10 Things You Didn't Know About The Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee

For its famous jump – the one in the opening credits – the 1969 Dodge Charger "General Lee" had several hundred pounds of cement in its trunk. Earlier jumps had gone badly because the Charger was too front-heavy.

The jump covered 82 feet and hit a peak of 16 feet.

The Dukes of Hazzard ran 147 episodes over 7 seasons and a large number of 1969 Chargers were destroyed in filming. Some sources place the figure at over 300.

Some people mistakenly think the show was based on Dirty Mary Crazy Larry which also featured a 1969 Charger. However, the show was based on Moonrunners, a 1975 throwaway which was based upon the "true" moonshining exploits of two brothers, their sexy cousin, and even Waylon Jennings as "Balladeer."

At least once, a Charger was wrecked by accident due to an actor losing control of the car. Caught on film, the accident was worked into the plot and made the final cut.

In the last years of the show, producers found they had created a shortage of 1969 Dodge Chargers. They used AMC Ambassadors, painted them orange and used fancy camera angles and editing techniques to try and hide the switch.

In an attempt to combat the shortage of Chargers they had caused, producers on the show were said to have placed notes on the windshields of 1969 Chargers in parking lots, asking owners if they wanted to sell them.

When the population of Chargers and Ambassadors got to a critical stage, the producers of the show went so far as to have a special effects company shoot some of the jumps using miniatures.

When production ended, 17 General Lees – in various stages of disrepair – survived.

Bubba Watson, who now owns "Lee 1", said he would paint over the car's Confederate Flag roof and replace it with an American Flag, much to the consternation of pretty much everyone on the internet.