Greenlight has done it again! For the first time ever, we have a 1/18 representation of Uncle Jesse's Pickup to add to our collections.
Part of Greenlight's 1:18 line, the diecast is labeled as simply the 1973 Ford F-100. Like the Rosco car before it, there is no mention of the Dukes of Hazzard. This is a totally unlicensed release. There is only one detail that really makes it a Dukes vehicle. We'll get to that soon. If you didn't know this was a part of Greenlight's unofficial "Hazzardous" line, you would think this is just a very nice Ford truck replica. The box has a back roads theme that fits the truck nicely.
The side of the box shows off the truck and has a familiar image on it. More on that soon.
The back of the box sells it like it's selling the actual Ford truck. "Works like a truck, rides like a car" was a slogan used by Ford to sell their trucks for several years. There are no veiled attempts to reference Uncle Jesse or Hazzard County on the box. I was hoping for something fun like Auto World's "Oh, One Can Imagine" with its sly 01. But alas, nothing sublte here.
The top of the box has a big ol' Ford emblem on it. You have to hand it to Ford for staying true to a logo for over a century. That's Coca-Cola level commitment right there. Good for you Ford!
The back of the box has Greenlight's info including their social media stuff. It also has Ford's legal info on it. Absent, sadly, is Warner Bros.'s info. I just really wish this was a licensed product.
The diecast itself is beautiful. It's hard to believe it took so long to get a casting of such a good looking truck. I'm not sure Uncle Jesse ever had his truck so clean, but this thing sure shines.
Nothing jumps out at me as being incorrect. I would say I'm an expert on the details of the General Lee, and I can spot something that doesn't belong on Daisy's Dixie Jeep or Rosco's Patrol Car, but I don't know every little thing about our Uncle's Ford truck. It looks good to me!
This is one good looking front end. There is a lot of detail to the grill and little things like the windshield wipers and rear view mirror are all represented.
The one detail that makes it a Hazzard vehicle for sure is the license plate. CL 7634 is Uncle Jesse's plate and it's right there on the back of the truck. Greenlight isn't just offering a white 1973 Ford F-100, there is no question that this truck belongs to Uncle Jesse Duke, of the Dukes of Hazzard.
The doors and tailgate all open. They have a nice solid feel to them and the hinges work smooth. These are very nice details of this diecast replica.
Let's go back to the plate. It is Jesse's correct number, CL 7634. But it says Georgia above the number. This is what an actual license plate in Georgia at the time the Dukes of Hazzard was on TV would have looked like, but not the plates used on the Dukes.
The most memorable plates used on the Dukes were the light brown with red ones. They were modeled after actual Georgia plates of the time, but omitted Georgia from the top and had Hazzard County, or just Hazzard, on the bottom. Maybe Greenlight didn't want to get too close to copyrighted material by including "Hazzard," but didn't seem to feel the same way when they released the 1977 Plymouth Fury Hazzard County Sheriff release.
It's time for my patented scale comparison pictures. Usually when a new Dukes diecast is released in a scale it hasn't been in before, I line up all the other scales, like 1/64 and 1/25 and it makes a pretty good picture. Here's the new 1/18 Uncle Jesse truck next to the 1/144 version. Not the most dynamic picture, but it proves that Uncle Jesse has been criminally under-represented in the Dukes diecast game. I'm glad Greenlight is fighting the good fight for the Dukes patriarch.
Racing Champions made a great Uncle Jesse pickup in 1/144 way back in the silver era, in 1997. We finally have another entry to put beside it.
Ok, there is one version of Uncle Jesse's pickup in 1/64. Included in Series 3 of the massive Dukes of Hazzard line from Johnny Lightning, Uncle Jesse was represented in "hotwheel size" in 2007. But, it's an incorrect Chevy truck, and, for some reason, it has blue interior. One of the few misses from JL's Dukes line.
One of these things is not like the other ones, one of these things doesn't belong.
Now I'm not he biggest fan of mixing lines. I never really thought the Mego 3 and 3/4 inch Bo and Luke figures looked right posed with a 1/18 diecast General Lee. The figures are cartoonish and the cars are replicas. That's just my opinion. But I had to put the Mego Uncle Jesse with this truck. It fits. Mego Bo and Luke get their Gen'ral, Mego Dasiy has her Jeep, Mego Boss, Rosco and Cletus all have cars. Poor Jesse never gets a vehicle. He finally has one. Unfortunatley he can't fit inside. He looks great next to it though. Now we gotta find a vehicle for poor Mego Cooter... ahem Greenlight!
I very much love this new release from Greenlight. Greenlight is carving out a nice piece of land in Hazzard County and I'm very excited about their future. But I have a few gripes. Two vehicles in and there is no continuity. The Uncle Jesse box looks nothing like the Rosco box. Granted, they are from different Greenlight lines. The Fury is in the Artisan Collection and the F-100 is in the 1:18 line. But they should both be in the Dukes of Hazzard line and have similar boxes. I'm sure it has to do with Warner Bros. not letting Greenlight have the license; it just makes the differences in design that much more noticeable.
The box designs of the Greenlight Hazzard vehicles don't lend themselves to in-the-box display. Nothing about them is coherent.
Well, almost nothing. They do share the same image on the side of the box. As I said in my post about the Rosco car from Greenlight, the image looks like a cotton plantation, not a moonshine still. Someone has a skewed image of what part of Georgia Hazzard County is in.
Another similarity the two boxes share is the lack of Warner Bros. legal information. I really want these cars to be licensed.
Outside of the boxes, the two 1/18 Greenlight diecasts look much better together. Let's say there are seven "main" cars in Hazzard County. The General Lee and Rosco's Patrol are the only ones to get 1/18 replicas until now. Daisy's Plymouth, the Double Zero, and Cooter's Camaro are nice, but we want to recreate the scenes that were in every episode of Dukes. We want the Dixie Jeep, Boss's Caddy, and Cooter's Tow Truck. Greenlight checked one of those boxed by giving us a car that's in most episodes, Jesse's pickup. It looks great next to Rosco's patrol car.
It has become apparent that I can't review a new 1/18 Hazzard vehicle without getting out the gold standard in 1/18 Hazzard vehicles, Auto World's Silver Screen Machines 1/18 General Lee. Uncle Jesse's truck fits in perfectly with the top dog. We're building a average day in 1/18 Hazzard County here.
I might have to get a 1/18 Dukes farm back drop. It looks like Bo and Luke washed Uncle Jesse's truck and the General and really want to show them off. It won't last long though, something will go wrong soon in Hazzard and the Duke family will have to drive through puddles and jump ponds to make it right. That's tough on the car wash.
They were made to be together.
Greenlight didn't add the 83522 plate to their Rosco Car. Auto World's CNH 320 isn't quite right. I guess we just can't get perfect license plates on these nearly perfect 1/18 Hazzard vehicles. I still love them.
My only complaint about this new 1973 Ford F-100 from Greenlight Collectibles is that it's not officially known as Uncle Jesse's 1973 Ford F-100 from Greenlight Collectible's Dukes of Hazzard line. I really command Greenlight for making these new cars without having Warner Bros. backing. They recognize that there is a market for new Dukes of Hazzard items. They are giving us Dukes fans the unique new items we want. I just wish WB would see that and loosen the reigns. Let's all scream it together: WE WANT NEW DUKES STUFF WARNER BROS.!!!!
Word is Greenlight isn't letting any grass grow in their 1/18 Hazzard County. Daisy' Dixie Jeep is coming along with patrol cars from Hazzard's neighboring counties. Greenlight isn't stopping at 1/18 either. I just got the 1/43 Hazzard County Sheriff so keep an eye on the blog for that and 1/64 is coming soon. Keep checking those boxes Greenlight! We want every car we can get in replica Hazzard County!
Uncle Jesse's 1/18 1973 Ford F-100 diecast pickup is available now at Cooter's Place.
