New Dukes Stuff - 2/9/2015 - Pristine Radio, Headlites, Error Card, & 1/64s

I love sharing my new Dukes of Hazzard acquisitions as much as I love getting them.

This is a fleet of well loved original 1/64 Ertl Dukes cars.  I'm not exactly sure where they came from.  I think someone bought them for me from a local antique store and forgot to give them to me as a gift and then just gave them to me out of the blue.  I think.  They just kind of showed up recently. Perhaps the best kind of Dukes merchandise is the mysteriously materializing variety.  I don't know where they came from, but I love 'em.

This assemblage of affectionately assaulted Ertls consists of two Generals, three Boss Hogg Caddys, two Hazzard patrol cars, one Dixie Jeep, and a Cooter's Pickup Truck.  Man, I wish that line up included more alliteration.

All of these cars were played with hard at one point in their lives.  Both Gen'rals look like the after effects of real car jumps.  The left car has been flattened and the right car's wheels are crushed in.

Two of the Caddy's are probably the best cars of the bunch, condition wise.  The third might be the worst.  Two of them have the "Boss Hogg" lettering only on the driver's side, and the other doesn't have any.

The patrol cars look up to par with Rosco and Enos' driving.  They are a little beat up, but can still get the job done.

The Jeep and pickup are in decent condition.  I like the tow hooks on these two cars.  I don't know where these 1/64s came from, but I'm glad they are in the collection.

Next up we have some unique knock-off Duke cars.  These are Headlites by Galoob.  The word Galoob takes me back to watching toy commercials during cartoons.  I watched a lot of cartoons. Galoob made A-Team action figures, Smurf wind-ups, Nintendo Game Genie, and most memorably Micro Machines.  Remember the fast talking Micro Machine guy?  I'll pause here so we can all go reminisce and watch those ads on youtube.

Back?  Good.  So these cars are a little bigger than 1/64s and the basic gimmick is they have, obviously, head lights.  This is a nice gimmick and very much unique in the early '80s.  We're talking about a time when a few blinking lights constituted a handheld video game...Mattel Football

I always feel the need to defend these Dukes knock-offs and explain that they are Dukes and not just a random car that accidentally resembles our cars.  Well, the 04 and rebel flag should be the giveaway.

The fact that the two cars in the set consist of an orange muscle car and a police car also lends credence to my argument.

The fronts of the cars act as the headlights.  I would guess, as well as hope, that the police lights also light up.  Would feel cheated if they didn't.  The tail lights also light up.

I'm glad the creators of the toys made sure to explain that is was acceptable to play with these cars any time, not just in the dark.  Galoob!

Next up is a standard 8 inch Mego Boss Hogg figure.  Wait a second, did Daisy put on a few pounds?

Nope, this is a rare factory error.  This is a Boss Hogg figure on a Daisy card.  It is in great shape too. Someone had it on ebay for a rather high, but not unreasonable, buy-it-now price and was accepting offers.  I was intrigued and decided to start negotiating.  I threw out my first, extremely low pitch, and surprisingly, they accepted!  Score!  I got this bad boy for less than what regular 8 inch Mego Dukes go for in comparable condition.  Ha, I used an appraisal term.

The artwork for the Mego line was beautiful.  I wonder if the originals are out there somewhere.

Though I got it for a good price, someone somewhere once paid under six bucks for it.  Lucky dog.

Mego really did a great job on the packaging for this line.  It's some of the best of any Dukes packaging.

The final item in this bunch is a doozy.  This is the Dukes of Hazzard Portable AM Radio by Justin Products.  I have another in the collection, but this one comes in its original box.  I would consider this a part of the "white glove collection."  I don't have anything else in the "white glove collection" yet because I just came up with the term.  Items that belong in the "white glove collection" are so perfect in their condition that they must be handled with white gloves.  I have a lot of silver and modern era items in perfect condition mainly because I've been buying two of everything since the mid '90s.  "One to play with, and one to keep."  But to find something from the golden era in this condition is a rarity.

The edges of the box are only just slightly misshapen.  This thing is nearly perfect.

Opening the box only consists of lifting the lid, no need to tear anything.  The radio is still in plastic.

Of course, the most noticeable thing on the radio is the switched shirt color on the Duke Boys.  Luke is wearing Bo's signature yellow, while Bo has one of Luke's non-plaid blue shirts on.  Maybe they were in a hurry that day and grabbed the wrong shirt, maybe they wanted to switch it up, or maybe the designer of the radio thought there was no way anyone would be discussing these shirt colors thirty some years later.

The strap on the radio is perfect.  This thing seems like it was never been touched.

It is obvious that it never came out of the plastic.

Underneath the radio are the instructions and repair slip.

The instructions are very literal.  It is interesting how much thought was put into the instructions.  It's as though the writer believed the radio buyer never used a radio before.  I like the line about the "desired level of loudness."  I wonder how many people sent their Dukes of Hazzard AM Raido away to get repaired.  Now I gotta figure out what else belongs in the "white glove collection."