"Steve P" wrote in message
...
My daughter told me she saw a "General Lee" in downtown Worcester today.
Wasn't you, huh?

http://www.summernationals.com/index2.html


Nope.

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of General Lee "clones" that
people have built in the US and Europe. There is a company called Smith
Bros. restorations that will build you an authentic looking General Lee,
although they are backed up with orders.

I've seen pictures of General Lee Mustangs, Capri's, even a Peterbuilt
tractor and a golf cart painted to look like a General Lee.

Mine's authentic in the respect that it was built by General Lee Enterprises
in 1981 and has the documentation, including copy of previous title. Gary
Bixby, the General Lee stunt driver in the TV series, helped fund this
company because by then they were running out of '69 Chargers. General Lee
Enterprises built 8-11 cars (the number varies, depending on who you talk
to) and Warner Bros. used some of them for close up shots during filming and
some for TV and magazine ads and cast personal appearances. Mine is number
3 of these cars. Three were built with black interiors because the people
photographed better against the black background according to historical
accounts. If you watch the reruns of the show it is comical to see that in
a couple of episodes Bo and Luke will be driving a General Lee with a tan
interior, jump over a river or whatever, then skid into town in front of the
Boar's Nest restaurant in a General Lee with a black interior. The show
producers never worried about that kind of stuff.

For a while Warner Bros. was actively pursuing legal action against the
owners of clones that were selling or renting their cars and advertising
them to be "real". They still own the copyrights to the "General Lee" car
logo and paint scheme. Apparently they are not as interested anymore since
becoming Time Warner and then AOL Time Warner. The goofy movie that came out
last year rekindled General Lee interest and it remains the most
recognizable TV car.
There are rumors of another movie to be filmed and released in the 2008 time
frame.

And that's about all I know about the history of the General Lee. I took
mine out for it's monthly summer exercise today and I get a big kick out of
people's reaction. They hoot, "Hee-Haw", beep their horns and take pictures
with their cell phone cameras whenever I am at a stop light or at the gas
station. It's fun to watch others smile, laugh, be happy and otherwise
enjoy seeing the car.

Eisboch