The General Lee vs. The Pretty Girl

Behind the orange paint and Confederate flag roof was a genuine 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, one of roughly 300 identical cars destroyed making a single television show. The hero cars carried a 375-horsepower 440 Magnum V8 backed by a four-speed manual, while lesser 318s and 383s handled routine driving scenes. Stunt drivers saved the 440-powered cars for one job only: the jumps.

Somewhere around 300 identical orange Dodge Chargers met a violent end so that one fictional car could look immortal on screen. The real vehicle behind the legend was a 1969 Charger R/T, built the same year Dodge redesigned the model with a more aggressive, curvier face than anything that came before it. Under the hood of the hero cars sat a 440 cubic inch Magnum V8 rated at 375 horsepower, backed by a four-speed manual feeding a Dana rear end. Stunt coordinators didn’t treat every car the same, though; some got smaller 318s and 383s for routine driving shots, while a select few 440-powered cars were held back for the biggest, longest jumps. What made this particular Charger survive when hundreds of its siblings didn’t is a story that starts long before it ever wore a number on its door.

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Built for the Biggest Jumps

Production estimates suggest more than 300 Chargers were used and ultimately destroyed over the course of the show’s run, a staggering number for a single television series. Not every ‘General Lee’ was built the same way. Engines ranged from a workhorse 318 up through a 383 for most day-to-day driving scenes, with the coveted 440 reserved for stunt drivers who requested it specifically for the show’s signature jumps. The higher and longer the jump, the more likely the crew reached for a 440-powered car, trusting the extra torque and stronger chassis prep to survive the landing.

The Muscle Underneath the Orange Paint

The 440 Magnum V8 in the hero cars produced 375 horsepower and 482 lb-ft of torque, routed through a four-speed manual transmission to a heavy-duty Dana rear end. Beyond the factory R/T hardware, the show’s cars were further modified with a racing carburetor, upgraded suspension components, custom wheels and tires, and a glasspack muffler that gave the car its distinctive, throaty exhaust note. Painted bright orange with a Confederate flag across the roof and the number ’01’ on each door, the car became instantly recognizable, but underneath the paint it was still a genuine, big-block Mopar muscle car.

Real 1969 Charger R/T survivors from the show are exceedingly rare today, and the handful that have surfaced at auction or restoration shops carry a premium most muscle car buyers can only dream about.

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