This ’69 Charger was built sparing no expense. It’s got a 738HP INDY Legend HEMI, a 4-speed, roll cage, custom interior, and even a nitrous system. Listening to the HEMI fire up in the video alone will make you feel better about your day. The car is available here on Craiglist for just a mere $113,000, and should you purchase it you too could join the brigade of Charger owners. With the quality of the car established we must now ask, should this Charger really be called a ‘General?”
We’ll be the first ones to admit that orange ’69 Chargers with Turbine wheel just plain look righteous. Actually, the Coke bottle Chargers in general look completely at home wearing turbine wheels regardless of color. That being said though, when people go the the next step of painting their ’69 Charger orange, adding the Turbine wheels, and throwing the hallowed ’01’ on the side and Dixie flag on the roof a lot is expected.
For many, the General Lee is a car that has a special place in their heart as being “right” only one way, and for us that usually means a General that appears as close as possible to how it looked on the Dukes of Hazzard TV show.
The General on TV had a wide push bar on the front in addition to the orange paint, the afore mentioned Turbine wheels, ’01 numbering on the doors, and Dixie flag on the roof. It also had a non-factory pale tan interior, a 3-point roll bar, and a CB used for some serious shuck’n and jiv’n.
(Note: we do realize that the General actually did look slightly different based on which season of the show it was in, and the car in the first episode was different looking than the one in the last episode. Cut us some slack. We’re trying to defend a childhood hero, here.)
The General Lee is perhaps the most famous and recognizable car in the world, and changing the formula of it is a whole lot like when someone decided to make New Coke. To Dukes fans world wide, anything that looks different just really isn’t a General but a modified Charger wearing familiar clothes. We’d have to agree and say that this car, while well built and obviously a speed demon, is no General. Close but no cigar.