Autoblog

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If Wikipedia is correct (isn't it always?), there were a total of 309 General Lee Dodge Chargers used in the making of Dukes of Hazzard. The show used at least one or two cars per episode, nearly all of which were destroyed by the end. However, a few of the car still exist in various states of (dis)repair, including this particular one owned by John Schneider who played Bo Duke. The car currently has a 511cid Hemi V8 with 725 bhp and 610 lb-ft torque and has hit 165 mph in the Silver State Classic according to Schneider. The car was featured in the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV reunion movie, and each member of the cast has signed the underside of the hood.

Despite Schneider leading the crowd in a rendition of "The Good Ol' Boys" while standing on the roof of his car, the General Lee couldn't muster more than a top bid of $450,000. We were expecting something a littler higher, especially since someone paid $360,000 for the Monkeemobile.

click here to view more pics of John Schneider's General Lee

Actor John Schneider's second attempt to sell the one-of-a-kind 1969 Dodge Charger "General Lee" from his Dukes of Hazzard TV show and other acting roles has failed... again. The first attempt to sell the General Lee on eBay resulted in a winning bid of nearly $10 million, which later fell through. The winning bidder, William Fisher, claimed to CNN in an email that his eBay account had been hacked and the exhoribitant bid was placed without his knowledge, though eBay claims there is no evidence his account was illegally accessed.The second auction on eBay required that bidders be heavily screened before making a bid, which resulted in only one legitimate bid of $100,000 that failed meet Schneider's reserve price.

Perhaps realizing that eBay Motors isn't the most appropriate place to sell his iconic car, CNN is reporting that Schneider will now put the car up for auction on the biggest block in the world at the 2008 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona next January. We'll be in Scottsdale like we were this year, though we're starting to wonder if the General Lee will ever find a new home.

Thanks for the tip, Peter!

[Source: CNN]

This is one summer sequel we saw coming from a mile away. After it was revealed that the incredible winning bid of $9,900,500 for John Schneider's original 1969 Dodge Charger "General Lee" was a dud, "Bo Duke" himself has relisted the car on eBay with a $1,000,000 $100,000 starting bid. This time, bidders have to preregister with Auction Wire, an online auction agency, before they can make a play for the car.

Amidst the media buzz surrounding Schneider's first failed auction for his General Lee, we learned that auctionistas actually valued the car somewhere around $200,000 to $300,000. Aside from being a completely kick-ass car with many aftermarket mods, the Charger's association with Schneider and the TV show certainly make it more valuable than a normal 1969 Charger.

Thanks for the tip, Keith!

[Source: eBay Motors]

Related posts:
eBay Find of the Day: John Schneider's General Lee going for $2.3...
VIDEO: John Schneider watching the waning moments of his General ...
VIDEO: "General Lee" Audi Quattro drift car!
Holy $#!@ - John Schneider's General Lee sold for nearly $10 mill...
Big Surprise! Winner of General Lee auction backs out on $10 mill...

We're punchy for this one (just check out our outtakes at the end, even better than last time!). We start off with a lively debate over Hyundai's rumored full-size RWD truck on the BH platform and whether it will be good or bad. No consenus was reached, but it will be exciting to see if Hyundai can morph the concept of the Honda Ridgeline into something a little more haul-friendly.

We segue from unibody pick 'em ups into the exciting story of the 2nd most expensive car ever auctioned. That is, if the buyer doesn't fink out (Too late, already did! - Ed.) when it comes time to hit the old PayPal. John Schneider's personal "General Lee" Charger with history (if you can call 80's TV camp real history) was sold on eBay for 9.95 million dollars. The cash isn't going to fund some humanitarian effort, rather, it will be used to finance a sequel to Mr. Scheider/Duke/Kent's Collier & Co. - Hot Pursuit movie. We're sure it's the next Citizen Kane. Speaking of movies, we also touch on the despicably obvious product placement in the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which is essentially a popcorn-bucket-length Dodge spot.

Wrapping it all up, we ring the bell on the "duh" category a couple times for the Lutz. The Zeta is back on, not that we really thought it was dead. B.L. has decided that it's likely wiser to tweak powerplants than to toss away an entire product renaissance worth of engineering. Whew, and we thought he might actually do it. Speaking of questions, we had no question about GM's committment to developing the Volt's battery technology. It will require an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars, which seems like a good deal to us. Someone somewhere will have to put some time, money and effort into working out the batteries, so why not GM? It beats just sitting around and waiting. We just hope that when Chevy drops the series hybrid on us, it's wrapped in a prettier shell than the Prius. That's it for this week, enjoy!

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click above image to see more views of John and his General Lee

We all knew this was coming. As many expected, the person who entered the winning bid of $9,900,500 for John Schneider's personal 1969 Dodge "General Lee" Charger on eBay Motors last week has withdrawn it. Or at least, that's what we're led to believe by negative feedback left by Schneider, who on eBay goes by johnsebiz, on the profile of fellow eBay user fishbashr1.

Schneider left the comment, "This is the guy that for fun, decided to bid on the General Lee. Thanks...." The comment was left at 2:57PM on Sunday, May 7th.

On the auction page for item #250108256198, fishbashr1 is listed as the winning bidder, which is pretty damning evidence that this transaction is not going to take place and that the General will remain in Schneider's possession.

We know what you're really worried about, though. What will become of the sequel to Schneider's self-financed film Collier & Co., Hot Pursuit! that was reportedly going to be financed by the sale of John's General Lee? It's in fate's hands now.

Thanks for the tip, WiZZla!

[Source: Digg]

Though it hasn't been determined yet whether or not the final bid is an honest one, the eBay Motors auction for John Schneider's 1969 Dodge Charger that was originally used on his hit TV show, The Dukes of Hazzard, was a wild ride that ended last Friday with a winning bid of $9,900,500. As we reported then, if the sale goes through, that would make the General the second most expensive car ever auctioned behind a rare Bugatti that went for over $11 million at Christie's about 20 years ago.

If you've ever auctioned an item on eBay, you know the last few minutes can be exciting, agonizing and, hopefully, profitable. Such was the case for Schneider, and his pals had a handycam trained on him for the last five minutes of the auction. Check out the video after the jump to see a surfer-looking Schneider watching the most bizarre car auction ever in its waning moments. Perhaps the best part is when our man reads the note on his auction that states "Your reserve price of $1,000,000 has been met."

We've also learned that Schneider has likely already driven his General Lee for the last time. Before he had decided to sell the car, Schneider agreed to give a ride to a child with cancer whose wish it was to "hit the road in the General Lee," and the two apparently did just that last Saturday.

[Source: Carscoop, Post Chronicle]

click above image for more pics of John "Bo Duke" Schneider and his General Lee

When we first posted that John Schneider, aka Bo Duke, was selling his personal 1969 "General Lee" Dodge Charger used in the cult classic show "The Dukes of Hazzard" and various other productions, the bidding on eBay Motors was at $2.3 million. The Autoblog team immediately started arguing whether or not the car was worth that amount. In the end, we were all wrong, as the eBay Motors just ended at 1:00PM EST with a winning bid of $9,900,500.00! The auction was stopped once to remove fake bids when the price hit the $6 million dollar range, but after that, bidders were required to register before making a play for the car.

According to this CNN article, if the winning bid holds, the "General Lee" will be the second most expensive car ever auctioned behind a rare 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royal Sports Coupe that was sold by Christie's Auction House in 1987 for $11 million.

Auctionistas inteviewed by CNN are astonished, with one stating bluntly, "There is no basis in my experience in the collector car world to justify that kind value". We're sure Schneider could care less, as his purpose in auctioning the car was to raise money for a sequel to his self-financed movie "Collier & Co., Hot Pursuit".

Whether or not the car is worth nearly $10 million is certainly up for debate, but there's no denying it's one hella cool car. Schneider actually owned the car before it appeared on "The Dukes of Hazzard" and leased it to Warner Bros. for use in the show. It's even scratched! Schneider put a nick near the driver's side window once while performing his trademark through-the-window entrance. He left the scratch figuring it would only increase the car's value. Considering that auction experts claim the car is actually worth about $150,000 to $200,000, we'd say he was right.

Thanks for the tip, Peter!

[Source: eBay Motors via CNN]

Gallery: General Lee Charger

Click image for full gallery of John Schneider's original General Lee

While we might stop just short of calling it "The most famous model of the most famous car in the world!" as the seller does, we wholeheartedly agree that this is one of the most iconic cars in cinematic history. And when the seller happens to be one of the stars of the show that made the car famous, well, this is easily one of the most valuable star cars in recent memory. Bo Duke, aka John Schneider, (aka Jonathan Kent - Ed.) is auctioning off his personal "General Lee" Dodge Charger R/T. According to John, this particular car was one of the cars featured in the last REAL Dukes of Hazzard movie, "Dukes Go To Hollywood". The underside of the the hood is autographed by all of the surviving orginal cast members and crew from the TV show, as well. It was also the prototype for all of the General Lees used in the most recent Jessica Simpson Dukes of Hazzard movie.

Thanks for the tip, Matt!

[Source: eBay]