Now, this is a batch of very cool and unique items that come from around the globe.
Several of the items came from my new friend and fellow Dukes Collector Bernd Tiemann. Bernd is from Germany and has a great collection. He attends the Euro Dukes Fest often and is a member of the German Dukes Board. I'm very glad I met Bernd and really happy he sold me some of these great pieces.
This is the first piece from Bernd. If I included this model kit with most other Dukes items, it would be one of the stranger items, but in this bunch it's the most common. This is the Boss Hogg's Hauler Snap Model Kit from the golden era. It is in perfect condition in a sealed box.
There were three model kits released that portrayed goofy vehicles that never appeared on the show. They are 1/32 scale as opposed to the standard General Lee models that are 1/25. All three are rare and hard to find in such great condition. This one looks like it just came off the shelf.
The side of the box shows different angles of the van.
My favorite part is the decal on the back that says "Gonna Git Them Dukes Boys!" This is an odd item that was released way back when. I'm glad I can add it to the collection.
Also from Bernd comes the other Dukes of Hazzard Movie Crew Coat. He bought both of these items from the U.S. and had them shipped to him. I had them shipped back.
This is the Carhartt crew coat and has the yellow lined red logo on the sleeve.
And added bonus that came with this coat is a card reading "with compliments, Jay Chandraskkar & Bill Gerber." Jay and Bill, of course, are the director and producer of the movie. My other coat did not include this gem.
This is a very heavy coat and is referred Blanket-Lined coat.
The new one is on the right, and my original Columbia Coat is on the left. They are different colors, and the Columbia is darker.
The Columbia has the logo in all red, whereas the Carhartt logo is the same as the logo on the Crew Gym Bag. I'm very excited to have the two different coats. I got one more item from Bernd, but I'll get to that in a bit.
Sometimes you find really odd items to add to the collection. This is one of them. This is a puzzle that was released in 2013. The title of the puzzle is "Games We Played." It features a collage of many classic board games.
In the bottom left of the puzzle features yours and my favorite board game. Amidst Monopoly, Sorry, Twister, Uno, and Clue, is the Dukes of Hazzard board game. Bo, Luke, Daisy, and Boss Hogg are honored to be included.
Games We Played comes from Lois B. Sutton. Thanks for including the Dukes Lois!
White Mountain Puzzles Inc. is the company behind the puzzle. This is a very cool and unique addition to the collection.
And now to the foreign items. Our pal "Uncle Jesse" is going to love this. I saw this on ebay and had to have it. It's the Autorodeo from Italy! There is no mention of Dukes on it, but we all know it's the Stunt Buster from the Barn Buster set.
Auto Rodeo translates from Italian to Car Rodeo and the sentence underneath says "the only car in the world that works even on one wheel." It also says "the booming car acrobatics." The set is made by Harbert Sport licensed by the Knickerbocker Toy Company. The paragraph on the box says in Italian "for more sophisticated tricks, ask your dealer to show you the new big packs sfondadienile rodeo and rodeo acrobatic leap, with new car in two speeds" which I'm sure is a reference to the Speed Jumper and Barn Buster.
I really expected the decals to include the 01s and rebel flags even though they are not pictured on the box. You don't get the familiar Dukes signage but you do get an American Flag and the Golden Eagle. This Charger sports a 16 on the doors.
Not until you do some real snooping do you find a mention of the Dukes, WB and Knickerbocker embossed in the ramp. I knew we would find it somewhere. This is a great and extremely rare item. Now I gotta find the sfondadienile rodeo and rodeo acrobatic leap (Italian Barn Buster and Speed Jumper.)
My final item on this post is also the last item I got from Bernd...and it's a doozy! This is the German version of the Dukes of Hazzard Slam Shifter. Man, I am so glad Bernd sold this bad boy to me. It is huge and a great addition. I have the standard American version in a sealed box and blogged about it in on of my very first posts, but for some reason, the pictures in that post don't work. I'll have to find those old pics and reupload them.
Just like the Italian toy, this box doesn't mention the Dukes either, but it does feature the Gen'ral quite prominently. For some reason it is callesd Speedy's Morodrom.
The box has all the same pictures that are on the American version. I just can't compare them because my old pictures aren't available. My American version is behind a lot of other things right now. I should have gotten it out to compare.
It does have WB trademark information on the box. All of the contents of the box are the same as the American version.
The box is open so I had to explore the contents. And have some fun.
These tiny billboards are incredible. You are supposed to pop them out and insert them to the edges of the race track. Ideal Toy Corporation did any excellant job on the details. You get The Boars Nest, Cooter's Garage...
Hazzard County Picture Palace, the familar "Boss Hogg Sez 'Welcome to Hazzard County'" sign, Hazzard County Drug Store...
Another Cooter's Garage sign, and Hazzard County Savings Bank. I love these tiny signs.
The directions are in great condition. When I was setting up an Ertl playset for the museum at the new Cooter's Place in Sperryville, I framed the directions and hung them on the wall of the faux bedroom. These directions are worthy of being framed as well.
Let's play with my new toy. I was surprised that the cars are diecast, not plastic. They are unique to this set.
The Charger is nicely recreated. The police care is a hybrid two-two Monoco.
I couldn't help myself. I put it together. It is a big set when assembled.
Is this thing beautiful, or what?
The raceway works by slamming the shifter down launching the car around the track. I couldn't get the cars to go around fast enough. Maybe I wasn't hitting the shifter hard enough, but I didn't want to break it. Check out the video to see the cars in action. Thanks to John and Tom for providing the soundtrack. I can't imagine this toy working as advertised. The cars just don't get enough speed to make it around the track.
I love these new additions to the collection. Maybe buying all those foreign DVDs got me looking for outside of the US Dukes items. It seems like a new market and I'll be looking for more foreign Dukes pieces. Thanks again to Bernd and I look forward to talking Dukes with you in the future.
Wow that Autorodeo set is superb! Congratulations on finding such a good condition set and a great addition to your collection.
ReplyDeleteI remember Boss Hogg's Hauler kit from the golden era here in the UK. It was produced by a company called Airfix who were the main producer of model kits over here. It looks like your kit is the European version as there isn't an Airfix logo on the box. If you do a Google images search for 'Airfix Boss Hogg's Hauler' you'll see that the British version has the Airfix logo in the bottom left hand corner of the box. Possibly another variation for you to look out for.