I just saw an article that says Bubba Watson did paint over the flag. Can that be true?
When he consulted an appraiser he was told the car for which he paid $112,000 would be practically worthless if he defaced it (A used 1969 Dodge Charger goes for about $6,000). Also John Schneider told him that if he did, he should also paint over his signature since John wouldn't endorse it.
So then he looked into donating it to a museum. I thought that was what he did.
"A used 1969 Dodge Charger goes for about $6,000"
Yeah, right. Multiply that by 10, if you're lucky, for his car even if it had no connection to the show at all. For one in just average condition and with less-than-desirable options (such as a 318 engine), you're looking at $25,000 or more, even 2 years ago when you made your post. $6,000 wouldn't even get you a good rolling chassis.
For the record, removing the flag wouldn't be "defacing" the car to begin with, since that flag wasn't painted on in 1979, it was painted on in the 21st century. In fact, it doesn't even have its original roof skin on it. For that matter, it's just a glorified General Lee replica now, because the only original parts left on it are the firewall and windshield (I'm not exaggerating either). The only people who think that "Lee 1" has extra value over any other restored '69 Charger with the same options are people who don't know the actual story of what they did to that car, like that Bubba Watson moron himself.
The value of this car is as TV show memorabilia. You're right. As a collectible Charger, it's practically worthless. Probably where the very low value he was given when he considered defacing it.
share"The value of this car is as TV show memorabilia."
Only if you can dupe someone into thinking it's really TV show memorabilia, like Bubba Watson was duped. Like I said, the only original parts left on it are the firewall and windshield. Before they "restored" it, it was truly TV show memorabilia, because it was still exactly as it was during its last TV show appearance in 1979 (with some added deterioration from sitting in a junkyard for decades). This is how they found it:
https://bangshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/general_lee1.jpg
Which is how it looked in the first season episode of The Dukes of Hazzard that it last appeared in (Repo Men). Here's a screenshot of it from that episode:
https://i.imgur.com/lA8RnYh.png
And they did display it at car shows in the condition they found it in for a while, like so:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ed/e9/cd/ede9cd60dedd953d90467562ddc5f421.jpg
But then they decided to "restore" it. What they really did was build a different car from scratch, only reusing the firewall (which is a piece of stamped sheet metal that separates the engine compartment from the passenger compartment) and the windshield from the screen-used car. In other words, there's nothing left of the screen used car except for those two parts, i.e., it no longer exists.
"As a collectible Charger, it's practically worthless. Probably where the very low value he was given when he considered defacing it."
No, it isn't, and whoever said it would only be worth $6,000 without the flag that was painted onto a reproduction roof skin in the 2000s, has no idea what he's talking about. Anyone could just paint the flag back on, since it isn't the original flag from 1979 to begin with, nor is it even the original roof skin. The car is just a General Lee replica with 2 original parts. However, they did a good job building that car; it's straight; it has a nice interior, nice paint, nice drivetrain, etc., and it's easily worth at least $60,000. It was never truly worth $112,000, but like I said, Bubba Watson was duped. I'm willing to bet that he knows fuckall about cars.
I've been offered $15,000 for my '69 Charger and it's very rough. It's full of homemade pop-riveted body panel patches, homemade welded patches on the rear subframe rails; paint that consists of a 1980s repaint that's very faded and has a lot of spots where it has peeled off, plus a bunch of primer over the crude patches; an interior with no headliner, no carpet, a ripped passenger seat that's from a Plymouth Duster, a driver's seat with most of the foam gone so you're sitting directly on the seat springs, ripped rear seat, warped and ripped door cards, and no package tray. On top of that, the engine is a very tired 318 that knocks for a few seconds whenever you start it up.
The last time a mint condition 1969 Dodge Charger like Bubba Watson's car was only worth $6,000 was the mid 1980s, and that translates to about $17,000 today.