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Hey! Whats up! Send me some mail! This is a very new page!! Someone send me some good info on the show!! I have tons of info on the General!! Heres some for you!! General Lee ('69 Dodge Charger R/T) The dust stirs at the far end of the country road. The roar of an engine cuts through the quiet. Suddenly, a bright orange '6 9 Charger comes into view closely pursued by a white police car, gumballs flashing and siren wailing. Headed straight for a 30-footwide ditch, the Charger accelerates blasts off the lip of the canyon, flies gracefully through the air and lands safely on the other side of the ditch, accelerating again in a flurry of dust. The police car attempts the same move but falls short of the mark, sailing head first into the embankment. The Dukes have won again. For the past four years, this bright orange Charger has been a television star blasting the Dukes of Hazzard television series into the top ten of television's ratings on a regular basis. Produced by Warner Brothers, the "General Lee," the name given to the Charger in the show, has gotten the Duke family out of more scrapes with the shady dealings of the Hazzard County police than Jimmy Carter has peanuts. In effect, the General Lee is the hero of the series. Over 60,000 pieces of fan mail arrive for General Lee weekly-attesting to the popularity of the car. The choice of the '69 Dodge Charger to star as the General Lee came about when the transportation captain of the series showed execuproducer Paul Richard and producer Guy Waldron the car. It was perfect for the application Waldron and Picard had planned: a late model stock car type vehicle with lots of power to handle the stunt work they slated for the series. The Charger had a brilliant history of NASCAR victories back in 1969 at the hands of perennial stock car champion Richard Petty- adding to the appeal of the Charger as a stock car/race car. Underhood, General Lee uses 440-CID power plant for motivation and is complemented with a sprinkling of chrome parts. To enhance the stock car flavoring, the General Lee was dressed in bright orange paint and decked out with large "01" racing numerals on the sides and a Confederate flag on the roof to give a little Southern style (the series is based on the plight of a family living in the backw I oods somewhere in the South). In true stock car fashion, the doors were welded'shut, which makes entering and exiting the car a window-only proposition. A push bar was welded to the font end and a horn which toots out the first 12 notes to "Dixie" installed under the hood. The horn was purchased by Picard and Waldron while traveling in Georgia. They happened to be driving down the highway and heard the distinctive horn. Quickly turning around they caught up with the owner of the vehicle and attempted to purchase it. After several minutes of bargaining an d considerable cash, they acquired this important prop only to find out that the horn was a regular item in the local auto parts store. The most famous car on television. The General Lee Charger has become a star in its own right, leaping through the southern countryside and giving the Hazzard County Police Department more trouble than they can handle. Not to shock anyone, but due to the severe stunts in which the General Lee is asked to partake, back-up Generals are requiredused in the same way stunt men are used for big-name actors. The backup cars are classified as "First Unit" r "Second Unit" cars. First unit cars are prepared for close-up shots with the actors and are included in most of the still photography for the series. The second unit cars are the work horses used for a variety of different activities from 180-degree "bootleq-er" turns and two-wheel driving to jumps. All of these cars are specially prepared with drivers well trained for their stunts. It should be stressed that these stunts should not be tried by novice drivers on public streets. The First Unit General Lees are outfitted with 440-CID Magnum engines with 727 Torque Flite transmissions and 3.23-to-l rear end ing with limited slip. Heavy-duty gear shocks are installed (coil-over style in the rear) accompanied by B.F. Goodrich T/A radial tires and cast aluminum turbo wheels. Each engine is tuned up with a new Holley carburettor, special distributor, and new plug wires-if not a total engine rebuild to begin with. The original General Lee (shown here) was treated to a full chrome job under the hood to add to engine appearance. Second Unit cars receive all of the a fore mentioned equipment (except for the chrome work) and are tuned for their appointed duties. Cars which will be used for Bootleg turns have the racheting mechanism on the emergency brake pedal removed to allow the rear brakes to be applied and released without need to pull the locking handle. This allows the stunt man to jam on the brakes, turn the car a full 180 degrees and then release the pedal accelerating the car back in the opposite direction. Warner Brothers Making a second unit car. Mopar 440 is fitted with high compression pistons, aluminum intake manifold, chrome headers, and fourbarrel carburetor. Both first and second unit Generals receive this treatment if 440-CID engine is used. Jumping Generals are outfitted with full six-point NASCAR-style roll cages of heavy wall tubing. Gas tanks are removed and replaced by NASCAR-style five-gallon fuel cells. To keep the cars flying straight once in the air, a weight box is cabled into the trunk holding it tightly to the rear frame section. The weight boxes carry from 100 to 600 pounds of weight to counterbalance the engine in the front of the car. Without the weight, the Chargers would fall nose first into the ground every time. Engines for the Second Unit cars vary depending on the size of the jump. The 273 and 318-CID engines are used on the shorter jumps, while the 383 and 440-CID engines are used where more speed is necessary. Choice of engine effects the amount of ballast weight carried in the rear weight box. Damage to the jumped cars is generally so severe that the car is never used again in the show for any action; just for parts to build another Dressed in full stock-car regalia, General Lee really kicks up dust when the Dukes lean on gas pedal. Aluminum wheels and B.F. Goodrich tires are used to connect General to the ground ... when the General is on the ground. Second Unit General Lee. It should be stressed that all of the cars, which are prepared by Warner Brothers personnel, receive new front suspension pieces to be able to handle the stunt work. All of the General Lees are numbered at the base of the rear window to denote when the car was completed (I.D. consists of "GL" for General Lee followed by a number). According to Warner Brothers, an average of three General Lees are destroyed per episode, thus the reason for the constant building of Second Unit Generals. So Warner Brothers has an actor which is the star of a series, performs flawlessly, has no ego problem, never asks for a raise and works for a little gas and oil. The two couldn't be happier.
