Filed under: Coupes, Dodge, Celebrities
General Lee No. 1 to appear in April's DuPont Registry
Bummed that you missed out on John Schneider's (aka: Bo Duke) personal General Lee when it sold at Barret Jackson earlier this year for $450,000? Well, we've got good news for you then, as LEE 1 is scheduled to appear in the April issue of DuPont Registry with an as-yet unknown price tag attached. If you're not familiar with LEE 1, this is the car that was used for the police car jump from the Dukes of Hazzard opening credits (.wmv link). This car also appeared in the very first episode of the now iconic television series and in the fourth episode, although not as the General Lee in that instance. After languishing in a scrap yard for 23 years, Travis Bell and the rest of "Team LEE 1", as they call themselves, rescued the car star and restored the General to its "pre-jump" condition.
If you are interested in knowing more about LEE 1, check out the official General Lee Enterprises website and keep your eye out for April's issue of the DuPont Registry if you dream of making the General your own.
[Source: Inside Line, General Lee Enterprises]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
joe 6:58PM (3/07/2008)
doesn't look like the best restoration (e.g., some of the guages have a fresh repainting while others don't; looks like there is overspray on the steering wheel or something else wrong with it). also, it's missing the back seat -- i understand that may have been done for the jump, but there are plenty of episodes where someone sits in the back (even one with uncle jesse in the back). but, i guess if it sells for an obscene price, that's fine with me.
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Steve Fox 8:54PM (3/07/2008)
You just gotta wonder exactly how many Lee 1's there are floating around...
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catgirlshyla 1:25AM (3/08/2008)
....or what kind of documentation it has. Sitting in a scrap yard for 2 decades raises a very big red flag right there.
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bigrig 7:40AM (3/08/2008)
Power block on spike did a short story on the car.It does exist and there is only one( LEE 1). Each car had a label next to the vin number.
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Benfolio 10:57AM (3/08/2008)
Don't hate, APPRECIATE.
It's not a restoration back to what any General Lee should be like, it's what LEE 1 WAS LIKE.
Except probably for the concrete in the trunk.
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Ohso Clutch 2:26PM (3/08/2008)
......Yee-Haw. :)
macdoc 3:23PM (3/08/2008)
BFD
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Benfolio 10:24PM (3/08/2008)
Yeah I know. It's not like Knight Rider or anything :P
Don 3:14PM (3/09/2008)
about the only part of this car that is the REAL Lee 1... is the firewall, VIN/Dashframe, allegedly the engine and maybe some of the chassis... but at least 50% of this car came from OTHER chargers... at the least. all the sheetmetal is replacement. a LOT of this car is sitting in Travis Bell's garage/barn (or his parents).. what he hasnt sold off.... I have nothing against the REAL owner.. Marvin, but I wouldn't trust Travis Bell as far as I could throw him... he has ripped off to many people that I know. INCLUDING cast members and crew from the series. I have heard personally from at least 2 cast members, that despise him. Yes. there is only 1 "Lee 1".. but you could build MORE of another one with the parts taken off this car... then this car actually has on it.
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TimDuke 9:06PM (3/09/2008)
Don is accurate in his statements.Only maybe 15-20% of this car is actually remnants of the actual car that sat in the junkyard all those years.The roof skin was allegedly sold to a collector and it was usable.So was a lot of the other sheetmetal that was sold off to collectors. Another thing that is misleading is yes it is numbered Lee 1. That doesn't mean it was first one ever built. It just happened to be numbered that way as there were 3 initially built then transported to Georgia for filming.They weren't numbered in the order they were built. They can't prove it was or wasn't first built.
Benfolio 10:51PM (3/09/2008)
It's not a matter of restoring the FIRST General Lee, it's restoring the one used in EVERY episode, the one that was in the opening credits making that famous jump.
As far as using what's left of the car, it was the original unibody, engine, etc. So what if the sheetmetal was replaced? The core of the original vehicle is still the same.
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JK 10:45AM (3/10/2008)
If the core of the vehicle was there you would have a point. The only unibody piece used was the firewall with the VIN plate. The entire rest of the car was replaced with other Chargers. The car is a replica with Lee One parts used.
TimDuke 11:42AM (3/10/2008)
Benfolio did you read either Dons or my post at all? You are incorrect. It is NOT the first General Lee.It is possible it could be but they cannot prove it was the first one.Nobody can say definitely it is.As I said it just happened they put the lable number one on that car.Lee 2 or 3 could just as easily been the first one built. From the quarter panels back it is entirely a different donor car and so are the fenders, and hood and allegedly the roof.Another thing it wasn't used in EVERY episode either.They changed the opening credits on different occasions when actors were in contract disputes. The way you are talking if I could gather all the pieces that were sold or taken off and build another car around those pieces, I could call it LEE 1 also. I have nothing against the current owner Marvin. Don and I are just making potential buyers aware of what they are dealing with. I'm sure someone who was on the restoration team will eventually try and dispute some of what Don and I have posted.
Mark 11:24AM (3/29/2008)
This is a tough call. If you keep the car as original then what can you do with it other than let it sit in youre garage or cart it around everywhere. I know it looks cool but I like to drive them. I had a chance to buy cars from the show like that but I chose to buy a running and driving General right out of Warner Brothers.
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