New Dukes Stuff - 10/29/2018 - Paint A Plaque, Novel Hardcover, Cast Belt Buckles, Slide Puzzles

I'm not wasting any time getting to the next batch of Dukes items here at DukesCollector HQ.  I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in.

DukesCollector Cooter is doing his best Rachel Reynolds impression to show off this stunner.  This item is super rare!

This is the Dukes of Hazzard Paint A Plaque craft set.  I have only seen one picture of it online, I've never seen one sell, and saw one at Cooter's in Nashville.  Until now, I have never seen another.  I had it filled under "unknown item" in my archives.  I am so excited to add this impossible to find set to the collection.

This hobby and craft product was created by Dekkertoys in 1983.  Dekkertoys is a British company now known as Cesar UK.  They currently specialize in costumes and playhouses, similar to the Dukes of Hazzard tent, but had a long history of licensed crafts toys such as this item.  The Paint A Plaque set was not sold in America.

D Dekker LTD, the parent company to Dekkertoys was based in London.

The box features the finished product.  There are two plaques included.  The first one features our cousins over the General Lee and a big Dukes of Hazzard road sign.  The second plaque has Boss Hogg, Flash, the County Sheriff badge and some car wrecks.  You get a good guy plaque and a bad guy plaque.  The images used were previously seen on other items such as the lunchboxes, and that image of Flash was used on the Arco tent.

The box also features two spiffy dressed young Dukes fans hard at work painting their plaques.  Aside from being a Dukes devotee, the young lad is also a big fan of Robin Williams, judging from his suspenders.  An instruction sheet is pictured, but my set did not come with one.

The plaques themselves are quite thin.  My guess is they would become more substantial when the included paint is applied.  They are clear and I think you are supposed to paint the reverse side.  There are eight little paint tubes included.

There is a lot of action on each plaque.  I really like the artwork.  It would take a skilled painter to finish these off as perfect as the ones pictured on the box.  I'm sure glad mine are unpainted.  This incredibly rare item came to me by way of our pal, Bernd Tiemann.  I'm so glad Bernd gave me the opportunity to add this unique piece to the collection.  Thank you again my friend!

Next up are two Cast and Crew belt buckles.  These buckles were given out by the producers each year the show was on the air.  I have been meaning to track some down, but when they appear on ebay they usually go for high prices.  These two made their way to me within the same week, and I really wasn't even looking for them.

The 1984 buckle comes from the collection of Rosco P. Coltrane himself, the late James Best.  It is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by James' wife, Dorothy Best.  Our good buddy JR Garrett acquired it from Dorothy and then sold it to me.  Thanks JR!

It has James' autograph inscribed on the back.

The front is flawless.  This is a really nice example of these buckles and it is obvious it was never worn.

The other one has a little wear to it.  It is the 1983 version and was probably worn on a belt before.  It still displays very well though.  I picked it up online for a very good price.

They are both marked Trophy King on the back.

Cooter tried one on for size and really liked it.

Another super rare item I added to the collection is the hardcover version of the Dukes of Hazzard novel Gone Racin' by Eric Alter.  I had no idea this existed.

You may remember that I did a book report on Gone Racin' last summer.  It is a novel that takes place between seasons 4 and 5 and explains why Bo and Luke left the farm, how they got on the NASCAR circuit, and tells about how Coy and Vance took their place.  It is a fascinating read as it discusses things that are never mentioned on the show.  I recommend tracking down the paperback and checking it out.  This hardcover, on the other hand, won't be as easy to track down as this is the only one I have ever seen.  It was released by Severn House in 1982, the same year as the two paperback versions.

This particular copy of the hardcover is in excellent condition.  It has a plastic sleeve on it that has protected it over the last three decades.

Stunningly it was a library book that was actually checked out.  It was in the Stockport Libraries in the United Kingdom and seems to have been last checked out in 2000.  I appears it was withdrawn from circulation in 2016 and stored in the basement.   Now it's a part of my library and stored in my collection.  It will never be checked out again.  I sure am glad the library goers took such good care of it when they checked it out.  I'm glad they treated it better than Jerry treated Tropic of Cancer, and really happy Bookman didn't have to come looking for it.

It really is in perfect condition.  It does not include the picture pages the American version of the paperback has.  This version was only released in the United Kingdom and I am very fortunate to have found it.

Though the cover has a 1982 date on it, the publishing information states it was published in 1983.  Who knows how these dates work.  I guess this version came out after the paperbacks.  Severn House Publishers LTD released this version, but the other two were published by other companies.

The American version, left, was released by Warner Books, the British paperback, right, was released by Armada Books.  The hardcover has the most complete version of the artwork on it.  This artwork is used on several other items, most recognizably on the shoe box and album.  It seems the unedited piece of art is on the hardcover with differently edited versions used on the two different paperbacks.

Eric Alter wrote a fun story that is very surprising and different from what you would expect.  Dukes fans would be doing themselves a favor by reading it.  The paperback version isn't all that hard to find.

Cooter took my advice and dove in right away.  He is having a blast reading it.  His favorite parts are about the Hazzard County mechanic.  Imagine that.

Finally, I picked up a few packaged slide puzzles.  There are four different slide puzzles and I have them all out of package.  Slowly I have been getting them all in the package and I almost have them all.  But I just found out they came in different packages.  Items like this that were licensed out by WB were slapped into whatever package the manufacturers had at the time.  They are not specific to the license and I am sure this manufacturer used the same package for Strawberry Shortcake, A-Team, Smurfs, and a bunch of other puzzles.

There are a few differences to the actual puzzle in addition to being in different packages.  Notice the road is concrete colored on the left and more dirt road looking on the right.  The left actually has Dukes of Hazzard printed on the package, though there is a sticker covering most of it.  I love finding these kinds of different packages.  Oddly enough, the slide puzzle I played with most as a kid, so much so that I think I could hold my own pretty well on Survivor, is the only one that I haven't yet found in package.

There are four different ones and I guess I have variations of three of those.  They one I played with endlessly as a kid is the red one on the left.

The blue one features the entire cast.  I have a blue one and a sort of greenish blue one.  The discoloration might come from age, but they might have been in different packages.

The green one is the color of money.  It features Boss Hogg.  I noticed a tiny difference in the two as  the one on the right has small green lines on the underside of Boss's hat.  The left one doesn't have these lines.  I am guessing these two came in different packaging.

I have these two in the package and out.  The same differences as a discussed above.

And finally my favorite one.  Now I had a good bit of Dukes stuff when I was a kid, obviously nothing compared to what I have now, but this piece was special.  I would play with this slide puzzle for hours.  My sister would too.  My mom helped me solve it so many times.  I always thought it was funny the Gen'ral's tires were yellow.  I'm going to have to move the pieces and take another stab at solving this puzzle.  Yeehaw!!!!

The Dukes Of Hazzard: Gone Racin' - A Book Report

Did you know there was an official story of how Bo and Luke went to NASCAR and were replaced on the farm by Coy and Vance?

No, not the story of how John and Tom left the show and were replaced by Byron and Chris, but an actual "in cannon" story of the events that lead to Bo and Luke leaving Hazzard to chase their stock car racing dreams and how Coy and Vance ended up back in Hazzard!

The Dukes of Hazzard: Gone Racin' by Eric Alter is a novel that was released in 1982.  It is a collectible that's a little on the rare side but I've had it in my collection for quite some time.  I have both the standard American version and the British version.  Both of them are in excellent condition and I never really wanted to read them because it would crease the spine of the paperback.

The front of both editions have similar artwork that is used on a number of different items but most noticeably used on the album cover and the shoe box.  The American version has been photoshopped in a weird manner that cuts away the top of the General Lee to show the bottoms of the characters.

The British version doesn't have this oddity on it.

Each version has a different familar Dukes of Hazzard logo on top.  The backs of each version are more different than the front.  The American version has more artwork that includes another picture of the Gen'ral, the police car, and the Jeep.  Also included are actual pictures, not artwork, of Coy and Vance looking quite out of place (don't they always look out of place?)  The British version just has text.  The blurbs on the back of each are similar, but have a few differences.  The British version refers to our favorite car as only "The General." It also separates the third paragraph and for some reason has it in a different color than the rest.  The American version has everything in one paragraph.

Originally I thought that the only reason the other cousins, Coy and Vance, were added to the back cover were because this book came out in '82, during John and Tom's strike, but had already been written with Bo and Luke as the stars.  I thought they included Coy and Vance just because they would be on TV when it was released.  I was wrong.  This book actually tells the tale of Bo and Luke leaving Hazzard!  I was blown away by this story.  It really was surprising.

A few years ago, I bought a copy of the book in rough condition and more or less forgot about it.  Recently I have been organizing everything and adding items to the new DukesCollector.com collection database and got the three different copies of the book together.  I decided that it was time to finally read the only official Dukes novel so I took the beat up copy with me to the beach and read it as I sat in the sand before playing volleyball every day.  I really expected this book to be on the same level as today's "young adult" books:  geared toward young readers and pretty basic.  I was really surprised that the book was well done and had a story that really kept me involved.  Ok, I would be excited about any Dukes story, but it is definitely on a much higher level than the read along stories that came with record and tapes that were geared toward elementary students.

Right off the bat, you recognize that the narrator is not the balladeer from the show.  There is a narrator, but he just doesn't have the same feel for the story as Waylon.  It is obvious that the author didn't try to replicate Waylon's style and that is appreciated.  The book does start off like a typical episode, but the narrator goes into a little more detail introducing the reader to Hazzard County and the characters.  The book is meant to be read by fans of the show, but could also be enjoyed by folks who never saw an episode.  At the beginning, Bo and Luke are flying through Hazzard in the General Lee, whose "engine sounds like a herd of angry buffalo."  There are a lot of phrases like this throughout the book.  The Dukes have an impromptu race with a blue sedan and both cars get chased by Rosco.  The Duke Boys out-drive the out-of-towner and Rosco ends up in the pond.  Typical Dukes stuff that we love.  That is followed by a scheme by Boss Hogg to swindle the Duke Farm away from the Dukes, nothing new here.  One addition from the beginning of the book that I loved was the introduction of Barnard Pugh, from "the County Land Assessors Office" that was sent by Boss Hogg to estimate what the foreclose auction would bring.  A Real Estate Appraiser!  In Hazzard County!  Just like me!!  Boss's latest scheme involved phony back taxes and making the Dukes come up with $10,000 or he would foreclose on the farm so he could build "Hoggland, a year-round resort for vice and corruption."  Nothing too far from the TV show yet.

A little more backstory is given to some characters than we ever see in the show.  The story of Uncle Jesse being the best moonshiner around is told.  It goes into detail about the government taxing liquor and moonshiners evading the taxes.  It tells about Jesse running from the Revenuers and being the best at it.  It also mentions that Bo came to live with Jesse first as a teenager followed by Luke, then Daisy.  And then about Jesse letting the boys go on one moonshine run and how hey got caught their first time.  It then tells about the deal Jesse made with the government to keep the boys out of prison and on probation.  All of that is from the first four pages of chapter two.  It is also mentioned that Bo and Luke are both 21 years old.  Their age is never mentioned on the show.

After the introductions, the book really sways away from a standard episode.  The driver of the blue sedan from the beginning turns out to be stock car world champion Fireball Watson.  A detailed story about how moonshiners evading revenuers lead to the creation of stock car racing is included.  The Duke Boys impressed Champion Fireball Watson with their driving skills and he says if he can ever help them out, to look him up.  They then see an article that says the winner of the Daytona 500 could take home $100,000.  After that the Dukes enter the General Lee in to the Daytona 500.  Yup.  The story is only a little over the top.  Well, I guess a little more than a little.  Bo, Luke, Daisy, Uncle Jesse, and Cooter form the Dukes Family Racing Team and travel to Florida.  Boss Hogg can't let the the Dukes win the big race so he employs a new patrol car for Rosco to chase the General Lee in.  The new car has a name, the Exterminator, and is described as the fastest, most powerful patrol car available.  The make or model of the car is never detailed nor is any information given about the appearance of the car, but I sort of pictured it as being similar to the Johnny Lightning Hazzard County Patrol Car Zinger.

The Exterminator is a fun new addition and plays in to the story a lot throughout the book.

The Dukes get into several adventures on the way to Florida including driving an accident victim to the hospital in the General and getting a police escort over the state line.  Boss, Rosco, and Cletus also travel to Florida and there are scenes similar to the the (later) final season episode "The Dukes in Hollywood" that are fish out of water scenarios that include Boss Hogg living it up in a luxury hotel.   When the Dukes finally make it to the Sunshine State they see the ocean for the first time and camp out on the beach.

Along their adventure the cousins each find love interests, Bo and Luke meet twins Tonya and Tamara, daughters of Fireball Watson and Daisy falls for Houston Crawford II, the son of the biggest race promoter in NASCAR.  One aspect of the story that stuck out to me was Luke seemed to be more impulsive than Bo and Bo was more level headed and is the cousin to get the family out of a jam.  The author sort of switched those role between the cousins.  There was also one instance in the book that said "Bo and Duke..." which is an error that always bugged me when it would show up in articles and advertisements.

The General doesn't jump that often in the story, but there is a big one in the book.  During a police chase where the entire Daytona police force, and the Exterminator are chasing the Duke Boys they take the Gen'ral off the pier and jump him into the ocean.  Yeah I guess the book is a little too over the top. The General Lee was going so fast before the jump that it skips across the water and the boys are able to stop on the beach and hide out under the pier to escape.  The big climax involves the General Lee racing in the Daytona 500 and Rosco, in the Exterminator, actually chases them around the track.

While reading the book, sitting on the beach, I commented to Natalie that they could actually tie this in to the TV story line and leave Bo and Luke on the NASCAR circuit and bring in Coy and Vance.  I was still under the impression that this book was planned before John and Tom left and it coincidentally had an over the top story about Bo and Luke chasing their dream to race on the NASCAR circuit.  After the story was resolved in the book, the NASCAR promoters offered Bo and Luke positions as drivers and they declined because they had responsibilities on the farm.  Then Uncle Jesse told them that they should follow their dreams and don't worry about the working on the farm because he just received a letter from his other nephews who are "tired of wandering all over the world" and want to come back to Hazzard County.  I was stunned.  When was this book written??  Was this ending added to accommodate for the departure of Bo and Luke?  I'm left with answers to so many questions.  I've been pretty deep inside the Dukes of Hazzard world for quite a while and I've never known there was an official story that took place between seasons 4 and 5.  I'm really surprised that I've never talked to another Dukes fanatic about this book.

One issue that I had with the book is a coin flip between Bo and Luke to decide who drives the Gen'ral in the Daytona 500.  They flipped a coin a few times before in the story and it was established that this was a normal occurrence.  The final flip is the big one.  Bo flips the coin and and doesn't show it.  Luke called tails and Bo peeked under his hand.  It was tails but Bo told Luke it was heads.  Bo lied to Luke and took the wheel of the General Lee.  The entire time I was reading the rest of the book I thought that lie was going to come back somehow, but it never did.  It was often expressed how much the family meant to each other and how the Dukes don't lie and right before the big finish, Bo lied to Luke.  I've always been a "Bo guy" so it upset me that his character was smeared a little.  I'm not sure why the author included that part and never revisited it.  Odd.

In the end, the story flowed right into the first episode of season 5.  Again, I am shocked that I never knew much about this book.  If you have one in you collection, give it a read.  I left a lot of details out of this book report and hopefully didn't spoil it for anyone who actually plans on reading it.  There are a few pages of pictures in the middle of the book and I included them below,  nothing that has to do with the story and nothing we haven't seen before.  The Dukes of Hazzard: Gone Racin' is a surprising and fun book, a great addition to the collection, and an important part of the Dukes of Hazzard legend that I never knew existed.