Tuesday, October 14, 2014

2014 Hazzard Run brings The Dukes of Hazzard to life

Yee haw! As a car chase-loving boy growing up in the ‘80s, The Dukes of Hazzard was one of the greatest TV shows in the history of the world. I still watch the show today with my own son, and it still brings back some nice memories. And I’m not alone. There are still die-hard Dukes fanatics out there. Some are even more into it than me, including the ones participating in the Hazzard Run over the weekend. These guys and gals gathered behind Cooter’s Place in Nashville with their very own General Lees and Hazzard Sheriff’s cars, and caravanned down to Cooter’s Place in Gatlinburg. There. They met up with actual cast members from the show. It seemed like a good time to me, so we got up early Saturday morning to see them off.

The big draw in a Dukes of Hazzard run is the General Lee, of course. It was one of the main stars of the show—often even more popular than the actors. In the show it was a 1969 Dodge Charger. It could do amazing stunts like drive on two wheels or jump over a barn in a high-speed chase. The cars represented at the Hazzard Run were in various conditions and states of authenticity. But every one of them was fun to look at, and you could see how even something as standardized as these still had the owners’ personal touches. Some even had cast signatures on them, indicating that this isn’t the first time they participated in something like this.

What’s up with this white General Lee? Well, as I am a proper Dukes fan, I can tell you this without even looking it up. In the second season, there was an episode called “Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough.” Bo and Luke stumble upon the NASCAR star at a little racetrack testing out a new turbocharger design in, you guessed it, a white version of the General Lee. Later in the episode, the white one gets painted like the real General Lee, and another General Lee shows up to confuse everybody, and another hour of car chase gold hit the airwaves. I’m telling you, they just don’t make TV shows like this anymore.

Of course, the General Lee wouldn’t have much to do if it didn’t have a worthy opponent. So, most of the time, they were running away from the Hazzard County sheriff.  Amazingly, they were able to keep up with the General Lee in a car chase, although they rarely got the Duke boys to stop. Those guys typically drove Dodge Monacos and Plymouth Furys like the one in the picture.  They were both represented at the Hazzard Run. You hardly ever see these cars anymore, but there was a time when they were as common as used Crown Victorias. Hopefully no one jumped one of these into a creek while traveling to Gatlinburg like they used to do on the show.

On the show, the neighboring county was Chickasaw, and occasionally the chase wound up over there. Sheriff Little of Chickasaw was tougher and meaner than Rosco and Enos in Hazzard, and his police car had green fenders. Sure enough, a Chickasaw police car showed up at the Hazzard Run, and sitting in the passenger seat was none other than Don Pedro Colley, the actor who actually played Sheriff Little in the TV show. He was way nicer than the way he acted on the show, and didn’t even attempt to rip the fender off his police car in a fit of rage.

The Hazzard Run looked like lots of fun for everyone involved. I had fun visiting, and I didn’t even go on the actual cruise. I don’t know if I’m going to build my own General Lee, but I can see why you’d want one. Check out all the pictures in the slideshow below, or click this link for a nicer version.

Also, for you Smokey and the Bandit fans, here’s a story about a similar event known as the Bandit Run.

4 comments:

  1. Regrettably, I see no accurate replica Daisy Dukes...

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    1. True. But if I had followed the caravan all the way to Gatlinburg, Catherine Bach was actually there signing autographs!

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  2. Another great article, Craig. Did you ever complete the sale of those 250 GM automobiles? Did they go to an auction or how were they sold........RogerG

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    1. We're selling 500-800 GM cars a week out of this auction!

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