The Lee 1 was purchased by a California movie studio in 1978, and quickly became “the world’s most famous TV car”.
Lee 1 has appeared several times in the first episode of the popular TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard” on CBS. This episode, “One Arm Bandits,” aired on January 26, 1979 and was filmed in the Covington, Conyers, and Oxford area of Georgia.
The show’s opening sequence, featuring Bo and Luke Duke, included a clip of Lee1 jumping over a Hazzard County police cruiser. That jump, made famous by the Lee 1, was made by a stuntman on the campus of Oxford College on Saturday, November 11, 1978.
Lee 1’s first and only jump was 16 feet above the cruiser, landing 82 feet from the take-off ramp. The only member to lead Lee 1 was John Schneider, who played Bo Duke. After 23 years in a junkyard, in Metro Atlanta, the Lee 1 was salvaged, professionally restored, and eagerly restored to pre-jump condition over the course of 16 months. Lee 1 is truly an American icon.
