When Cars were the Stars!
If I ask you what Eleanor and General Lee had in common what would you say? Well
General Robert E. Lee’s mother was not named Eleanor, but those two
names do share something……they were stars of the TV Show Dukes of Hazard and the Movie Gone in 60 Seconds. Bo
and Luke Duke ran from Sheriff Roscoe and Boss Hogg each week as they
tried to stay out of trouble in their 1969 Dodge Charger R/T named General Lee. They jumped every washed out bridge in Hazard County and slid that car around every corner with dust just a flying!
Eleanor was the name of the car in both Gone in 60 Seconds movies, the 1974 edition and the more popular version from the year 2000. The
1974 movie featured a yellow and black 1973 Mustang Mach-1, but most
folks remember the silver and black 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang that was
stolen by movie star Nicolas Cage. Maybe that’s where the phrase “drive it like you stole it” comes from.
Back
in the 70’s a couple of guys named Starsky and Hutch could be seen each
week in prime time TV as they chased the bad guys in their wicked
looking 1976 Gran Torino. Starsky
nicknamed the car the “Striped Tomato” in one of the episodes and I
guess if it had not been for the show, this car would not be very high
on the “Cool Car” list, but trust me the red Torino with that famous
white stripe down the side will always be associated with a couple of
tough cops from California.
There
were so many more cars that I could have talked about and I’m sure you
are screaming the name of as you read this, but I wanted to mention one
more that is my most memorable star car.
