CGLFC: Mark, tell us about your earliest memories of DOH from your childhood?  Well I remember watching it with my mom when she was alive and seeing my dad come home from work everyday while I was watching it playing with the dukes toys in the floor. I think I played with the 1/64 scale General more than any other kid on my street!
CGLFC: What was your biggest motivator for owning a General Lee? I have wanted a General since I could remember thinking about driving. I can remember going to car shows and the first car I tried to find was a 69 charger or a general lee.
CGLFC: You got the car from Gary Baxley. For the people that don’t know who Gary Baxley is - what is his connection with Dukes? Gary was a stuntman on the Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) and did a lot of the jumps in Rosco’s car. He also did a lot of jumping from car to car. Gary was a pleasure to meet and I look forward to meeting him again at Dukesfest. Its great hearing some of the stories he has! (watch season 5 bonus material)
Mark Osborne has one cool Lee with a very colorful history. Everyone's favorite 80s B-movie "Gladiator" (we've never heard of it either) used several ex-WB GLs for on-screen race cars. This one ended up a rusted heap in a California junkyard. Thanks to the Smith Brothers it is on the road again today.
 
 
 
 
 
CGLFC: A lot of people worked with Gary to bring the car together - we were surprised to hear it left his hands so soon. Why he sold his car is really his business - but I do know that his son was trying to drive the car a lot and with no heat, no air conditioning and gas getting really expensive in California he wanted to drive something more economical and didn't want the GL to simply sit outside.

CGLFC: How did you hear about Gary Baxley’s General Lee? I actually looked for a General for years and each one I looked at was not in very good shape or just not what I was looking for in a General. I always watched eBay and when it popped up I tried to contact Gary Baxley though eBay. It wasn’t easy, as he didn’t want to talk to everyone with a question. But when he learned I was seriously interested we talked for at least an hour and sometimes two times a day until I bought it.

CGLFC: Do you think this car was just used for a jump or used for some up close shots too? I am pretty sure it was used for some up close shots due to the fact they changed the car from a column shift to a floor shift and they didn’t usually do this unless they were planning some interior shots. The Smith Brothers believe the car was used often due to the work they did on the interior and the car was not heavily ramped. Orange paint was found on both sides of Bondo meaning it was repaired on the set of "Dukes".
CGLFC: Did you consider building a replica - or was owning a real GL from the series your only interest? I was going to build a replica if I could ever find the right car and build it really nice. When I saw Gary’s for sale and he told me the history I knew it was the car I wanted and the fact that it was an a original from the series was a dream come true… A big dream come true!
CGLFC: Most fans have heard of the finding of two screen-used GLs leftover from the filming of the movie Gladiator - what more can you add to the story?  Are there more out there? Several people knew these cars were out there - but knew it would take a lot of work and money to bright them back to life. Gary Baxley wanted a real General Lee for his son and these two were the only ones they (Smith Brothers) knew of that could be bought. When the Smith Brothers bought them there were several people planning on buying them and they were the first to show up with the money. I know the Smith Brothers have the other sister car (or brother car) to this one and that’s the only other car I know about from the movie "Gladiator".
CGLFC: Can you tell us some specifics about the car to verify its original use as a General Lee? The first thing was the orange paint under the blue yellow and black. They (Smith Brothers) matched the color and found it was General Lee orange. They found where the push bar had been welded to the frame and one of the original push bars found in California lined up perfect with what was left on the car. The front bumper had weld marks on it where they had welded the push bar to the front bumper. They also removed the large roll bar they used in “The Gladiator” and found the small holes in the floor where the "Dukes" roll bar was bolted in. They took an original roll bar from the series they had and it lined up perfect with the holes in the floor of this car. They found tan overspray all over the dash and steering column in the car and there is still original tan over spray on the air controls today.
 
 
Tell Tale Signs of a WB GL
Holding a AJ Thrasher push bar up to the frame lined up perfectly with the original remnants of a push bar from days gone by. Hmmmm....what show called for an orange Charger with a front push bar? Anyone?
CGLFC: Do you think your car ever left the ground? The Smith Brothers said there was lots of damage to the wheel wells of the car and there were lots of parts bent. They know the car left the ground several times and was more than likely used on some smaller 4 foot jumps!
CGLFC: As we understand it, at this point in time, there is no way of knowing what number GL this was in the series - and unfortunately there is no Warner Brothers paperwork.  How did this real GL escape WB and make it into the hands of a fan?    Do you for see any chance of Warner Brothers verification in the future? Well I think that it was just moved to a movie lot after the dukes was over and then used for "The Gladiator". Once it was painted black it was forgot about until now. Most people thought the car was too far gone to bring back to life.
CGLFC: Do you for see any chance of a Warner Brothers verification in the future? No I don’t and I am not trying to get it. It took a whole lot of work and time for Wayne Wooten to get the original 17 and the chance of Warner Brothers giving any verification in about .01% in my opinion. I hope to get verification from other places that built these lees and might have the vin numbers in their log book.
CGLFC: What is unique about the power plant in your GL? The 440 in my car was used in the John Schneider’s car in the last reunion show “Dukes in Hollywood”! John had put the motor for sale on his web site and had no takers so it was just sitting in his Garage. When he heard Gary Baxley had found a real General Lee and was building it for his son, John asked if they had a motor for the car . The Smith Brothers said "no they planned on building one" and John generously donated his motor for the build. John was nice enough to sign a letter of authenticity for me and I plan on thanking him when I meet him in person.
CGLFC: Who built the motor in the car? Rich Sephton, one of the original car builders, from the series built the motor and put several original General Lee parts that he had kept over the years on the motor. Rich built this general motor just like the ones he built on the shows for a race day event!
CGLFC: Has this car been in anything besides the series related to the dukes? Actually they used this car on the "Dukes" season 5 DVD set (disc 8). They put bonus material with the stunt men and Gary Baxley brought his car to the interview set. You can see the car all during the interviews with all the stuntmen.
CGLFC: Tell us some specifics on the car like color and interior color?  The Smith Brothers did the paint on the car. Jamey Smith told me the color was Warner Brothers bright orange that was custom made for Warner Brothers. They have color matched several of the original cars and use this color today on all the Generals they build. The interior was a duplicate order of Scott Romine's and led to what is known as the General Lee kit.  www.legendaryautointeriors.com The only change I plan on making to the car is installing a hidden cd player and putting some speakers in the car without damaging anything. There is just something about driving on a country back road listening to “Just a good ol boys……”