Volo Auto Museum Will Continue To Display Confederate Flag Emblazoned General Lee Car From Dukes Of Hazzard
(CBS) -- There is more fallout in the Confederate flag debate: Warner Brothers says it will no longer license "Dukes of Hazzard" toys featuring the General Lee - the 1969 Dodge Charger with a Confederate flag on top.
Also part of the conversation now: Illinois' Volo Auto Museum in Lake County, which displays one of the original General Lees used in the show.
The General Lee on display at the Volo Auto Museum is the only one of the several cars used as the General Lee in that first season of the "Dukes of Hazzard" to survive - unrestored.
Podcast
"This is the Holy Grail of General Lees."
Brian Grams, director of the Volo Auto Museum, says it still has its original hand-painted Confederate flag on top.
"There's been a lot of activity on our Facebook, asking if we have to take the car off display. And the simple response to that (is), we are not affiliated with Warner Brothers so we're not under this Warner Brothers ban on the Confederate flag where we have to take it off display."
Grams says it's a piece of history and it belongs in a museum - and that's where it will stay.
He says the General Lee the museum has - Number 8, meaning it was the eighth car used in shooting that first season in Georgia - is worth about half a million dollars.
Volo acquired the car in 2006.
He says he's not overly concerned that someone will try to vandalize the car as a protest.
"We do have cameras... We should be able to catch them pretty quickly if something like that happened."
