THE Dukes of Hazzard was an American television series that aired from 1979 to 1985 and was the birth place of The General Lee, an orange 1969 Dodge Charger.

Each show offered one hour of highly-charged car chases, over-the-top plotlines, corrupt commissioners, and measured doses of leggy lovelies.

For anyone who was able to steer their gaze away from the alluring and irresistible Catherine Bach, aka Daisy Duke, they could witness a show so legendary that during one of the car jump sequences, the cast actually set a new world record. Yeeehah!

It also featured Sorrell Booke as the corrupt County Commissioner, who was as wicked as his voracious appetite and offered the show the opportunity for countless car chases around the leaf-strewn fictional Hazzard County.

The Dukes of Hazzard is somewhat dated these days, yet the iconic image of the Dodge Charger has remained untarnished.

The General Lee produced a number of timeless and classic images that have now become intertwined into the car’s personality.

The welded doors being one, beginning a new trend of entering a car using the highly practical “both feet in the air” approach.

The confederate flag across the roof of the car was another classic symbol and this, along with the horn that played one bar of Dixie, made the car an embodiment of the southern United States of the time.

Incredibly more than 300 Dodge Chargers were used, abused, and ultimately demolished throughout the filming of the series. For a popular television series with a large budget, the cost of the replacement cars was not the biggest issue, it was the fact that the car was out of production.

Apparently the situation got so desperate that if a 1969 Dodge Charger was spotted on the street the producers would wait to see the owner and offer to buy the car.

As the number of seasons increased, the ratings decreased, notably after the two main characters played by John Schneider and Tom Wopat left after a royalty and pay dispute.

The Dukes of Hazzard brand was revitalised in 2005 with a film remake starring, among others, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson, and Burt Reynolds. But it failed to achieve critical success.

However, the real star of the television series, the car, has stood the test of the time.

In 2007 John Schneider auctioned his original General Lee on eBay for millions.

Not a bad return for cleaning out your garage is it?