Dukes Movie. “Jump” cars were heavily modified, esp. the counterweights in the trunk.
Might get the ask if the original drivetrain was already rebuilt and in place.
How do you prove provenance if you choose to sell it later?
Had a beautiful R4 bright red 69′ Charger R/T back in the early 90’s. Every time I’d go to a show and someone would bring up the Dukes I’d cringe. Hated the show back then, still do. The only thing I like about the General Lee now is that it’s NOT politically correct.