It's finally here. The Greenlight we've all been waiting for. The Cooter's Place Exclusive Greenlight 1/64 Hazzard County Garage 1969 Chevy Tow Truck is without question my favorite Greenlight so far!
Us Dukes of Hazzard fans are so blessed to have Cooter's Place. This hobby wouldn't be where it is if Ben and Alma didn't love the fans like they do. And it's not just Ben and Alma. The Cooter's team, lead by the incomparable Michael Smith, work so hard to keep Cooter's Place at the forefront of the Dukes of Hazzard world. This newest Dukes Greenlight diecast was a collaboration with many people involved including Ben, Alma, Michael, and so many more. The love everyone put into this piece really shows and we get to reap the rewards as Dukes fans. This is a very special little truck.
I'm so happy to see a Greenlight Hazzardous Collection diecast that has different, not generic, packaging. And this packaging is beautiful. The diamond plate design with a nice patina is the background and Cooter's Logo is front and center. Behind the truck is the Hazzard County Garage logo that's seen on the truck. The truck is labeled as the 1969 Chevy Tow Truck. Michael and the design team did an incredible job on the front.
The back of the package is just as nice. It features a classic picture of Ol' Crazy Cooter reaching out to the Hazzard Net on his trusty CB. Any y'all Dukes got your ears on? Come Back! The stylized, black and white photo looks great on the back of the card. The Cooter's logo is perfectly placed on the top left. Greenlight's info looks good above Cooter.
They chose the best picture for this design. You just know Cooter is outside his garage and saw Boss Hogg and Rosco trying to swindle the unsuspecting citizens of Hazzard out of their hard earned cash. He's filling the Dukes in on what he saw and is discussing his role in Luke's plan to set everything right. We know the Dukes, with the help of Cooter, will foil Boss's latest scheme.
Below Mr. Davenport is Greenlight's legal information. The website is featured, but this release isn't on their site. It's an exclusive that can only be found on the
Cooter's Place website and at the three Cooter's locations.
Let's take a look at this beauty. And it is a beauty. Michael and the crew nailed it. This is the version of Cooter's rig that we've always wanted.
Throughout the series, there were several different versions of the red, white, and blue wrecker. The red push bar was chosen to adorn the front of this truck and it looks great.
The boom looks perfect on the rear of the rig.
This is just one great looking truck.
The Hazzard County Garage, Cooter Davenport Prop. logo is perfect. But what else would we expect from Cooter's Place?
There's a tiny SU 0265 license plate on the boom. It's super small but looks great.
The bottom of the truck has 1969 Chevrolet C30 Tow Truck on it and each truck is numbered. This particular truck in #3634.
Just like other Greenlight Dukes diecasts, there's a Greenie chase version. I'll let you in on a little secret. I got to give my input on the Greenie! Michael asked me what combination the Greenie should be. My opinion was to go with the classic green wheels and chassis. And that's what was chosen. The other options were just green wheels, or a green cab. I thought the green cab against the red boom would look Christmasy, and only green wheels and no chassis wouldn't be enough green. I'm honored by opinion was used and I'm so happy I got to be a small part of this production. Without question, this is my favorite Green Machine in all of Greenlight's lineup.
I just don't think an all green cab would have looked right. This is definitely the right look for the Greenie.
The green chassis just makes the truck look more special. It's a special edition, no question. Thank you so much Ben, Alma, and Michael for including me in this amazing diecast.
Someone else who loves this release as much as me is Ol' Crazy Cooter himself. He had to take some pictures with the new Tow Truck.
He can't decide if he likes the front or the back of the package more.
This is the best 1/64 Cooter's Tow Truck, but isn't the first. Let's take a look at Cooter's entire fleet. He needs everyone of them to keep the General Lee on the road.
Ertl was the first to bring us Dukes diecasts in the golden era of the Dukes. They created a new mold for the General Lee and Boss's Caddy, but the other cars in the line were repurposed older molds. The Cooter's truck is the most generic in the line. It's a standard brown pickup with a even more generic Cooter's Garage sticker on it. There are two different versions of this truck. This standard bed, and a step side bed version. I couldn't find the other version in my collection. I know it's around here somewhere.
We'll look at the other Cooter's trucks in chronological order. In the silver era, we got the magical
Racing Champions 1/144 line. You know how much love I have for this line. The tow truck in the line was, until today, the best representation of Cooter's trusty steed. I sure do love these tiny cars.
Somewhere along the way, Cooter's Place released a custom Matchbox tow truck. It's similar to the 97¢ Hotwheels and Matchbox cars at Walmart. It was a limited edition that came in a cardboard box. It's a great release, it just doesn't have the level of detail as most Dukes diecasts these days. It's basically the Ertl version we never got in the golden era. I still love it.
Johnny Lightning took a few cracks at Cooter's wrecker during their famed Dukes line.
Series 5 came out in 2008 and included this 1965 Chevy Tow Truck. This brown version isn't as recognizable as the red, white, and blue one, but is a good replica.
Series 7 also came out in 2008. The final series in the line included a pickup from Cooter's fleet that was seen in several early episodes. It's fun, but still not as good as the new GL.
The 1/144 and the Cooter's exclusive Matchbox match the design, but there is definitely a new king in town when it comes to 1/64 Cooter's Tow Truck.
The vehicles of 1/64 Hazzard County will be much safer now that Cooter's fleet has a new lead dog.
The Hazzard County Garage logo looks best on the blue door of the new tow truck.
The Johnny Lightning
Series 3 General Lees is the best 1/64 representation of our favorite flying orange clunker car. It's the king of all Dukes 1/64 diecasts. The king has a new jack. Sitting beside the General Lee on top of all Dukes diecasts is the brand new Cooter's Place Exclusive Greenlight Cooter's Tow Truck.
I had to use a little camera trickery, (a piece of folded duct tape) but I got the Gen'ral up on the boom. I've been waiting a long time to take this picture. Cooter's will have the Duke boys up and running in no time!
This new tow truck is so special. It's so great the Greenlight and Cooter's came together to make this for us. The 1/64 scale has so many great Dukes vehicles in it. What's your favorite diecast line? 1/64 or 1/18? If only we were getting a 1/18 Cooter's Tow Truck! We are!
Breaking news! It was announced today, on Cooter's pages and on
my twitter (I love when I get to make announcements!) that Cooter's has finalized a deal with Greenlight to produce the sought after Cooter's Tow Truck in 1/18 scale. The truck will be highly detailed on par with the
1/18 Dixie Jeep and the
1/18 Rosco Patrol Car. Some production details are still being ironed out, but Michael is hard at work making this new release awesome. I'm honored to say I get to give some input on this one too. It's going to be great. There will be two versions of the 1/18. There will be a standard Greenlight Hazzardous Collection version that will come in a box similar to the Jeep and patrol cars, and there will be a Cooter's Place exclusive that will have packaging similar to the 1/64. We are working on the possibility of adding some exclusive features and Easter eggs to the Cooter's Place version. Stay Tuned for more details as they become available. This is so much fun! Crazy Cooter, over and out!
