General Lee Drops By

[Troy]

Very cool! Did you look under the hood? That one should have a 511 (or was that 611?) Hemi in it. My guess is that the license plate is a reproduction since they guy who makes them was just out for a visit with John a few months ago. I could be wrong about that but most people don't leave real Dukes memorabilia unguarded.

Not to put a damper on things but I'm pretty positive that one wasn't in the show. I think John was stretching the truth a bit and playing to the crowd (or was misquoted) in that article when he said that is the only surviving car from the show. A few years back, Wayne Wooten from the Dodge Charger Registry organized a group buy of 17 (I believe) of the remaining cars on Warner Brothers lot. It was reported that WB kept two "close up" cars out of that deal. I just took a trip to see two others as well so that makes 21 - if I can still count at this time of day. And yes, John knows they exist since he was at the "official" release party for Lee #1.

Trivia:
The stunt crew filled the trunks with concrete during production in Georgia but had refined their technique in California and had removable weights attached to a rack that was welded  into each car. The concrete in the trunk is what saved Lee #1 from being crushed in 1978. The weight was enough to buckle the rear of the car upon landing so the car ended up in a 'Z' shape (front pointed up and rear pointed down). WB wanted all of them crushed for fear that someone would manage to salvage a jumped car and put it back on the road. Later on - after the show was more popular - they even went as far as cutting off the roofs before sending them to the junkyard.

Only cars made after production moved to California would have any etched numbers. The identification would be in the format of "SGL##" and should be on the firewall and rear window.

Troy

[heminut]

Another little bit of Duke boys trivia for you. As most of you know, John Schneider plays Jonathan Kent on the series Smallville. In an episode in season 5 Tom Wopat makes an appearance as an old friend of Jonathan's. He shows up at the farm driving what else, a 1969 Charger! They take the car out for a little Duke style ride with John driving, and when they get into the car Tom goes through the window, and John tells him "You haven't ever fixed that door handle?" There was a lot of Dukes of Hazzard inuendo in that scene!

[RusTy/SE]

  After several visits for various repair issues, Joe called me at work yesterday to say they were returning the General Lee to John Schneider's publicist for it's next event and that i should come over after i got off and ride shotgun with him for about a five mile ride to deliver the car - at rush hour 
  Lots of the expected looks but one left us laughing out loud. Stopped at one light with the rest of the traffic, we took note of sirens from both a Fire Engine and Paramedic Van leaving their station heading the opposite direction from us. As the van passes with sirens and lights, Joe and i both noticed the driver rubber necking with a huge grin at the Charger while heading to the call.  Yeehaw!!!
  I never found an "SGL##" but took a few last shots including a small plate attached to the glove box area. What a power band

 

[KellysCuda aircard]

LMAO  I was gonna guess Cement.   

Aahahahaha...they needed it to land them jumps

[Street_Challenged73]

The pics are awesome!!!   Apparently John and Tom enjoy the area I'm originally from and visit quite frequently, but I never seem to see either of them around.

[Jacksboys]

Thanks for the pics, I enjoyed everyone.   

[Andrew]

Cool pics, but why the black engine bay?

[TreeFrog]

yeah I am surprised by the black engine bay too...

[71bigblock]

Another little bit of Duke boys trivia for you. As most of you know, John Schneider plays Jonathan Kent on the series Smallville. In an episode in season 5 Tom Wopat makes an appearance as an old friend of Jonathan's. He shows up at the farm driving what else, a 1969 Charger! They take the car out for a little Duke style ride with John driving, and when they get into the car Tom goes through the window, and John tells him "You haven't ever fixed that door handle?" There was a lot of Dukes of Hazzard inuendo in that scene!

Yeah, I saw that one!  It was so cool seeing him pull up in that Charger!   

[Troy]

Cool pics, but why the black engine bay?

yeah I am surprised by the black engine bay too...

I don't know the specifics on this car but on the show cars they only painted the outside so the engine compartments were always the original body color. On Lee #1 the engine compartment was still the factory bronze paint. I can only assume that John made the engine compartment black because it would draw less attention than green, bronze, or blue. He could have made it orange to match but that wouldn't be true to any General Lee.

Troy

[TreeFrog]

I don't know the specifics on this car but on the show cars they only painted the outside so the engine compartments were always the original body color. On Lee #1 the engine compartment was still the factory bronze paint. I can only assume that John made the engine compartment black because it would draw less attention than green, bronze, or blue. He could have made it orange to match but that wouldn't be true to any General Lee.

Troy

I woudl dissagree...but memory is not what it used to be...I do recall atleast one episode where the engine compartment was shown and it was painted orage...now this may not be true to the jumped cars...but for those that survived most have been restored and the broken parts replaced...so why not paint the compartment..when you paint the car...?

[Troy]

What you see on camera is rarely real life. For instance, the "Repo Men" episode was centered around a wrecked Richard Petty car that the Dukes wanted the engine out of. When they opened the hood it had a blower that, miraculously, didn't poke through the hood when it was shut. Here's a page showing some of the original 17 leftover General Lees (there are several engine shots and one is even white): http://www.generalleefanclub.com/realgenerals/realgenerals.html

The guys making the General Lees for the show were not exactly Mopar guys and may or may not have been familiar with the body colored engine compartments (or cared). Their job was to make orange cars thqt looked as consistent as possible on the outside. They masked off as little as possible so I can't imagine them spending time covering up engine components. Lee #1 has orange overspray on the side windows. The barely managed to get the interiors the right color even on camera cars. Most people "restoring" or cloning General Lees try to stay true to what was actually used on the show so few will have Mopar correct engine compartments. I cannot speak for all owners of course and I'm sure many clones have orange engine bays.

Troy

[TreeFrog]

not arguing that at all...just the comment of "not being true to ANY General Lee" I thought might have been ... well I guess it depends on the spririt of the REAL (Fake car) or the Real Typical car that was really used...lol...and my wife says I would argue anything...

[Troy]

I knew I shouldn't have said "any" - I even edited it twice but left it in the end. Unfortunately, I haven't memorized every underhood shot in the series but I know people who have if it's important. I was only trying to say that the guys making the cars for the show really only cared if the car looked decent for a few seconds on camera. There are a lot of disagreements among fans about the "correct" way to do a clone because of all the inconsistencies (push bar sizes, shaved marker lights, fonts/sizes on the lettering, crossed flags or not, roll bar sizes and locations, interior colors, and on and on).

John's car was used in the reunion movie so I guess someone could clone it. None of the other cars had a Hemi though. I'd love to see that car in person some day and a ride would be even more fun.

Troy

[DMZ73]

I woulda guess Georgia dirt, Moonshine, a  bow and arrow, guitar or better yet, Enos.....


Dan