The Standards of the Silver Era

I noticed what I have been doing with this blog is mainly talking about "new to me" things, just the items I bought recently.  Since I have been collecting so long, there are a bunch of things that haven't been "new to me" since they were new.  We've established the different eras of collecting Dukes of Hazzard.  I find things all the time from the Golden Era that I never knew existed.  Since my collecting was in high gear when we reached the Silver Era, I have a handle on pretty much every thing that was released during those years.  I would like to do a series of posts on the standards of the Silver Era, the mainstays or staples if you will.  These are items that I think a lot of collectors have in their assemblage.

Like I said before, one of the first items to come out since the 80s was a re-release of the 1/25 Ertl diecast.  The box design was very simple.  It was plain orange.  It didn't feature the Duke cousins and had no fancy logos.

The back featured one of the most often used pictures from the series, the first jump of the General Lee, and a shot from the reunion movie with the General beating Double Zero.  It must have come out right after the movie.

The car is the same as it was in 1981.  The wheels are all chrome colored, as opposed to having black inserts between the spokes, and the interior is black.

There is no license plate.  The car is very basic, but it worked so well in the 80s, Ertl released it the same way.  Within a few years there were box redesigns and updates such as the correct interior color and CNH-320 showing up.  I think it is safe to say every collector has this release of the 1/25.  It isn't rare and is a great car.

David Hofstede's "The Dukes of Hazzard: The Unofficial Companion" is the best source of all things original Hazzard.  Released in 1998, it chronicles the story of the Dukes from the beginning.  From the film inspiration Moonrunners, to the casting of the stars, Tom and John's strike, to the end of production---all is covered in the book.

The book has a foreword by Catherine Bach and also features a guide to every episode.

It is an excellent book.  Anyone who wants to know about the Dukes should pick it up.  But don't consider all the information completely true.  Some information is misleading and found to be mistaken.  The chapter about the merchandise is fun, but not entirely accurate.  The author didn't try to mislead us about any of his information,  more truth just came to light after the book was competed.

If you considered yourself a serious collector in the early 2000s, you had this set in your collection.  Released by Corgi in 2001, it is a 1/36 scale General Lee with hand painted white metal figures.  It was only available in Europe.

The inclusion of the word "livery" to describe the distinctive look of the General makes it very British.  It also spelled Uncle Jesse's name wrong.

For being a one time release, they made a good representation of the General.  Rush will notice that his beloved chrome strips are present.  The 01s look better than several Ertl releases and the General Lee text is accurate.  The interior is detailed and has a good looking roll bar.

The license plate, or number plate as it is called on the box, does not feature the correct CNH-320, but rather GNRL LEE.  That is a popular plate on replicas of our favorite car.  I bet there are nearly fifty Generals with that plate in the USA.  Seems Corgi might have used a replica as reference and replicated the plate as well.

The Bo and Luke figures are great.  Corgi did a good job on these.  They even got close to replicating Luke's bear claw belt buckle.  This is the only release of the General in this scale, and the only tiny statues of the Duke cousins.  It really is a must have for any Dukes Collector.

The final pieces that I would like to highlight in this post are the Exclusive Premiere Dukes of Hazzard Fully Poseable Action Figures.  Released in 1997, these were exclusive to Toys 'R Us.

I have never seen the packages of these figures in perfect shape.  I remember finding them on the shelf and the boxes were a little beat up.

Exclusive Premiere must have been afraid to show the flag.  They photoshopped it out beneath Daisy in the picture used inside the back of the box.  Unfortunately, the package attributes Good 'Ol Boys to Merle Haggard.  How could they make such an atrocious oversight?

When people try to sell these on ebay, they sometimes claim they have the first of a numbered series.  Everyone one of them is labeled " 1 of 12000."  I guess it saved ink to do it that way.

My Luke is also labeled Bo.  I have seen quite a few others with mistakes like this, so it doesn't really make mine rare.

The construction of the figures is similar to the twelve inch G.I. Joes.  The likenesses is somewhat hit or miss.

Daisy is the worst of the three.  The hair is flowing.  She looks like a generic doll.  Sorta like Daisy, but mostly not.  Daisy came with a checkered flag and a waitress tray that had a bowl of pretzels and a frothing beer on it.  She was a waitress, but that is still an odd accessory.

Bo and Luke have extra jackets over there signature shirts.  Luke's is a denim vest.  The likeness is nearly there.  Luke came with the checkered flag and a bow and arrow.  The arrow even has dynamite on it.  Good job on this accessory.

Bo seemed much happier than Luke.  Much like last year at Hazzard Homecoming. At least they got the hair right.  Bo has a heavier brown jacket on.  He comes with the same flag and archery set as Luke.  All three figures come with display stands as well.  

Exclusive Premiere made figures like these for 007, Babylon 5, Three Stooges. Blues Brothers, The Lone Ranger, and many more.  It is cool they included Dukes in the line.  

I think they also made up their own logo for the Dukes.  

In the future, I will posts other articles about the Silver Era Standards.  Stay Tuned.