Monday, February 27, 2012

The White Whale - The Dukes of Hazzard Record Player

Since I have been collecting Dukes of Hazzard for so long, I have had many white whales, or most sought after items.  Recently it seems I have captured my whales in pretty a timely fashion.

About two years ago I really wanted to get my hands on the Dukes of Hazzard Album in cassette form.  I already have a few versions of the original record and a couple of single 45s from it.  I also found the 8-track pretty easily.  I bought the re-release on CD the day it came out in 1997 as well as the re-re-release in 2005 when it came out with the movie soundtrack.  It just seemed like the cassette version was eluding me.  I finally found the cassette on eBay.  It turns out they also re-released the cassette in '97.  The original from 1982 has a white background and the '97 version has a blue one.  I have one of the white ones now, and about three blue ones.  I even found an Australian version that has a white background and different text.  Here is a pic of the blue version:


Sorry its so dark and blurry.

My next white whale was the Dukes of Hazzard washcloth.  I had seen one go on eBay for a pretty penny before and thought it might have been out of my league.  But if you look long enough, you find what you want at the right price.  It seems very quickly after I bought the washcloth, I was after another whale that I didn't even know existed: The Dukes bathmat.  I had to complete the set.  The super-rare bathmat is now in my collection with the matching washcloth and hand towel.  I even have the General Lee soap.  The only bath-oriented item I don't have is the ultra rare wash-mittens....one day.


Collecting all all 150 Racing Champions 1/144 cards was a challenge I'm glad I only had to do once.  In the beginning it was easy.  Buy all of the ones that pop up on eBay.  About 100 of them in, it got a bit harder.  Toward the end, I thought I would never get them all.  Card #95 became my new white whale.  I seemed to have 149 of those little guys for ever.  Wouldn't you know it that when #95 showed its face on eBay, two of them were listed at the same time.  I completed the collection of 1/144 cars around the end of November of 2011.
Which leads us to my newest White Whale.  The record player has been on the hit list for quite some time.  I have been after it forever and after I got the cassette, washcloth, and #95 my sights were set.  It amazed me when one popped up on eBay that still had the box.  I knew it was going to be pricey, but I decided it would be mine.  I got it in the mail about a week ago, and it is better than I expected. 
Because I had never seen the box before, I didn't know that it originally came with a microphone.  The few that were on eBay before didn't have theirs.  
Unfortunately the original 5 year limited warranty has expired.  Darn.  I still love it. 
The record player is definitely one of top items.  But now I don't have a White Whale.  I'm sure I'll figure out a new one soon. 

2 comments:

  1. Hoooooooly crap, that record player looks like it's in great shape! That's really a fantastic find. Can't wait to see it for myself.

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  2. I found one near me and the guy is willing to sell, do you mind telling me what you paid?? That would be helpful

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