Before I get to the great things I recently bought from Cooter's Place, let's take a minute a think about how lucky we are as Dukes of Hazzard fans to have a place like Cooter's Place. Mickey Mouse fans have Disney World, Superman fans have Metropolis, IL, Steelers fans have Heinz Field, and Dukes of Hazzard fans have Cooter's Place. A museum, gathering place, event center, go-cart track, and gift shop owned by an actual cast member from our favorite show. How is that not mind blowing? There have been several locations, starting in Sperryville, VA, then heading further south to the original Gatlinburg store which has since moved to a bigger locale, and of course the Nashville location. On a normal day you can walk into Cooter's as be overwhelmed by the ammount of Golden Era memorabilia on display. You would also be surprised by the number of new items you can buy. Not just diecast General Lees, but hundreds of t-shirts, signs, golf balls...so many different items. Some days you might wander in and be greeted by Cletus or Enos. Rich Hurst and Sonny Shroyer make several appearances at each store throughout the year. You might even see Ben himself with the lovely Alma. If you you were there on a special day last June, you could see every cast member there. Every Dukes fan out there should visit Cooter's Place. Not just once, but often.
The next beg event to be held at Cooter's Place is coming up on June 14th and 15th, 2014. It's called Rockabilly Saturday Night with special guest Catherine Bach. Daisy and Cooter along with Alma honor Sun Records with stars of Rockabilly music. It will be a great event. I hope to see you there. More info on the event can be found on Cootersplace.com.
Along with great events and appearances, Cooter's Place also offers great Dukes items. They have creative people working hard on new projects. I recently bought a few new pieces that are great additions to the collection.
Contrary to most of the Dukes items I buy, I might actually use these things for what they are made for. I could display them, or I could use them and display them later. First is this Boars Nest beer mug. It's made of glass and printed on both sides.
It's a little hard to make out the logo. I inserted a piece of paper so you could see the printing. It's one of those items that makes you think you visited Hazzard and bought a souvenir. You know I love those. Visiting Cooter's Place is about as close as you can get to visiting Hazzard County.
This is a great 01 wallet. I love the items that only have the 01 on them. I can't wait to see what other items come out...in say June.
It has a big bold 01 on a orange background on both sides.
The inside has multiple pockets for all kind of good stuff. Though it looks somewhat empty.
Much better. Wonder if I could convince someone to add a Dukes Collector card into every wallet at Cooter's. Maybe I'll put one in them next time I go. Or perhaps Brad will do a covert mission for me.
Speaking of business cards. This is such a great piece. It's a Dukes of Hazzard 01 business card holder. If only I had Dukes of Hazzard 01 business cards to put inside it.
They look so great in there. I've actually been looking for a good card holder. Then this popped up on their site. Fate? Perhaps. I'll buy another one down the road to display. I'm using this thing everyday. It is just so perfect.
They just offered these new keychains for sale. These are such a good idea, you'd think they should have always been available.
The back of each keychain has Cooter's logo as well as the address and phone number of both locations.
The artwork used on each of these is very nice. The General Lee has its vector wheels, push bar, everything you's expect. This is a great representation of our favorite car.
What I like most about these kychains, is they didn't just stop at the General. Cooter's Tow Truck is the next obvious choice. It is Cooter's Place after all. Another great rendition.
Daisy's Dixie Jeep is another great keychain. No common mistakes on this one. Larger companies like Johnny Lightning often print "Daisy" on the hood, but people that know and love Dukes made these products and sure didn't make mistakes.
The last in the series is Rosco's patrol car. Sure, this isn't a diecast replica, but it is great to see Rosco's car in the correct 1978 Dodge Monaco. All of these keychains look great. If you have a full size replica of any of these cars, these would make the perfect add on to your keys. I'm talking to you Sam and Jim. You guys have to buy this Rosco keychain for your patrol car. And all you General Lee owners should buy the General Lee keychain, Heath, Matt, Dave, it's a no-brainer.
The next item is also a no-brainer. It's a musical Dixie horn keychain. Push the button, hear Dixie. Perfect. With the show coming back to TV (in glorious HD, thanks CMT!) new young fans are discovering the Dukes. They want to play too. Several people have asked me if an item like this is available. Recently Janessa contacted me about a bicycle horn for her daughter. This would work perfect. It is loud enough and the horn sounds good. If someone else hit this button around me, I would probably check my phone to see if I had a text message. Yup.
The final item I picked up is a doozy. This is the 35th Anniversary Dukes of Hazzard Cooter's Place Commemorative Coin. That's a long title. I may have made it up. The coin is dated 2014 and has an image of Ben on the front.
The back has a picture of Cooter's tow truck as well as the web address. This is a really cool unique collectible that Alma came up with. To my knowledge, this is the only item out there that commemorates the 35th anniversary.
This coin is much bigger than I expected. I was expecting it to be around the size of a quarter. As you can see this bad boy dwarfs a silver dollar. It is heavy and shiny. It is really a striking piece. I bet even coin collectors would love to add this to their collection. Doesn't Ben look great next to George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower? Three great Americans there.
A lot of the time the items I feature on the blog are rare and I fight tooth and nail to get them (outbid someone on ebay). All of these great pieces are readily available at both Cooter's Place locations as well as online at Cootersplace.com. You could call them at 615-872-8358 and Jacqueline, Michael, or any of the great staff would love to take great care of you. Tell 'em Larry sent you.
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