Like many kids of the late ’70s and early ’80s, Gary Schneider sat on his living room floor watching The Dukes of Hazzard every week. He grew up dreaming one day he would be behind the wheel of the Duke boy’s famed 1969 Dodge Charger: General Lee. He dreamed of running from Sheriff Rosco through the countryside of Georgia and jumping Lee into the air while honking the Dixie horn.

While living in Chicagoland, Schneider’s dream came true in 1997; on his way home from work he spotted a 1969 Dodge Charger for sale in a parking lot. It wasn’t listed for sale, but for the right price Schneider brought it home on New Year’s Eve. He began to work on his new toy and transformed his Charger into a General Lee clone, complete with a 440, a 727 torqueflite – and of course, the Dixie horn.

Not only did Schneider’s Charger look like Lee, he drove it look lee as well. He would perform high speed 180s in empty parking lots and donuts in the dirt.

Fast forward to 2000 one morning while Schneider was checking his email, he received one with exciting news. Tom Wopat’s (Luke Duke) assistant found his website and asked if he would be interested in bringing his Lee to the Dukes of Hazzard Reunion tour in Michigan.

Gary Schneider of course brought his Lee but also got to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime event. John Schneider (Bo Duke) and Wopat arrived at the show driving Gary’s Lee while he filmed in the back seat.

He spent the next 11 years living his childhood dream. He frequently took Lee to shows and still drove as if Rosco was chasing him. Everywhere he went people asked him to honk the horn or if they could take a picture by the car. Once he was even paid $200 to take General Lee to a birthday party.

Things were great until October, 2011, when tragedy struck. While he and his wife were out of town their house caught on fire. A sump pump overheated and caught on fire, which caused it to spread through the entire house. Their entire upstairs was destroyed and General Lee was trapped in the garage.

General Lee after the fire.

Luckily, the General was strong and remained intact despite being caught in the fire. However, he didn’t escape without a scratch as his body was charred and his 440 was clogged with ash. But the famous “01” still remained on the side and he was more than salvageable. 

General Lee post fire restoration begins.

General Lee sat in a storage unit, until June 2012. It would not be until November when Schneider would finally begin his long restoration. As of October 1, 2013, the damaged sheet metal has been repaired, the car was stripped and ready for paint. Stay Tuned for next season because General Lee will ride again!

You can follow the progress on Gary’s web site. Have you ever lost one of your prized possessions to a house fire? Did you rebuild? Let us know in the comments section below.