The History of The Colonel..Part 2 / Updated For The Newer Guys

[THE COLONEL]

My thought was to get the autographs now, and when the rest of the car is painted orange, the trunk lid would now match.  I did have the thoughts of leaving the underside of the lid yellow with the signatures on it, just for a little reminder, that, after the car turned orange, it would still have a piece of The Colonel in it.  Well, as we are lined up ready for autographs, and I have my video camera on, here comes John Schneider, AKA Bo Duke.  As he rounds the car he says to me..  "This is a nice car.  I was watching this car go around the track".  As he is signing the underside of the trunk lid, he laughs, and says to me..."Now, why is the underside of this trunk lid orange"?  I tell him it will be a General Lee, and he says to me....."You are going to take this beautiful, gorgeous, yellow R/T (it's not an R/T, but I didn't argue) and make a General Lee out of it"?  Well, what do you tell Bo Duke.  I told him yeah, it would be, but it's name right now is The Colonel, until it's upgraded in rank to a General.  He then said....."I don't know.....I couldn't do it, it's too beautiful...I wouldn't do it".  Word spread quick about what John Schneider had said to me, and about The Colonel,  and I was now almost beside myself on what to do with the car.  Paint it or not?  You can't get a much higher opinion, then Bo Dukes!  After Dukesfest 05, the popularity of the car took off.  My brother went as far as to surprise me with papers that he even copyrighted the name, "The Colonel", for a Dodge Charger.

It seemed no matter where I went now, even locally, everyone knew it as The Colonel.  As the popularity peeked for the time, I was even asked to do parties with The Colonel.  One child in particular, about 7 years of age, at a local cruise, was almost in tears when I let him sit on the door like they did with the General Lee.  His father told me they have seen this car on the internet, and it was his son's favorite car.  This is what this hobby is about to me.  Making kids smile!  There are also a few video games that you are able to make your own car, and there have been a few people that have made The Colonel, along with a General Lee, by using the Charger model.  That really shocked me, by seeing screen caps of The Colonel in a video game!









I took The Colonel back to Dukesfest 06 in Nashville, TN, and was again amazed at the amount of pictures being taken of it.  Now wheather these people knew this as The Colonel or not, or just thought it was a neat a looking car, I don't know.  I just know there were cameras on it all day long.  That year the stunt drivers made a big deal over the name, and the twist it had on the show when they signed it.  Henry Kingi who did quite a bit of stunt work on the show, absolutely loved the name of the car when I told him, and how it came about to be The Colonel.  Also meeting members in person from all the clubs I'm in, is a real treat, and all of them tell me not to change the car, as there is only 1 Colonel, but many General Lee's.  Now there have been a few people that have talked to John Schneider, and relayed the word to me, that John in fact, does remember the car.  Next comes something I will never forget.