# Dukes of Hazzard - why the windows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677 "2006-03-31T09:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/1 "2006-03-31T09:55:41Z")
That’s it really. Why would the Duke brothers eschew the use of car doors? Surely it didn’t save any time, and was probably all the more difficult an entry while wearing those tight jeans. Was it just the ‘cool’ thing to do at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/2 "2006-03-31T10:11:21Z")
I was all of three feet tall the last time I saw a Dukes of Hazzard show, but WAG: Are you sure the doors can be opened? Given that they used the sucker for off-roading and whatnot, they may have welded the doors shut either to: 1. Add strength to the body of the car by merging the sides into a single piece of metal. 2. Reduce the chance that the lock/hinge would break and the door open/fall off which would be dangerous to the person inside (for instance if the car rolled.) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/3 "2006-03-31T10:12:57Z")
3.) Greetings Opal. How you doin’ with your 1920’s style death ray? Or did it shoot you in Russia when you did not accept your new Ogian overlords? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/4 "2006-03-31T11:04:15Z")
John Schneider said that he could beat anybody getting into their car if he went in through the window and they used the door. Officially, they were welded shut for the racing reasons given. But they also made for comic relief when they had to help Boss Hogg or Uncle Jessie through the window. And who wouldn’t have wanted to watch Daisy slither those magnificent legs through the window? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/5 "2006-03-31T13:16:23Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > That’s it really. > Why would the Duke brothers eschew the use of car doors? Surely it didn’t save any time, and was probably all the more difficult an entry while wearing those tight jeans. Was it just the ‘cool’ thing to do at the time? The General Lee was, in theory, a race car, hence the big 01 painted on it. I don’t remember if it ever happened in the show, but the idea was that the car was actually used in motor racing. Race cars often have the doors welded shut. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/6 "2006-03-31T14:29:39Z")
Made it difficult to get into the car if you paked it with the windows rolled up! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/7 "2006-03-31T14:56:48Z")
- - - The _implication_ was that they used the windows because race cars tend to have the doors welded shut, because stock-cars use interior roll cages that have a big metal bar or two that runs diagonally across where the door would open. From a side-view of the car, there’s usually at least one bar that runs from about where your shoulder is, down towards your feet. So even if you could open the door, you would have a real tough time getting out it anyway. …The comedy\* of this was that a lot of the printed posters for the show had the two guys positioned standing casually–in the open door of the General Lee. ~ \*(-well okay, _some_ of the comedy. there were other ridiculous things too-) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/8 "2006-03-31T15:27:55Z")
Early on, the brothers (mostly Bo) expressed interest in joining NASCAR and they apparantly modified their car to meet those standards. Of course, the real question is what kind of suspension that car must have had to absorb all those landings. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/9 "2006-03-31T15:39:20Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Early on, the brothers (mostly Bo) expressed interest in joining NASCAR and they apparantly modified their car to meet those standards. > > Of course, the real question is what kind of suspension that car must have had to absorb all those landings. The cars didn’t absorb the landings, they used up a lot of 1969(?) Dodge Chargers on that show. If you watch carefully each landing, you can see the sheet metal bend and buckle. Had to be major frame damage. Then they cut to a shot of a different General Lee driving away. I think in the later (sucky) episodes Bo and/or Luke were supposed to be off driving for NASCAR. The show still holds up pretty well, but some of the sound effects are annoying. Tires don’t squeal on dirt roads. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/10 "2006-03-31T16:03:02Z")
Nitpick - In the original show (haven’t seen the new movie), Bo & Luke (and Daisy) were all cousins - none of them were siblings. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/11 "2006-03-31T16:31:16Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > The cars didn’t absorb the landings, they used up a lot of 1969(?) Dodge Chargers on that show. If you watch carefully each landing, you can see the sheet metal bend and buckle. Had to be major frame damage. Then they cut to a shot of a different General Lee driving away. Yeah, they went throgh a lot of _real life_ cars, but not a lot of “Dukes of Hazzard” world cars. In the Dukes of Hazzard multiverse, the General Lee must have been the pinnacle of decades of engineering, a feat comparable to the moon landing. On the show, they could jump the thing across the Grand Canyon and not so much as scratch the paint! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/12 "2006-03-31T16:44:01Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > In the Dukes of Hazzard multiverse, the General Lee must have been the pinnacle of decades of engineering, a feat comparable to the moon landing. Which makes me think Cooter (Ph.D.) left his lucrative job as a top NASA engineer because of a nervous breakdown, preferring instead the relatively sedate life of a small-town mechanic. ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/13 "2006-03-31T16:57:34Z")
I’m not 100% sure but I think this very question was addressed in an early episode. They basically said that it was for racing, its one of the rules you have to follow to be allowed to compete in whatever circuit they raced the General Lee on. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/14 "2006-03-31T17:02:54Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > Made it difficult to get into the car if you paked it with the windows rolled up! 😃 Would have made it hard to get OUT of the car originally too. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/15 "2006-03-31T18:08:44Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I think in the later (sucky) episodes Bo and/or Luke were supposed to be off driving for NASCAR. are you referring to the Coy and Vance episodes? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/16 "2006-03-31T18:18:12Z")
> [@whole bean](#): > > are you referring to the Coy and Vance episodes? Yeah, the reason cited that Bo and Luke were gone is they were off racing in NASCAR. Their (cousins?) Coy and Vance came to town to help out while they were gone. That was the 5th season, I wouldn’t really want that season on DVD. Or would I? Check out the cover of the 5th season DVDs, is that sneaky marketing or what?: [http://www.avclub.com/content/node/43434](http://www.avclub.com/content/node/43434) ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dukes-of-hazzard-why-the-windows/350677/17 "2006-04-01T22:43:52Z")
Thanks for the replies! (My most popular thread, and just look at the topic :rolleyes: ) Not that I ever watched the show, but I don’t think they ever really raced that thing for real (other than eluding the authorities), meaning that they really did it just to say they were cool. 😉