KITT vs. the General Lee

When I was a kid the coolest car in the world was the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard. The fiery orange 1969 Dodge Charger helped the Duke boys jump over a myriad of collapsed Hazzard County bridges as they were makin' their way, the only way they knew how. Which, as we know, was just a little bit more than the law would allow. I wanted that car.

Just a few years later came a new challenger to the throne, with a young(ish) David Hasselhoff driving a black Trans Am called KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand). It was sleek, shiny and oh, so ‘80s. Now I wanted that car – my tastes were so fickle.

Now, for around $700,000 or so I could own them both. A version of KITT is up for sale in California for a mere $149,995. Sadly, as my life isn’t anything at all like a TV show as I expected when I was 12, the car cannot drive at 300mph, isn’t artillery resistant and won’t talk to me in a snooty English accent. But the red light under the front hood still works, so that’s something.

Over on eBay you can pick up a version of the General Lee from none other than Bo Duke himself, Jon Schneider. Current bid is $525,099. This particular model was never on the show as they drove the hell out them, usually destroying a couple per episode, but it was in a Dukes movie and was the prototype for the recent Jessica Simpson revival.

Back in the day I would have happily argued which car was better and which would win in a fight, but in the TV world KITT would win, hands down. But, in what I’m loosely calling real life, I’d put my money on the General. First, nobody should want a Trans-Am unless you are eight or having a mid-life crisis. Second, the Charger is just way cooler and built to bashed about. KITT is probably mostly fiberglass now. Sure, the General has a huge Confederate flag on the roof, but whatcha gonna do?

My plan is to settle this once and for all. Should I win the lottery this week, I am going to buy both of these cars and have them driven into each other at full speed, preferably on some dusty country road. It should be a spectacular crash. It’s what I did with my cars when I was a kid.

11 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 01, 2007

    hehe

    Good luck with the lotto winnings and you make sure you let us know how that turns out hear?

    Seriously though, KITT would *totally* win. It's self aware man (I guess). It would know that it needs to kick serious ass!

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  2. My favourite TV cars were always the Batmobile from the TV show and the Monkeemobile from The Monkees. Sadly, I don't think the Monkeemobile could actually go that fast...

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  3. It better be a big loto win - the current bid on the General is 2.3 million. For that kind of cash you could hire people to salvage bit of the hundreds of cars they demolished on the set and build your own.

    Mercurie, would you like me to have them smashed too? I can see it now - The Pop Culture Demolition Derby featuring the most famous cars of TV and movies in a battle to the finish.

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  4. Hell, for 2.3 million dollars, you could hire William Daniels to sit in the back of KITT and reprise his role for YEARS.

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  5. LOL. I could see them in a demolition derby, although I think the Batmobile and KITT would win. Both were damn near indestructable.....

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  6. AnonymousMay 02, 2007

    A kid fixed up a General Lee in my home town and cruised around the high school, bet it wouldn't cost 2.3 million to buy that one for your derby.

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  7. Well, no lottery win this week. What do you think William Daniels day rate would be? I wouldn't need him all the time.

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  8. Probably a few hundred bucks would do it I think.

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  9. The G Lee is up to 2.7 million (!!!) now.

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  10. AnonymousMay 05, 2007

    Sold: u$s 9.950.000!!!! Wow!! But it is deserved. The general is the best. Kitt also is big

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  11. AnonymousJuly 10, 2007

    KITT vs. General Lee, its a tough choice! I visited www.80stees.com this morning. They have a new poll and want to know "What is the best vehicle from the 1980s?" After taking a few minutes to think about my choices, I went with KITT from Knight Rider, although I do love General Lee as well. WWW.80stees.com is a cool website. They sell a large assortment of merchandise from the 1980s that I didn't even know existed. Everyone should check out the website and vote for their favorite 80s vehicle!

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