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The Very First 'General Lee' Charger Hits The Auction Block

Kurt Ernst

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2,614 views Dec 28, 2011

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Perhaps the most-recognized car to ever grace the small screen will be headed to the auction block at next month’s Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.

We’re talking about the General Lee, a 1969 Dodge Charger made famous in the television series The Dukes of Hazard.

And we’re talking about the very first General Lee, not one of the 300-plus replicas built and destroyed during the filming of the TV show.

Others used in filming have fetched up to $450,000 at auction, while one sold by series star John Schneider was the subject of a bogus eBay bid of $9,900,500.

As Inside Line explains, the car up for grabs (with no reserve) in Scottsdale is the car seen jumping Roscoe’s Dodge Monaco police cruiser in the opening scenes of each episode. Its moment in the spotlight was brief, since Dodge Chargers were never designed to survive 82-foot jumps.

Following filming, the wrecked car was used for background (wearing camo paint) in a later episode, then shipped off to a Georgia scrapyard where it sat until 2001. Restored to pre-jump condition by current owner Marvin Murphy, the car has recently been on display at the duPont Registry’s Florida museum.

It’s impossible to say what the original General Lee will sell for, but less significant cars used in filming have sold for as much as $450,000. Still, that was in the pre-global-meltdown economy, so it’s hard to predict if this car will command a higher price.

It’s the great-great grandfather of every General Lee that followed, and that prestige has to be worth something.