General Lee Restoration Reference

Here, you will hopefully find everything you will want to know about building an accurate replica... as far as using correct parts, colors, etc.  I plan to post not only info on General Lees, but I also want to post info on the Police Cars, Daisy's Jeep, Cooter's Tow Truck, etc.  Since this will be a long list of parts and accessories, this page will be an ongoing update as time allows.

General Lee Specifics:

- Color - First things first... the number one question that has been asked for many, MANY years... "What is the correct color that was used on the General Lee?"  To answer the question in a nutshell... it is "Orange".  There were many shades of Orange used throughout the TV Series, the Reunion Movies, and the 2005/07 Movies.  One thing to keep in mind, Orange is a very tricky color on film.  You can photograph or film a car in one setting, then change the lighting, and the it will look like a totally different color.  Often times, the crew would run low on their paint supply... order more Orange paint, and mix it with whatever they had left.  If there were two different shades of Orange, then by mixing the mis-matched colors, they just made a new color.  There really is no way to tell how many different shades of Orange were used.

The cars used in Georgia were 1975 GM Corvette Flame Red (GM code 70).  It has been rumored that the first three cars were actually Chrysler Hemi Orange... and then they were repainted Corvette Flame Red as repairs were made.  The fault that I find in this... "LEE 1" was used in the first episode, jumped, and then parted out and repurposed as the "Wrecked Richard Petty Car" in the episode "Repo Men".  The car was rescued in 2000 and then restored in 2006.  The roof was cut off and replaced.  The current owner of the roof wet-sanded the green paint back to reveal the original Orange paint, Flag, and GENERAL LEE text.  He did a color match and it was a dead on match to 1975 Corvette Flame Red.  So that kind of debunks the story of the first three cars being Hemi Orange.

Speaking of Chrysler Hemi Orange (code V2), yes... it was eventually used as well.  Throughout the remainder of the TV Series, just about every other shade of Orange was used.  There are even pictures of General Lees lined up in a row, and you can see the differences in color.  In the California episodes, Hemi Orange was occasionally used along with many other shades.  As a mater of fact, when 17 of the surviving General Lees were sold off in 1991, they went into the hands of fans.  Some of the owners have scanned the color of their car, to see what they came up with.  Some of the cars were GM Hugger Orange (code 72)... some were 1970 AMC Big Bad Orange (code P3), as well as Hemi Orange.  For whatever reason, Corvette Flame Red was eventually no longer used and the crews went with the lighter shades of Orange.  

  If you were building a Georgia or early California car, I would go with Corvette Flame Red.  If you were building a mid-to-late California car, I would go with one of the other shades of Orange.

For the 1997 and 2000 Reunion movie cars, I have been given a mixing code that was scanned of a chunk of Bondo that fell of the 2000 Reunion jump car... which is the same car that I own.  There are still many large sections of the original Reunion paint on the car, I just have not had a chance to scan the color myself.  When I do, I will make sure to update it here.

For the 2005 and 2007 Movie General Lees, the color that was used on the Post-Cooter General Lee was 1970 AMC Big Bad Orange (code P3).  The Pre-Cooter cars were painted with a dull orange paint and then the crew went through many steps of applying many different shades of diluted down paint, stains, etc. to "dirty up" the cars.  It would be hard to get a true color code of the Orange since all of the surviving panels have had the movie-magic application applied.  

CB Antennas:  
Seasons 1 - 4 - Radio Shack 21-908a Teardrop Base Antenna 

Seasons 3 & 4 (Occasional Use) - Radio Shack 21-940a Round Magnetic Base Antenna

Late California TV Series - Avanti Racer Square Base Antenna

1997 & 2000 TV Reunion Movies - Universal Chrome AM/FM Radio Antenna

2005 & 2007 Movies - Cobra HG A1500 Round Magnetic Base

CB Radios:

TV Series: Seasons 1-3 - Cobra 78x 40 Channel

TV Series: Seasons 3-7 - Sharp 40 Channel CB-2460

1997 & 2000 TV Reunion Movies - None Seen

2005 & 2007 Movies - Cobra 29 WX NW ST 40 Channel

Wheels:

- American Racing "Vector" Wheel - 

1978-1985 TV Series -  14 X 7 was the most common size used throughout the production... but 15 X 7 and 15 X 8.5 were occasionally used as well.

1997 & 2000 Reunion Movies - Only 14 X 7 was used.

2005 & 2007 Movies - Only 15 X 7 wheels were used on the "Post-Cooter" cars... 15 X 7 Chrysler "Cop Car" wheels were used on the "Pre- Cooter" cars.  

2014 Auto Trader Commercial - 15 X 7 Re-released "Vector" wheels were used on the cars.

- Chrysler 15 X 7 "Cop Car" Wheels

2005 "Pre-Cooter" General Lees only

Tires:
- 1978 Georgia General Lees -  Summit brand tires were used on all of the Georgia General Lee's.

- 1979-1985 General Lees - Just about every brand and size that was available at the times was used on the cars.  Some tires that can be seen on screen were Lee "Manhandler", Winston "Winner GT", BF Goodrich "Radial T/A".

- 1997 & 2000 TV Reunions - Centennial "Interceptor Radial 60" 245/60/R14 tires were used on all of the cars.

- 2005 & 2007 Movies - BF Goodrich "Radial T/A" 235/60R15 tires were used on all of the cars.

- 2014 Auto Trader Commercial - General Grabber AT2 225/70R15 on Stunt Cars / Duro DP3000 225/70R15 on Hero   Cars