Dukes of Hazzard car not going anywhere, says US auto museum
|
Version 0 of 1. Despite toppling of civil war-era statues, Illinois museum says no one has complained about TV show’s Dodge Charger painted with Confederate flag A museum in the United States has vowed to continue displaying the car from the Dukes of Hazzard television show that had the Confederate battle flag painted on its roof. The Dodge Charger car, known as the General Lee after the head of the southern forces during America’s civil war, is in the Volo Auto Museum about 50 miles (80km) north-west of Chicago. But despite the toppling of Confederate-era statues around the country since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the museum’s owners have said the car that featured in the first season of the show “isn’t going anywhere”. “We feel the car is part of history, and people love it,” Brian Grams, museum director, told the Crystal Lake-based Northwest Herald. “We’ve got people of all races and nationalities that remember the TV show and aren’t offended by it whatsoever. It’s a piece of history and it’s in a museum.” The museum acquired the car in 2005 and nobody had complained about the exhibit, Grams said. It was believed to be the last surviving 1969 Charger used in the first season of the popular television program about the adventures of two cousins, Luke and Bo Duke, in rural Hazzard county, Georgia, that ran from 1979 to 1985. The show was also made into a film. “And the museum has continued to hear from people supporting the decision to keep the car,” Grams said. “Several people have reached out with positive comments about us leaving it on display, complimenting us for leaving it there and not having a knee-jerk reaction to remove it like a lot of places are.” Grams said the General Lee was a piece of history and the museum would not remove it any more than it would think of removing the Nazi artefacts displayed in its military section. “If were going to get complaints about the General Lee being here, we’ve got much worse items over in our military building,” he said. |