Page 30 - June 2023 Issue.indd

song; I bought one new without even test driving it and it
turned out to be an excellent investment, lasting to date almost
200,000 miles with no mechanical issues whatsoever. Due to
overwhelming demand for the rare and durable orange cars,
Dodge ended up marketing a 2014 version as well. I will keep
mine to straighten curves and fl atten hills forever, or at least
until the mountain gets me.
Just like Smokey and the Bandit, I attempted to retrace the
steps of Dukes of Hazzard or at least locate their original albeit
scripted stomping grounds. If you recall the opening credits, for
example, they conclude with the General Lee going airborne;

that was filmed at a satellite campus of Emory University in
Classic Cars • Vintage Cars • Barn Finds Oxford, Georgia. Been there, done that. I have taken so many
pictures at places like the old Kent Narrows Bridge, the draw-
(Especially Mustangs, Shelbys, and Convertibles) bridge in downtown Cambridge, the rickety one-lane ferry
bridge at Bestpitch in the swamps of southern Dorchester, and
Restored & Unrestored Finders the Hunting Creek bridge near Choptank posed like I too am
contemplating a jump as Waylon cuts to commercial that the
Running or Not Fee “Dukes of Chazzard” has its own album on my social media.
ANY CONDITION I could go on but I will leave it up to you to geek out to your
Paid own fandom-fueled finds and fanciful imaginations.

¡“Žš—­ Ž¡©“ŒŽ $$$ CASH PAID Does it pay to be a Dukes enthusiast? Not really, but the benefi ts
are okay. I once won a contest for a free meal at a barbecue
restaurant for showing up in costume with a Daisy Duke
410-320-7522 impersonator in my orange Dodge, so there’s that. Before that
glorious victory, however, we have to go back to 2005. When
Any pictures can be emailed the Dukes of Hazzard movie starring Johnny Knoxville, Seann
to lightbd@comcast.net William Scott, Willie Nelson, Lynda Carter, and, dramatic
pause, BURT REYNOLDS opened that August, I was more than
psyched. Next to Smokey and the Bandit, Super Troopers from

2001 is my second favorite film; the comedy troupe that wrote
and starred in it, Broken Lizard, did the honors for this snarky
send-up. Knowing that I was acknowledged locally as kind of
a superfan, the newspaper editor at the time did a story on my
Dukes collection, travels, and memories, not to mention asking
me to submit a scholarly review of the Hollywood release for
publication. I was more than happy to oblige, as seeing it in
print concluded a fondly remembered week that had actually
started with a photo shoot inside a General Lee in Gatlinburg;
the best picture from that day is included with this article and
also displayed along with the aforementioned media coverage
at another fan’s tribute Boar’s Nest-replica museum outside
Rougemont, North Carolina. See...I am not the only one like
this, I swear (though my wife’s maiden name is a direct refer-
ence to the show, so maybe I am just a bit more obsessed than
most aft er all).
Photo: Chad Dean with Sonny "Enos" Shroyer
So what lessons can Caroline Countians learn from this Dukes
of Hazzard thinkpiece? If nothing else, there’s something to be
moving forward. In 2008, that company re-released their
version of a hotrod -- its own Corvette or Mustang, if you will. said for good clean innocent rural American fun, a genre the
Just as Yellowstone has proven to be an excellent if unintended mainstream national culture regretfully is largely devoid of
commercial for black Ram pick-up trucks, today you will see today. No matter. We make our way the only way we know how,
a plethora of Challengers in all colors no matter what part of especially in the county with the most dirt roads in the entire
the country you are traversing. In late 2011, Dodge dealerships state of Maryland. Perhaps we would do well to consciously
began selling 2012 Challengers with “header orange” paint; promote our own version of the Hazzard we have here, however
less than 1,000 were produced. I could not resist that siren you wish to interpret and apply that suggestion.

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