JP’s A to Z Challenge – C is for Charger

And not just any Charger. Yes, any vintage Dodge Charger is worth a photo, but here is a version that once threatened to wipe out the Charger’s identity as its own car.

The Dodge Charger was introduced in 1966, but sold only moderately until the 1968 version came along. The 1968-70 Charger has become a classic design, and they today they command tremendous sums of money whenever they are sold.

But many of us remember a time in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when a campy television show called The Dukes of Hazard hit the airwaves. The “Duke boys” were good-hearted southern rascals who got both into and out of trouble with their orange Dodge Charger, which they called “The General Lee”. Gobs of old Chargers was destroyed in the making of that show, which ran through stunt versions one after another as they were forced to make jumps and crash landings far in excess of their design limits.

In the 1980’s and 90’s, it seemed that every old Charger I saw had been General Leeified. At the time I hated that such noble cars were coopted by the fame of the television car. But now I am trying to remember the last time I saw a Charger done up as The General. Part of it is that things with Confederate flags on them have been moved into the category of not-cool. And the rest is that Chargers became too valuable and appreciated on their own to be dressed in the car equivalent of stupid costumes. Which makes my semi-recent find of this 1969 version kind of amazing.

Photos by the author, taken October 21, 2017 in Lawrence, Indiana.

26 thoughts on “JP’s A to Z Challenge – C is for Charger”

  1. I’ve seen a couple of the new ones dressed up as the General Lee. I appreciated the attempt, but it just didn’t have the same je ne sais quoi.

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  2. As far as I’m concerned, the 1968 Black on Black, Charger R/T in Bullitt is the “dream”! Even when the movie first came out, and people were lusting after that Shelby, I was licking my lips over that Charger! I only recently found out that the Charger R/T of that year was never offered in black, so the stunt cars were all painted custom black for the movie. Never a fan of the Dukes of Hazard, so never watched it, but shuddered at the abuse of that confederate flag paint job and that “hot” orange, altho if I’m not mistaken, Pontiac might have offered a 60’s era GTO in that orange, or a “near” color as well. In high school, I knew a guy who’s family had the late 60’s Challenger, so I got to do some crusing in that. Charger got the rep, but we preferred the Challenger R/T because they were all two doors, so a little less “family” oriented.

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    • I’m with you on the Bullitt thing. The guy in the black glasses driving the Charger was an actual stunt driver named Bill Hickman. I read that the Charger had to keep slowing down because it was so much faster than the Mustang.

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      • Love that story! In college, I also had a gal pal that came from a very well to do family, and Daddy had bought her a 70’s Charger R/T in Plum Crazy, with a black vinyl top. Must have been a few years old when I met her. Never a fan of the vinyl top, but that purple was a stunner back then.

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    • I have never been much of a fan of orange cars in general, so I agree with you. I would have to think about what color these look best in, but that blue would be in the running.

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  4. My brother owned a dark-green olive Charger in the early 2000’s, which I thought was cool (and looked cool) even if the car wasn’t my own cup of tea. Now he drives a Tesla. Talk about a change of mindset (and fuel consumption), huh?

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  6. I loved the Dukes of Hazzard and the General Lee. If I ever could afford to get a Dodge Charger, new or old…I probably wouldn’t and would get something more practical but if I could I would do it somewhat like the General but I would have to haver doors that open and I would probably drop the flag from the top. Or I might do this:

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  8. At least one General Lee tribute car shows up at the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals every year. Which makes me appreciate stock Chargers even more!

    Interestingly, after a few years, the producers started using disguised AMC Ambassador hardtop coupes from that same vintage for the show.

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  9. Would you believe I saw a Charger (an R/T, no less) done in General Lee garb earlier this week? While I took no pictures, it was a static display for a store in Branson, Missouri. It was looking a bit rough around the edges.

    Years ago, when in elementary school, some people who lived nearby had a cottage industry repainting Chargers. While I have no clue where they went, their yard was full of ’68 to ’70 Chargers, all awaiting their day with the orange paint gun.

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    • I completely believe that someone could have made a living by dressing up Chargers as General Lee clones – I remember when you could buy a decent Charger for under $1000, and in your area most of them weren’t very rusty. I wish I would have been smart enough to have bought one of them when they were just cheap used cars – and cheap used Mopars, which were cheaper than other cheap used cars at the time.

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  10. Chargers are cool-looking cars- this one especially in bright orange with the decals on it. I have seen them when I wander down to the Cruisin’ Downriver event every June. I have never seen the show “The Dukes of Hazzard” so I was not familiar with the General Lee. But I have seen pictures or videos of the stunt car and the two male stars along with the leggy female who wears Daisy Dukes. I’m thinking they might have visited Autorama in Detroit so I saw the ads for the event.

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    • I suspect the character of Daisy Duke (the boys’ cousin) was the reason for calling that article of clothing “Daisy Dukes”. I didn’t watch the show much, I think I was in college when it started and I wasn’t watching much TV then. But I knew it was very popular.

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      • I didn’t realize the character was Daisy Duke, not what she was wearing … I learned something tonight. 🙂 I missed a lot of TV shows in college. Too busy with school and there were no VCRs back then – you watched it live or not at all.

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