What Happened to ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ General Lee, That Famous 1969 Dodge Charger?

View of the 'General Lee,' the famous orange Dodge Charger emblazoned with the Confederate flag from the television series 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' August 1982. — CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Calling the General Lee “the car from the Dukes of Hazzard” is a little bit like referring to Batman as “that guy from Gotham City.” During the CBS series’ seven-season run, the Duke boys’ frequently airborne, occasionally waterlogged, and always stylish 1969 Dodge Charger RT was a central character; in fact, it shows up in the opening credits before any actor does. As iconic as Boss Hogg’s cigar or a pair of Daisy Dukes, the vehicle — with its customized paint job and welded-shut racing doors — is instantly recognizable, and its improbable jumps were often the most thrilling part of the show.

However, unlike Dukes stars John Schneider or Tom Wopat, there were roughly 300 General Lees. Nearly every car stunt on the Dukes of Hazzard was actually performed by stunt drivers, rather than accomplished through trick photography or with models. That jump off a dirt pile that you see in the opening credits? A driver really launched that car 16 feet in the air… a move which, naturally, wrecked the car on impact. The show’s commitment to real-life car stunts meant that an average of three cars were used in the making of each of the show’s 147 episodes.

The Dukes of Hazzard Tom Wopat, John Schneider, 1979-1985

Everett Collection

Also unlike John Schneider or Tom Wopat, you can visit the General Lee at home! Only 19 screen-used General Lees survived the show’s run, and in 1991, Warner Bros. auctioned off 17 of them to private collectors, with the unusual stipulation that the buyers never publicly reveal what they paid for the car. One of those cars, thought to be the oldest surviving General Lee, is on view at the Volo Museum in Volo, Illinois (where patrons can also check out the 1966 Batmobile, among other screen-used cars, in the museum’s large collection). You can visit another surviving screen-used General Lee at the Hollywood Stars Car Museum, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. And if you happen to be in Murdo, South Dakota, on August 10, you can catch a General Lee on display at the Pioneer Auto Show, though this version was only used for official photo shoots, not any of Bo and Luke’s runs from the law.

390604 02: The Dukes Of Hazard "General Lee" is displayed at the Peterson Automotive Museum auto auction June 15, 2001 in Los Angeles, CA.

Jason Kirk/Getty Images

However, not all of the surviving General Lees have had such a pleasant retirement. In 2023, another original General Lee, sold to a private collector, was totaled in a single-car crash in Missouri.

John Schneider’s personal replica of the car has also had a run of bad luck; it was crushed by a tree in 2021, and in 2024, he posted on Facebook that the vehicle had been stolen.

HOLDEN, LA - SEPTEMBER 2: A man walks near a General Lee car, damaged by Hurricane Ida, at the John Schneider Studios on September 2, 2021 in Holden, Louisiana. Schneider is best known for his role as Bo Duke in "The Dukes of Hazzard" television series. Although not used in the series, the vehicle saw time in the film "Christmas Cars." Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday in Louisiana, bringing flooding, wind damage and power outages along the Gulf Coast.

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

The car’s famous roof-placed Confederate Flag has attracted some controversy in recent years; in 2015, Warner Bros said it would stop licensing replicas of the car with a design that included the Confederate flag, with TV Land soon after pulling re-runs of the show, a move that was speculated to be related to the Confederate flag on the car.