The General Lee

[1badbee]

Hello everyone,
I was TRYING to not say something about this but I just have to now I cannot stand it any more..
Why is it that everyone and their brother is making a General Lee out of a 69/70 model year Charger??
In fact that the PILOT for The Dukes Of Hazzard, the General Lee was a 68 R/T, with a tach/auto on the floor with counsole/buck skin leather interior..
Now why is there not people making the General Lees like that??
That is the ORIGIONAL General Lee in the VERY 1st showing of the series..
My best friend has the first year all recorded,to include the pilot, which we watch ALL the time..
Just food for thought the next time someone was trying to do a General Lee..

[Arthu®]

I believe that the very first General Lee Lee # 1 was a 69 Charger? But I could be wrong.

On the other matter it are their cars they can do whatever they want with it. Personally I don't mind a well done General, at least these cars are getting saved. Anything they do to them to make it a General Lee is way more easier to fix than to fix rust.

If you even let tiny little stuff like this get to you, you should try to relax a little more. Who cares what other people do to their Chargers, it's their Charger get over it...

Arthur

[Charger1973]

 

[gnrl01]

I personally take no offense to this, everyone has a right to their opinion just the same as anyone who owns their car has a right to do with it the way they see fit. You have to do what makes you happy! There are not enough things in this life that excites people, I love an original charger and appreciate chargers of all diffrent levels. I have never once had someone come up to me in person at a car show or anywhere and say...why the hell did you do that to your charger?? In fact I am lucky to get out of a gas station or anywhere in a short time because the car intrigues people so much. In my area nobody hardly has eve seen one in real life done as the General, so it is cool to see people get so excited to tell stories about the Dukes to their kids about how this car used to fly through the air etc. Mine is by no means perfect but it has been signed and done with care so that want to spend some time looking at it. A big hit is at shows or anywhere is inside my trunklid where I had all the surviving cast members sign their name along with their signature one liner from the series. It makes people laugh and personalizes the car a little more than just another car painted orange with some funny graphics. Like I said before wether you drive a charger or a Jetta or a Charger it's your car so have fun with it. To each their own. Just my opinion...

[chargerboy69]

Hello everyone,
I was TRYING to not say something about this but I just have to now I cannot stand it any more..
Why is it that everyone and their brother is making a General Lee out of a 69/70 model year Charger??
In fact that the PILOT for The Dukes Of Hazzard, the General Lee was a 68 R/T, with a tach/auto on the floor with counsole/buck skin leather interior..
Now why is there not people making the General Lees like that??
That is the ORIGIONAL General Lee in the VERY 1st showing of the series..
My best friend has the first year all recorded,to include the pilot, which we watch ALL the time..
Just food for thought the next time someone was trying to do a General Lee..

I have seen the pilot episode as well many times, and never noticed that. I never remember seeing a 68 in that episode. The car was always meant to be a 69, but once in a great while throughout the series you would see a 68 or a 70 thrown in, usually a stunt scene. Lee 1, the very first General Lee is a 69 car. There are a couple members on here that are the authority on the Dukes, and know a lot more than I do.  I am sure you will hear from them.

[gnrl01]

Jim Shine would be able to tell you since he owns the real Lee1. I was told that there was no record of any 70's used in the show only 68's and 69's were used during the filming of the DOH. I am thinking Lee 1 was a 68 originally but I am not 100% sure. Obviously it was suppose to portray a 1969 Charger so it would make sense to me to use either a 69 first unless you already owned a 68 and wanted to convert it to 69 or leave it. I personally would rather use a 69 than chop up a 68..however if you are putting the classic back on the road it's all good. 

[Bandit72]

where in the pilot episode do you get that good of a look at the interior or Lee1 ?

[mikepmcs]

Yup Jim will eventually see this and set the record straight, he is the expert on this subject and has taught me quite a bit of history that I didn't know..

Here is a picture of LEE 1 during it's recent restoration, owned by Mr. Bell in Indiana. Jim is the President of Team Lee 1 and had a lot to do with the restoration..


Looks like a 69 to me. 

v/r
Mike

[gnrl01]

Ok I am getting lost now, I thought Travis sold Lee 1 quite some time ago, is he partial owner with Jim? Or Does Jim own it???
I knew Travis was had a big part of it being restored which is great! I am just curious now..

[mikepmcs]

I won't speak for Jim, i'll just wait til he gets on here and sets everything straight.  I'm pretty sure Travis still owns it. As for Jim being part owner, I never thought to ask him and wasn't concerned about it, so I don't know that answer, sorry. 

v/r
Mike

[bull]

There's someone in Washington who owns one of the unrestored orginals from the show. I saw it at car show up there a few years ago. Anyone know whose it is?

[MoparManJim]

Lee1 was a 1969 Dodge Charger, it was a consol shift as I remember, there was no 1970 Dodge Chargers ever used on the show, there was afew R/T cars on the show but NO R/T engines in those cars though. The show did use alot of 1968's though during its run on the air waves. If I'm following this right so far, Travis doesn't own it but was a helper with alot of info on the car an the other Guy that owns it is I guess a $$$ kinda guy and bought the car an had Travis help him restore the charger, Jim Shine being good with mopars an knowing his stuff was invole with Travis for the build of Lee1, but for as I can remember Travis or Jim Shine neither owns the car. The tic toc dash that was mention was in Repomen episode which was the 4th episode film. If I remember right Lee1 was a 1969 Charger, Lee2 was a 1969 Dodge Charger, Lee3 was I belive also a 1969 Dodge Charger. where did the 1968 Dodge Charger come in it in the pilot episode?

[Troy]

Jim Shine does not own Lee1. Neither does Travis Bell - although he did at one point.

Besides that, someone's facts are all messed up. The first General Lee is in fact a 69 383 car that was bronze with a tan interior. Lee1 is easy to spot since it had rocker moldings - which are a 69 only option. There was ovbviously more than one car used in the 5 Georgia filmed shows. Take a good look at Lee1 in the opening credits where it bends in half upon landing and tell me they reused it. Actually, they did reuse it but not as a General Lee. Yes, at some point there were 1968 and 1970 models used but NOT the first one. How do you know the "68" was an R/T?

As to why people build cars they way they want - well, it's because that's what they want. Pretty simple. I also think there are probably less General Lee clones out there now than there were in the 1980s so I wouldn't say everyone is making them. If you want it to stop then I suggest buying every available 69 Charger before this epidemic spreads.

Troy

[skip68]

As long as it's a 68 to 70 that's close enough for most of us. So then you won't want to see what I'm going to do to mine.    I'm making mine into a T-Top    with some kick'n sounds and some kick'n, pimp'n, spinn'n blingady bling bling wheels.  I be gett'n all da ladies.     YOU HAVE NOT LIVED UNTIL YOU DRIVE A GETTO CRUISER!      CHUCK...............

[Chargen69]

This reminds me of the comment made to me a couple of months ago, I pulled up in my 69 to a store, a man walked by and said, "Hey cool car, almost the same year of the general lee, a 68"

I just said, "yeah, it is a cool car"

[tan top]

This reminds me of the comment made to me a couple of months ago, I pulled up in my 69 to a store, a man walked by and said, "Hey cool car, almost the same year of the general lee, a 68"

I just said, "yeah, it is a cool car"

                      thats funny   almost the same year

[mikepmcs]

Yeah it is funny.  Jim, Matt(Jimmy shines brother)  and myself could start a book from the comments we got last summer.

Funny, funny stuff!!!!

[MoparManJim]

okay, maybe some of you aren't reading right around here, as I said before, they "was no 1970" chargers used during the run of the tv series, "only 68 & 69's was used". In the 05 movie they did use 1968 to 1970 chargers for General Lee's in the "movie". 

[911bear]

 

[mikepmcs]

Speaking of the funny things people say about the cars from a few posts up.  One of my favorites was when Jim and I were at the Turner Maine show last year, both cars right next to each other, and these 2 guys(grown men, i would never pick on kids) are talking in front of our cars and after a little bit, the one guy turned to the other guy and says, yeah, they kind of look like that car, The General Lee and the other guy says, yeah maybe a little bit.  Here is a pic at that show of Jim and my car and the big poster that says The Dukes of Hazzard on it.

[skip68]

Well after looking at the picture,  they sort of, kind of,    yah, yah they do look like that car.    Chuck..........

[Arthu®]

yah, yah they do look like that car.

But only a little

[Ghoste]

You know what it is?  Your cars were facing frontwards and the poster is a profile shot with people sitting on the fender.  That really screwed me up.  I can understand where those guys were coming from because I had to look at the picture about ten times before I could see those subtle differences. 

[skip68]

Ghoste is right. That picture is clearly misleading.  And your cars are longer than the one in the picture. 

[mikepmcs]