The 'Dukes of Hazzard' Car With Confederate Flag Will Be Protected And Displayed

"The Dukes of Hazzard" has been a popular and profitable series in the '80s. Despite the incoherent protest to take down confederate symbols that the show is known for, items from the series are highly sought after. It is no surprise that a Midwest auto museum has announced that the Duke boys' signature car will stay put in their property.

Since 2005, the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Ill., has been home to the last surviving General Lee from the stunt-heavy show’s first season, which premiered on CBS in 1979. As explained on the museum’s website, this 1969 Dodge Charger is one of six that the production used on location in Georgia — the series relocated to California for the rest of its seven-season run, where new cars were built and wrecked — and the only one that survives in its original form.

And that original form includes the controversial Confederate battle flag that’s emblazoned on the roof, a symbol that largely went unquestioned during the show’s heyday, but today is part of a larger conversation about the presence of racist imagery in American popular culture.

Speaking with the northern Illinois newspaper the Northwest Herald, museum director Brian Grams argues that a car museum is a suitable place to display a piece of automobile — and television — history. "We feel the car is part of history, and people love it. We've got people of all races and nationalities that remember the TV show and aren't offended by it whatsoever. It’s a piece of history and it’s in a museum."

The General Lee is featured alongside the museum’s extensive collection of cars from movies and television series, including the Tumbler from Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy; the 1957 Plymouth Fury from "Christine"; and a 1976 Ferrari Daytona Spyder from another era-defining '80s series, "Miami Vice".

Notwithstanding the violent rhetoric of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, Grams claims that he's been contacted by individuals who are supportive of his decision to leave the General Lee in place.

"Several people have reached out with positive comments about us leaving it on display," he told the Northwest Herald, adding that those voices have been "complimenting us for leaving it there and not having a knee-jerk reaction to remove it like a lot of places are." As the story circulated online, some took to Twitter to echo the same compliments.

The museum has been closed to the public since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.