It also didn't have the rollcage that would be necessary for the jump. For that, the car was shipped to North Carolina and Tom Sarmento, who was the second-unit mechanic throughout the Dukes production and now sells Snap-On tools to Winston Cup teams. Sarmento and his crew built a full 'cage identical to those he built for the original General Lees.
News of the jump spread through the stunt grapevine, and other members of the original Dukes team petitioned for inclusion in the event. So a reproduction Roscoe P. Coltrane white squad car, a reproduction "Chickasaw County" green-and-white squad car, and a Chevy Malibu "bad guy" car were also prepped and 'caged to perform stunts at the Hazzard Homecoming event in Covington.
At first Bell thought they could rent a ramp, but the price was a hefty $2,500. So they got the plans to the original ramps used in Dukes production and Tom Sarmento and his crew welded one up for them.
The $6 million liability policy wasn't cheap, but getting permission from Covington to perform the jump as part of the Homecoming at Legion Field was relatively straightforward, and the cooperation of local law enforcement was extensive. What wasn't cheap was paying for airfare and lodging for eight stuntmen and fees to Eubanks and his fellow stuntman Al Wyatt Jr. (to roll the Chickasaw car using a pipe ramp) who, after all, would be risking their lives.
While the Homecoming itself was a huge success, rain on the morning of the jump thinned out the crowd. And because of time constraints and wanting to have vehicles on hand to chase and backstop the General Lee should the stunt go awry, the rolls planned for the Roscoe squad car and bad-guy Malibu were cancelled. So there were approximately 4,000 people at the jump itself, and virtually all of them had a good view. "The photos are deceiving," says Bell. "The spectators weren't that close."
At 2:00 p.m. on that Saturday afternoon, with the rain cleared, the General Lee roared again through Covington. Eubanks pointed the beast onto Legion Field and Bell called the action over loudspeakers. At the point where the road transitions to Legion Field's turf, the front end porpoised a bit and then settled down. As planned, the General was doing about 70 mph when it hit the ramp and launched up about 22 feet in the air through the branches of a low-hanging tree to easily clear the '74 Monaco squad car.
Eubanks hadn't put any ballast in the trunk, since he wanted it to come down on its front bumper. About 139 feet later, that's exactly what the Charger did, as it nosed into the turf, cartwheeled onto the trunk, and came to rest on all four wheels with a metallic thud. "On the show we'd jump 120 to 150 feet," said Eubanks, "so this was about average. We got good height."
"He said it would land right there," Bell said, "and it landed exactly right there. These guys really know what they're doing."
The crowd was ecstatic. Eubanks was unharmed, and the crowd rushed him like he was a conquering hero. "One gentleman came up to me and said he was disappointed that I didn't honk the horn when I hit the ramp," says Eubanks. "Heck, on the TV show all the horns were added in post-production anyhow."
Bell's General Lee had been sold for $5,000 even before it hit the ramp, and the engine and transmission are back now with their owners in Washington. The only thing Bell kept was the license plate."Not too many people get to fulfill their childhood dream," a still-excited Bell told us three days after the event. "And I just got to see the General fly."
What about next year? Eubanks is up to jumping again, though it's unlikely Bell can finance it. But there's still that Dodge squad car and that bad-guy Malibu around. And something has to be done with them....