“General Lee” Smart car beats all you ever saw

The pint-sized Smart car brand said today it plans to show off a pickup truck concept at the upcoming Detroit auto show with a bed big enough to haul a few iPads. But if Smart really wanted to reach red-state America, they should talk to the Florida owner who gave their Smart ForTwo the full General Lee treatment. Look away, look away, look away, Dixieland.

It's not the first time someone thought to apply the Duke boys' livery from "The Dukes of Hazzard" to a Smart; that distinction belongs to an enthusiast from Greece. But there hasn't been a known Hazzard flasher stateside until this picture posted on Smart's Facebook page, caught in its natural habitat of a Walmart parking lot.

Of course a Smart ForTwo can't replicate the hood-sliding appeal of a Dodge Charger, and trying to climb into a Smart though the windows sounds like a crowd participation stunt at a low-end rodeo. It's also hard to imagine how you'd run from Rosco P. Coltrane in a 70-hp microcar unless Enos grabbed pursuit vehicles from the nearest lawn tractor store. Yet like a deep fried Twinkie on a stick, this General Lee wins simply by existing against all the reasons it shouldn't. It's so dumb it's Smart.