The History of The Colonel..Part 1 / Updated For The Newer Guys

[THE COLONEL]

For The couple that have asked.....here it is!


THE HISTORY OF "THE COLONEL"

This 1969 Dodge Charger , later known as The Colonel, began it's life on March 3, 1969, in Hamtramck Michigan.  As it came from the factory, the car was B5 Blue Metallic, with White interior, and a white vinyl roof, as part of the White Hat Special promotion by Dodge, and came equipped with a 318 2 bbl, factory tinted windows, air conditioning, and rear defroster to name a few of the more important options.  The car was also equipped with the rare, V21 Performance Hood Treatment.  In 1969 337 Dodge Charger R/T's came equipped with this option, while only 56 (know of) non R/T Chargers came with the V21, this car being one of the 56.  This is the history I know of, after I purchased the Charger on March 17, 2004.

In 2001, before I purchased this Charger, I started doing my homework to see what kind of Chargers were out there, for the condition, and price I was looking for.  Within the first three Chargers I looked at on the internet, I came across this yellow Charger for sale, with the most God awful wheels I had ever seen on any car, let alone a Charger.  **You will have to remember this part of the story for later on**  As you can see by the pictures below, this Charger was not very appealing to the eyes with those wheels, but still not a bad car.  As time passed, and I got familiar with the Dodge Charger web site, (www.dodgecharger.com) I began to really search heavily into purchasing one.







Fast forward to March of 2004, I finally found what I thought I was looking for.  I saw an ad on the Dodge Charger site for a yellow 1969 Dodge Charger located in Foley, Alabama.  The man was a member on DC.com, with the screen name of Oldyeller.  As I contacted Oldyeller about the Charger, he had said he restored it, and had it for many years. Now buying a car, site unseen, is not what I recommend, but I got some very good pictures that he sent me of the Charger, and we finalized a price for it.  I made sure to inform him that I was coming from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and did not what to find that I was lied to about the condition of the car.....which I was not.  My father and I took his truck, and his empty car trailer and drove straight through to Foley, Alabama.  My father had just arrived home on a business trip from Bristol, Tennessee, four hours before we left for Alabama, and we wanted to get going as there was a major snowstorm coming, and we wanted to beat it before it hit.  Needless to say, when we arrived in Alabama, we were exhausted, and slept a good 12-15 hours into the next day when we arrived at the hotel.  The next morning of March 17, 2004, we set out to go look at the car.  We ended up passing the house up, as I saw the yellow beast sitting out in front of the garage in the backyard.  As we pulled in, my eyes could not believe what I saw.  I was amazed at the condition the Charger was in by the naked eye, but did not want to get too excited until I checked the car over, and took it for a test drive.  Well, after all that was accomplished, we loaded up the car, and paid Oldyeller, and we were on our way home.....ah, but not straight through this time! Now's where the story gets interesting?

Oldyeller was gracious enough to give me all the pictures he had when he and his son restored it, as he had no need for them now.  I was amazed at the condition of the car, when the restoration began.







As my father and I are driving down the road, I begin to look at the pictures that Oldyeller gave me.  Next thing I know, my jaw hits the floor.  I was looking at that same picture of the ugliest wheels I had ever seen on a Charger....a yellow Charger.  I could not believe that it was the same car, but it was.  This car was for sale for nearly three years and nobody bought it?  What were the chances I would buy one of the first Chargers I looked at, three years before?  Anyway, after that excitement, I figured I had to come up with a name for the car.

My entire life I had wanted a General Lee, and my dream was starting to come true.  This Charger even had the correct air cleaner that was used on the show.  I'm sure they used many different ones, but this was the one people were looking for I found out much later.  But for everything this car had, that the story line General Lee's had, plus the fact that it was still for sale three years later, I feel it was meant to be, for me to purchase it.  I feel the Lord intervened on it, and that when it was right to buy that car, it would happen.  Anyway, when I was four years old, watching that orange clunker car fly through the air, I told my parents I would have one someday.  So here's this yellow Charger sitting on a trailer behind us, and I think to myself......now, what name can I come up with?  I first thought of Big Bird from Sesame Street , and that would have been cool if it was a Daytona, or a Superbird, but it just didn't fit the car.  As I continued to think, I thought of the board game "Clue", and Colonel Mustard, because of the car being yellow.  Next I thought of the car already having an air horn in it that Oldyeller installed.  The horn plays the "Charge" theme, which might be something a Colonel in the army would have blown in the Civil War or something.  Next, always wanting a General, I thought of dropping the rank to Colonel for the time being.  So hence "The Colonel" was born.  Now, never did I think in a million years, that the car would have become as popular as it has.

As the different Dukes of Hazzard, and General Lee fan clubs emerged, I began to join under the screen name of, The Colonel.  Quite a few people asked me where I got the name from, wondering if I was in the military, and I told them it's just the name of my Charger.  So I got more questions on why I named the car, The Colonel.  I basically told everyone the story above about the name.  To take a step back in time, I had bought everything I needed for a General Lee, before I even had a Charger.  I figured that if I got the stuff now while I have a little play money, I would be better off, then to buy the car, and then be years before I could afford, and convert it to a General Lee.  I had everything from the Vector wheels, decals, all the way down to one of the correct CB's, and antennas.  Well, The Colonel, as it seemed, was having rave reviews, and once I got it "General-ized" minus the orange paint and decals, it really took off.  I had so many people from different clubs, and even locals tell me not to change it, because it was a neat twist on the Dukes of Hazzard, and the General Lee.  Some called it the General Lee's brother, or cousin.  After a while it got to the point that people asked me if they could make models of the car, which I graciously said yes they could.  Next, I started getting asked if I had any kind of posters of the car, which at the time I didn't, but within a few months I had gotten 50 AWESOME posters made from a gentleman on DC.com.  Most of the posters sold quickly, and the rest I have sold at Dukesfest's, and locally here in Pennsylvania.  This was all within 13 months of buying the Charger.



In 2005, I attended my first Dukesfest with my Charger.  In all the years of Dukesfest, I have only missed one......but that is a different story.  The Colonel got quite a few looks, and I did overhear hear many times that year, people calling it Daisy's yellow car which, was a Roadrunner.  It ain't no Roadrunner sister! I just take that with a grain of salt when I hear it.  Anyway, after the "Parade of General Lee's" on Bristol Motor Speedway in 2005, we all get in line on Pit Road, with the hopes of getting autographs from the cast of the Dukes of Hazzard.  Now before I had gone to Bristol for Dukesfest, I had the underside of The Colonel's trunk lid painted orange, so I could retrieve the autographs I needed. 

[sixty-niner]

what color orange is that, its nice!

[Belgium R/T -68]

I love the stories you have connected with your cars. That's something that most of us europeans never can match.

Per

[Topher]

That's WAY COOL!