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The choice of the '69 Dodge Charger as the Dukes' racing car was almost coincidental.
Executive producer Paul Picard and show creator Gy Waldron did have a late '60s muscle
car in mind. However, the final choice was made when the studio transportation captain
showed them the '69 Charger.
The "Dixie" horn was added when Picard and Waldron, who were driving along a Georgia
highway to film the show's first episodes, heard the horn in a passing car. They chased the car
down and convinced the driver of the car to sell the musical horn. They later found out they
paid five times the actual price of the horn, which was a stock item that could be bought at
almost any auto-accessories store.
Boxes of lead weight were stored in the trunk during jumps to balance the weight of the
engine in front thus preventing the car from turning end over end in the air. About 500-600
pounds of ballast were used for short jumps; 1000 pounds for large jumps.
On all the General Lees used for the show, the locking mechanism is disconnected from the
foot-operated parking brake for the "Bootleggers' Turn", the 180-degree turns the Dukes
made in practically every show to lose sheriff Rosco, and/or deputies Enos and Cletus.
During the show's prime, the General Lee itself received over 30,000 pieces of fan mail
monthly. Many letters asked for autographed pictures of The General.
Of the 85,000 or so 1969 Dodge Chargers sold by the Chrysler Corporation, over 300
were used in The Dukes of Hazzard. As told by the shows' stunt coordinator and former
stunt driver, Paul Baxley: "Once a car has jumped, it's finished. The shock of the impact
completely destroys the structural integrity of the car, even if there's no visible damage. We
don't even drive a car on the show after it's been jumped. If the shot didn't come out right the
first time, we do it again with another car."
Here are some of my General Lee pics
General Lee 1
General Lee 2
General Lee 3
General Lee 4
General Lee 5
General Lee 6
General Lee 7
General Lee 8
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