Hi,
My name is Bernd, I’m 35 years old, living in Germany and I’ve been a big Dukes Of Hazzard fan since 1988 when the Dukes aired for the first time on German television.
Larry asked me if I'd want to tell you something about me and the European Dukes fans. I really appreciate his offer and hope you’ll like my guest blog.
I started collecting merchandise after I watched the CSI episode “Grave Danger”. Seeing two of the actors playing an old Dukes board game made me curious about what kind of merchandise was produced. In Germany it is hard to find Dukes merchandise in toy stores. It might have been possible to buy General Lee toy cars online but the variety in the United States blew my mind. From that day I spent countless hours and a lot of money on ebay.com and ended up with a collection counting approx. 800 different items.
In 2006 I became a member of the German fan board (www.dukeboys.de/board) but couldn’t attend the first board meeting in 2008 which took place in Hohenschwangau near Neuschwanstein Castle and was organized by Sabine. I met Sabine and two other German fans (Sven & Jan-Simon) for the first time in 2009 and we became good friends.
In 2010 we traveled together to Zandvoort in the Netherlands where the first European Dukes Fest (www.eurodukesfest.nl) took place. The Euro Dukes Fest is organized by Serge and a part of the Dutch National Oldtimer Festival which is taking place every year on the DTM race track “Circuit Park Zandvoort”. For the first time in my life I saw a real ’69 Dodge Charger.
Three General Lee’s and one Patrol Car were there. It was a great event and the fans from the Netherlands and Belgium were very welcoming and kind.
They allowed us to take a seat in their cars and taking tons of pictures. I even had the chance to ride shotgun on the track with Serge who owns a perfect Lee 1 replica.
Sven & Jan-Simon offered free Pop Corn and we organized the first J.D. Hogg Lottery. Boss gave something away for free for the first time in his life and two lucky winners had the chance to ride shotgun in a General Lee and in a Patrol Car.
It was a great event until heavy rain started in the late afternoon. In 2012 there was no Euro Dukes Fest and in 2013 I couldn’t join the fun.
In early 2013 I had the chance to meet John Schneider. He was invited as a guest to Movie Days Convention in Dortmund.
John was only there for one day and he had a lot to do.
He drove Serge’s General Lee to the red carpet, signed autographs, took a lot of pictures with fans and played with one of my merchandise items which were displayed together with Serge’s Lee 1 Replica and Sven’s Patrol Car at our booth.
In 2014 I had the chance to attend the Euro Dukes Fest again.
Five General Lee’s, two Patrol Cars and Daisy’s Plymouth (from Belgium) made it to the track.
For the first time the German Dukes Museum On Tour was there, too. Countless hours were spent by Sven and Jan-Simon to transform a small trailer into a rolling museum equipped with shelves and a small monitor to show pictures.
Sven and I displayed some of our collected items and Serge added his original Lee 1 front valance to the display.
A body painting artist showed his skills and DJ Gino made music like he did every year.
In the afternoon there was a circuit ride again but due to the bad weather only one General and one Patrol Car took a spin on the race track.
Riding shotgun with Sven in the Patrol Car in hot pursuit of Serge and Alma in the General was a lot of fun. At the end the General escaped of course.
Five General Lee’s, two Patrol Cars and Daisy’s Plymouth (from Belgium) made it to the track.
For the first time the German Dukes Museum On Tour was there, too. Countless hours were spent by Sven and Jan-Simon to transform a small trailer into a rolling museum equipped with shelves and a small monitor to show pictures.
Sven and I displayed some of our collected items and Serge added his original Lee 1 front valance to the display.
A body painting artist showed his skills and DJ Gino made music like he did every year.
In the afternoon there was a circuit ride again but due to the bad weather only one General and one Patrol Car took a spin on the race track.
Riding shotgun with Sven in the Patrol Car in hot pursuit of Serge and Alma in the General was a lot of fun. At the end the General escaped of course.
Thanks to my love of an old TV show and an orange clunker car I met great people, made new friends and had a great time. I’m looking forward to August 2nd when the next Euro Dukes Fest will take place in Zandvoort.
I would like to thank all fans who put so much time and effort into this hobby and help to keep the Dukes alive. Hopefully we’ll see us at a Dukes event.
Keep it between the ditches.
With best regards form Germany,
Bernd
Bernd
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