I recently bought a couple of Dukes items that had a Barn Busting theme.
After posting about the different Speed Jumper sets, and discussing it with James, aka Uncle Jesse, the Dukes Knickerbocker playset aficionado, I decided I needed another Dukes of Hazzard Barnbuster set. I have one that I bought at a flea market when I was about eleven, but I lost the box. I saw this one on eBay. The set isn't in perfect shape, but the box looked great. Just what I needed.
The General doesn't have any stickers, and the crates and barrels are missing, but I have those from my original set, and I have quite a few of these Generals.
The box is very nice and colorful. The back has the same artwork but with fewer colors. I like how the General Lee is referred to as the "The Super General Lee Stunt Charger." They added a spoiler to the General to help it with wheel stands. They also added it to the General on the box. It never comes out of the barn "skiing" though, like it is on the box. It always busts through the barn doing a wheelie.
I also grabbed these children's pajamas on eBay at a good price. I didn't notice until they were delivered that the art on them is almost identical to the Barnbuster box.
They took the spoiler off the back of the General, but it was obviously created from the same artwork. I got these two items about a day or two apart. Quite the coincidence.
This promotional picture from the movie always reminded me of the artwork for the Barnbuster. Makes me think that the cinematographer or director of photography shot this scene as an homage to the popular toy set. "Let's bust through a barn and come out on two wheels like that old toy." Yep, I bet that's what they said.
I couldn't help but play with my new toys. I set up the Barnbuster and also got out the Speed Jumper sets I got recently. I figured might as well do a little video blogging for the "DukesCollector" readers.
My sticker-less General does a pretty good job through the barn. It even "popped a wheelie on one wheel" like it says on the box.
The videos! I like them.
ReplyDeleteYOU like internet video huh? Never would have guessed. You should start some kind of internet video show with your best friend or something.
DeleteI love it, especially the pyjamas! It’s great to see another little bit of Dukes design reused in an unlikely place. I hope you don’t mind but I’ve added the video clips to my site. The more Barnbusters / Speed Jumper footage I can get the better.
ReplyDeleteLarry, seeing as your blog has a wide audience I’d appreciate it if I could ask a couple of Barnbusters related questions here.
Firstly, can anyone categorically confirm the year the Barnbuster set was released? There seems to be a lot of confusion, as the date stamp on the reverse of the sets is 1980, but all indicators point to them being released in 1981, as this was the hot toy of that Christmas. My theory is that the 1980 stamp relates to the trade marking of the Dukes of Hazzard brand rather than the date of manufacture. If anyone can clear this up once and for all I’d be grateful.
My other question is does anyone own the rare alternate Barnbuster box, or know anything about it? - the design can be seen in the bottom right of this page
I haven’t ever come across a set with this box, or seen one for sale, so any info would be good.
My suspesion is that alternate box was a prototype. Most of the Dukes items came out in '81. The same year I was born.
DeleteThanks for posting hi-res pictures of the set! Until your blog post I was able to find maybe ONE grainy ancient picture of it on the entire 'net on some outdated toy listing site.
ReplyDeleteYour eBay buy though didn't come with the barrels and haybales though? Made it extra cool when you'd stack 'em up by the barn or near the alley rail.