IN THIS FEATURE Father of car stars Garage full of personality Into an electronic age Will there be another star car?

Pointing out that there hasn't been another K.I.T.T., General Lee or Herbie for quite some years now, I ask him whether he thinks the film industry is still capable of creating a superstar out of a car: "You have to understand that we live in an electronic age. Many directors will shoot a car against a bluescreen, put it into a program and have the computer do all the work. Like that scene with the Aston Martin in Tomorrow Never Dies - that was all faked. It's depressing.

"But the truly great directors, like Mel Gibson and Steven Spielberg, they insist on using real cars and real stuntmen. They're the ones that make the cars into superstars, by taking the risks that they do. When you're blowing up a car or turning it on its roof, you can't always judge it right. Many have been killed or hurt over the years."

Anyone recall which Munster drove the Dragula?

He's not kidding. Some 229 Dodge Chargers were drafted into service for the 149 Dukes of Hazzard episodes created between 1979 and 1985. Of them, an estimated 20 remain. The rest were bashed, crashed, blown up or simply left to disintegrate after one too many 'jump' sequences left them with cracked chassis. As if by magic, the 'General' would drive on, totally unmarked in the next sequence. When I was six, I thought the car was indestructible. Unlike my Hot Wheels version, which I accidentally dropped down the toilet while trying to re-enact that scene where it flew over a river.