A few could be Duke boys ran out of luck — and road — once they wrecked their “General Lee” muscle automotive in Missouri on Sunday.
The pair ran off of Highway 165 in Hollister, outside Branson, on Sunday afternoon, seriously damaging the vehicle.
Photos posted by the Western Taney County Fire Protection District show the long-lasting orange Dodge Charger on a grassy roadside embankment.
Its front end crumpled in from hitting a tree.
In response to authorities, the occupants, whose names weren’t released, were evaluated on the scene and brought to a hospital, but only suffered minor injuries.
But while early reports identified the automotive as certainly one of the handfuls used through the making of either the “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show or the 2005 film based on it, a Western Taney County Fire Protection District spokeswoman told to Fox News Digital that it was only a custom-built replica.
A part of the confusion stemmed from the undeniable fact that it had been autographed by solid members, however the owner of the automotive, who was not present through the accident, reached out to the agency to substantiate that it was not a screen-used vehicle. One giveaway was that its doors weren’t welded shut just like the cars on the show.
It did have all of the signature features of the classic, nonetheless, including a front push bar, the number 01 on the doors and the controversial Confederate battle flag still painted on the roof.
Many other copies and several other of the remaining authentic cars have had their flags covered or removed lately.
Pro golfer Bubba Watson purchased the “General Lee” that was used to hop over a police automotive within the show’s opening credits on the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, Arizona, auction in 2012 for $121,000 and in 2015 said on Twitter that he was going to cover the flag.
“All men ARE created equal, I feel that so I will probably be painting the American flag over the roof of the General Lee #USA,” Watson wrote.
“Obviously, I don’t stand for the Confederate flag,” he also on the time. “The Confederate flag was not used (within the show) for what people see it as today, in order that’s sad. But NASCAR was built on moonshining, so the show was built on moonshining. I assumed it was fun. I didn’t buy the automotive to get publicity; I purchased it because I like it.”
Nevertheless, the automotive has not been seen in public since and Bo Duke actor John Schneider told Fox and Friends in 2019 that he doesn’t consider Watson ever followed through on the promise.
“I’ve heard that he took the flag off, but, truthfully, I don’t have any reason to consider that that’s true,” said Schneider, who was promoting his film “Christmas Cars” that featured a General Lee replica with the flag.
“No, I don’t think that he would try this, I actually haven’t done that and I’m from Recent York.”
The next yr, Watson told Golfweek he was searching for a museum to donate the automotive to.
As for the Dukes of Hollister, Police Chief Preston Schmidt told the Springfield News-Leadeer on Monday that “it was determined the driving force of the vehicle was traveling too fast for the road conditions and lost control of the vehicle he was operating,” and that no charges had been filed.
