Car chase ends in Spokane, perhaps finally

Besides Daisy Duke’s delectable derriere and Boss Hogg’s dimwittedness, “The Dukes of Hazzard” provided fans of TV’s cornpone classic with another sure thing.

Somewhere in each episode that souped-up orange General Lee would be runnin’ from trouble.

And for the Standup General - one of the surviving 1969 Dodge Chargers built for the popular 1980s series - nothing has changed.

The hard-luck hot rod was seized by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in late July at a Dukes show reunion at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was soon sent back to its rightful Spokane owner. For now at least (knock on wood), it sits safely in a locked garage on Spokane’s North Side.

The return of the General (valued at $100,000-plus) ended two years of treachery and turmoil as wacky as any Dukes script.

“This would be a great made-for-TV movie,” says Spokane attorney Gerri Sirek. “I’m just elated. I didn’t think we’d ever see this car again.”

Credit Sirek for the happy ending.

Other lawyers saw the case as a complex time-gobbler and declined to get involved. Sirek says she took it on because of the sheer injustice. It was clear that Kaye Hughes and Bryan Batch were victims of “a very well-orchestrated scheme to steal this car.”

The Standup General was snatched from Hughes and Batch two years ago in a scam more reminiscent of “The Sting” than hayseed Hazzard County. The Spokane residents were lured to Indianapolis under the pretext that they would display the vehicle at a nearby Dukes celebration.

While Batch was away from his hotel, a repo crew moved in. They cut the locks on his trailer, removed the Charger and took it away.

“It was a total setup,” he says, noting that months of planning went into the scam. The people involved even used video surveillance to track his movements.

Why would anyone go to such lengths over a car? Some history will explain.

The Standup General was built by Rich Sephton, who supervised buying and building the Chargers for the series. During the show’s 145-episode run, 150 Chargers were battered and bruised.

With its trademark “01” on the side and rebel flag adorning the roof, the General Lee rose to pop icon status. The General was “recently named most popular car in the history of film and television in a national survey,” reports a “Dukes of Hazzard” Web site.

The Standup was a one-of-a-kind exception from the fleet. It got its nickname for being designed to “stand up” on its rear wheels. To do that, the huge 440-cubic-inch Magnum V8 engine was installed where the back seat should be.

But the car was never used in the show. Sephton became the legal owner.

Until 1989, that is, when his ex-wife sold it. The car changed hands once more before Steve Hughes, Kaye’s husband, bought it for $8,000 in 1992.

Steve showed his Standup General at car shows throughout the Spokane area. He used it as a promotional prop in his job with a soft-drink bottling company.

Then Kaye inherited the car when Steve died in November 2001. Batch’s interest in the vehicle is as a partner in storing and maintaining the General Lee as well as paying legal fees to get it back.

Many of the details surrounding this case are too convoluted and tedious for this venue. What matters most happened last May, when Sirek won a default judgment in Spokane County Superior Court.

The court agreed that Kaye Hughes “is the rightful owner of this vehicle.” And that Sephton and another man, Travis Bell, set up the “elaborate trap” to grab the Standup General in Indiana.

Sephton has always claimed his ex-wife sold the car improperly. That he had a federal court order preventing the sale because of his bankruptcy. Maybe one time he did. But attorney Sirek proved Sephton had long ago lost any ownership.

Winning in court was sweet. Getting the car back was another matter.

Sirek says her biggest break came in convincing local authorities to enter the Charger into the national crime database as a stolen vehicle. When word got out that the Standup General was appearing at Dukefest 2004, the Tennessee Highway Patrol moved in to snatch it back.

It would be nice to hear Sephton’s side in this. Unfortunately, he declined my offer to comment until I read through paperwork he promised to mail to me. A person who answered his home phone earlier, however, wasn’t so reluctant. Identifying himself as James Smith, he talked about how the Tennessee cops didn’t do things right and that judges had been paid off.

“When the FBI gets involved things will turn around,” he vowed.

Buckle your seatbelt, Cooter. It looks like there’s another episode brewing in this car chase.