What type of engine does a 1969 Dodge Charger General Lee have?

Answer 1

In the show, it is never stated what engine the General has but here are some facts so you can make up your own mind. The best look you get at "the" engine in the General Lee is in the episode "Happy Birthday General Lee". In this episode you see a big block Mopar engine on an engine stand but it's not a detailed enough shot to tell if it is a B or RB block. So in theory, that engine could be any Chrysler big block, including the 350 (YES! Chrysler did build a 350), 361, 383, 400, 413, 426 (wedge not Hemi) or 440. In reality, the only B and RB engines found naturally in a '69 Charger were the 383, 440 and Hemi. So you can safely narrow that engine on the stand down to a 383 or 440. A little more reality rears its ugly head and we find out that the engine on the stand was a seized motor that they painted up for that shot and was not actually put into a General. So what engine did "the" General have in it? The close-up car, the car you were "supposed" to see when the hood was up (although you see the hood opened on many non-close-up cars with various engines), has a 383 in it. Of the surviving cars, the vast majority have 383s but a couple have 318s and 440s. So again, if you have to pick a "the" engine, I'd go with the 383 in the close-up car.

On the cars that went up on 2 wheels it had a 315 because it was lite. The close up cars had a 318 and the cars they did the jumps with had the 440 because the stunt men like the power.

I always figured it was the 426 hemi or 440.