Greenlight Collectible's 1/24 Scale 1975 Dodge Monaco Hazzard County Sheriff Car

Greenlight is still at it.  I think these first few cars are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Greenlight's Hazzardous Collection.  The next offering in the collection is this Hazzard County Sheriff 1975 Dodge Monaco.  It's been a long time since we've had something new in the 1/24 or 1/25 scale Hazzard County.

Throughout filming the show, and especially in the first season, Warner Bros. used several different police car makes and models.  While they were mostly Dodge Monacos and Plymouth Furys, there were a few different years dressed in the Hazzard County Sheriff uniform.  It seems Greenlight is going to give us each different year and model.

The box design resembles the previous two Greenlight Hazzard police cars released.  I made the joke twice that it looks more like "Gone with the Wind" rather than Dukes of Hazzard.  I guess I made it three times now.

Again, there is no mention of Warner Bros. on the box.  This is not a licensed item.

I included the empty box in this picture to get a better look at the interior rear of the box.  Let's discuss the elephant in the room.

I'm not talking about the elephant that Bandit transported in the sequel to the hugely popular Smokey and the Bandit movie.  I'm talking about the Smokey and the Bandit logo adorning the inside of this (non-licensed) Dukes of Hazzard car.  WHAT??!?  Greenlight, what are you doing?  I'm pretty sure Smokey never chased Bandit through Hazzard County.  Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane never met Sheriff Buford T. Justice.  And we all know it wasn't until the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard movie that Bo and Luke met Burt Reynolds.  Someone at Greenlight Collectibles made a huge mistake attaching this logo to a Hazzard County car.  Odd that when I was looking for copyright material from Warner Bros. I didn't see any thing from Universal Pictures either.  Universal owns the licensing for Smokey and the Bandit.  Let's not make that mistake again Greenlight.

The car itself is another beauty.  Being smaller than the 1/18, you don't lose much in detail.  The light bar is permanently affixed to the the car, unlike Greenlight's recent 1/18 Rosco Car, and I like it better.

The Hazzard County Sheriff Department's logo is spot on.  This is definitely not Montague County or Portague County from Bandit.

Though it's not the 1977 and 1978 Monaco I most associate with Rosco, Enos, and Cletus, it was used on the show and looks like it's straight outta Hazzard.

Both front doors open and the dash and interior have some detail.  I'm very happy the light bar doesn't come off.

There are only two other diecast cars from Hazzard in 1/24 (of 1/25).  The General Lee, of course, and Daisy's Dixie Jeep.  The General Lee has been released in the scale countless times, but Dixie was only released once, in 1981, and is pretty hard to track down.

1/24 Bo and Luke have been driving in circles for thirty-eight years waiting for 1/24 Rosco to finally start chasing them.  Well boys, Rosco is in hot pursuit!  Buckle up for safety 1/24 scale Flash!  I love it, I love it!!!

This is the newest 1/25 General Lee that Johnny Lightning released, but it is the same casting as the original Ert release from the Golden Era.  JL just corrected the interior color.  The 1/25 is a tiny bit smaller than the 1/24, but you barely notice.

I pulled out a few variations of the 1/25 General Lee.  Here we have two from Ertl, one from Joyride, and one from Johnny Lightning.  They are all the same car with tiny differences.  I also have the Dixie boxed from 1981 and the new Greenlight 1/24 Monaco.  Another General Lee that this new Greenlight Rosco could chase around Hazzard County is the 1/24 scale Danbury Mint General Lee.  I haven't had that bad boy out in a while.

This is the third Greenlight Rosco car to come out this year, in the third different scale.  Greenlight isn't messing around.  It seems they've landed on a box theme, with the 1/18 being the exception because it was first.

I also grabbed a special edition "Green Machine" version of the 1/24 1975 Dodge Monaco.  I am new to Greenlight's cars, but it seems to me that the Green Machine series is similar to Johnny Lightning's White Lightning variants.  From what I am reading online, anywhere from 2% to 10% of the production number comes in this green wheeled variation.

All four wheels have "Greenlight-Green" metalic paint instead of the usual chrome.  I don't know specifically how many of the chase versions are out there, but this one didn't cost that much more than the regular version.  Everything else on the car and box, including the incorrect Smokey and the Bandit logo, are the same as the regular version.  To my knowledge this is the first car in Greenlight's Hazzardous collection to have a Green Machine variation.

So far we've got the 1/18 1977 Plymouth Fury, the 1973 Ford F-100, and the 1/43 1977 Plymouth Fury as well as this new 1/24 1975 Dodge Monaco.  Greenlight isn't taking their foot off the pedal in Hazzard County.  There are quite a few new cars coming soon.  I just wish they were licensed by Warner Bros.  Wouldn't we love to see what Greenlight could do with the General Lee?

New Dukes Stuff - Rare Items - Boxed Inflatable General Lee, 1/16 Steel & Yo-yos

I love my blog, did I ever mention that?  This blog has made collecting Dukes of Hazzard memorabilia so much more fun.  It has opened doors for me to make a bigger splash in our hobby, given me an opportunity to make so many friends, and has made it easier for me to add so many great pieces to the collection.  All of the items in this post are harder to find toys and I was able to snag nearly all of them outside of the normal avenues (ebay).  Why don't I share some pictures of each as well as a few stories about them and how them came my way?  Sounds like a good idea.

First up is an item I've been chasing for years.  In the early '80s, Ertl was the name in the Dukes of Hazzard toy game.  The 1/64, hot wheel size, diecast car was in every kid's toy box and the larger 1/25 diecast basically put larger diecasts cars on the map.  They were game changers.  Ertl had one more General Lee in their repertoire and it was a little different.  Over a decade before 1/18 was the collector's choice for detailed car models, Ertl dipped a toe into the very large scale replica waters with the 1/16 scale steel General Lee.

Though it didn't have the detail of the 1/25, the 1/16 steel car brought a different kind of metal car to the table.  It didn't have tiny pieces that could be easily broken.  This car came with a plastic ramp and was built to jump!

The box is a little different than other Ertl offerings.  The packaging on the smaller cars was primarily orange with yellow.  The box for the 1/16 steel is mostly brown.  The film reel images are on this box just as they are on the other Ertl cars.
 

The Dukes of Hazzard logo used a different font than most Dukes items.  There is one image of the Gen'ral in the air shared on all sides of the box.  This toy is meant to take the air.  My favorite cast photo appears on the back of the box.

The bottom of the box is pretty plain with Ertl's information on it.

"The fun of collecting is sharing with others" is the introduction to the Ertl Replica Collector's Club. There is a membership application on the bottom of the box.  Those words are very strong and I totally agree with them.  Sharing my collection with others has made collecting so much more fun.

As a kid, I had an Ertl catalog that featured this car (I need to get that catalog out...new blog idea!)  I loved seeing this logo on the car because, to me, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers logo.  Five year old Larry was sure the General Lee, and the Dukes, were Steelers fans just like me and my dad.  Online research tells me the the logo used on the box is called the Steelmark and signifies that the product was created using steel that was created in America in association with the American Iron and Steel Institute.  The logo was created in 1960 by AISI and was incorporated in the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise in 1962.  Very interesting stuff.  You can't tell me the Dukes aren't Steelers fans, I won't hear it.  

The car has many correct Genera Lee details such as the door and hood scoops and the decals.  The wheels are incorrect, but they still look pretty good.  The hood and trunk open and there is sort of a sharp edge to the steel car, different than the diecast versions.  As far as little details like a push bar or an accurate interior, those aren't there.  This car was built to be played with hard and skipped those features.  The plastic ramp is sturdy, as advertised.  The car comes screwed to the ramp with the ramp attached to the box.  

I have several loose versions of this car.  Most are rather played with but look great.  I never did have a ramp though.  I have been trying to add a boxed version to the collection for some time, but it never happened.  Recently a fellow collector contacted me through the blog and offered to sell me this boxed steel car and the following item.  We worked out a deal that made us both happy.  The condition of this boxed steel car is very nice.  Many that have sold on ebay recently haven't been in the same league with this bad boy so I'm very happy we made this deal.  I love my blog.

The next item is a doozy.  This is the Sit 'N' Play Inflatable General Lee Car mint in its original box. Wow!  I wrote a blog about my opened (and punctured) inflatable Gen'ral back in 2014.  I mentioned that I didn't have one in the box and even a picture of the box was hard to find online.  Now I have one in nearly perfect condition!

The American version of the inflatable General Lee is made by Arco. This is the Canadian version made by Grand Toys.  They licensed several Dukes toys from different manufacturers such as Acro and Knickerbocker to be sold to our friends in the north.  This version has the French translation on one side.  I would have to imagine the Canadian version is more rare than the American version which is already crazy rare still in the box.

The sides of the box have both languages on different panels.  Voiture gonflable means inflatable car.  I guess "Sit'N'Play" didn't have an exact translation.

The delighted young Oshkosh B'Gosh wearing Dukes fan on the package is sure enjoying his time on the car.  I can't be certain if that is a boy or girl on the package.  It actually looks a lot like my older sister when she was that age.  She had the same haircut.  Legend says that Katie loved the Dukes  of Hazzard when she was young and introduced her younger brother to the show.  There would be no DukesCollector if Katie hadn't shared the love for her once favorite show all those years ago.  Thanks Kate!  Also thanks to this young toy package model for looking like Kate.

The final few items on this post are also things I've been chasing for quite some time.  This is the entire set of Dukes of Hazzard Yo-yos by Duncan.  The name Duncan is synonymous with yo-yos (and also Donuts, but that's spelled differently).  Duncan popularized yo-yos in America and is still the leader in the yo-yo game today.  Naturally they would have jumped on board with the biggest franchise going in the early '80's.

The standard General Lee yo-yo has been in my collection for a long time.  While recently organizing the collection, I found out that I didn't have the other two, Daisy's Jeep and Rosco's Car.  For some reason I thought I had both, but they were nowhere to be found.  I then paid closer attention to the General Lee yo-yo I had and noticed there were different ones.  Great!  I took me quite some time to get them all.  I'm glad to say that there are five different Dukes of Hazzard Yo-yos and I have each one.  They are all "wheel yo-yos" which were a popular version of Duncan's famous toy.  The wheel yo-yo was popular before Dukes versions were introduced.  The only Dukes markings on the yo-yo are the words written on it.  The packaging for the General version features the car and the Duke Boys.

The different versions have different style wheels.  Though none of them have the General Lee's vector wheels, two have alloy style wheels that are very similar.  This one has five spokes while the most common one has eight.  All of the packaging is the same.

The third General Lee variation has no spokes and is similar to a police special type of wheel.

The packages on all three are the same.  You would have to be looking for a difference to notice the three variants.

The back of all five yo-yos are the same.  There is a a mail-away for extra string and illustrations for a few tricks.  There is a mini trick book included with the yo-yo.

Once I figured out that Daisy and Rosco were not in the collection, I had to find them.  It took me a surprisingly long time.  I found Diasy's CJ Jeep yo-yo on ebay a few months ago.  It is a little beat up, but better than nothing.  The picture of Daisy's jeep adds a rebel flag to the car and has the incorrect "Daisy" on the hood instead of Dixie, a forgivable error on Duncan's part.

The back of the package is the same as the Gen'ral.

Officially known as the Sheriff's Car Wheel Yo-yo, Rosco's addition from Duncan eluded me for too long.  Luckily, a new friend emailed me through the blog that he had just picked one up at a thrift store and was looking to sell it.  I love it when that happens.  An item I had been looking for found me!  The car on the package looks nothing like the Rosco's Patrol car we know and love.  The car shown is a two-door model with an eagle on the door and Hazzard County on the hood.  Who designed this package at Duncan?  That error in unforgivable!  Though a version of the General Lee yo-yo resembles a police special wheel, the actual Hazzard Police yo-yo has the same rims as the standard General Lee.  As far as I know, there are no variations of the Rosco and Daisy yo-yo.

 

Again, the back is the same.

I'm glad I found all three versions of the Dukes yo-yos, and then found out there were two more versions.  Dukes of Hazzard was so popular, they stuck the license on any toy available.  And I love tracking each and every one of them down.  I love even more when those items find their way to me without me looking! Thanks again!

Auto World/MPC's Brand New Snap-It General Lee Model Set Is A Great Toy!

Everyone knows I love getting new Dukes products.  This new snap together model kit from Auto World is my favorite new Dukes product in some time.  This may sound contradictory given that my blog is about collectibles, but I love this new product so much because it is not highly collectible.  It is basically a toy.  A very fun and playable toy.  A toy that can be enjoyed by all Dukes fans, especially the new, young ones that are just discovering the show on CMT.

I love my highly detailed Auto World 1/18 General Lee, but at a price tag of north of seventy bucks, it's not for everyone.  The newer 1/43 Gen'ral from AW has an even smaller target audience because it's smaller and costs nearly the same.  Ornaments. coffee mugs, and tin signs are great for us collectors, but there really need to be items geared to kids, and this new model is the perfect product.

You may be thinking, there is already a General Lee model kit, and it has been on the shelf throughout the Modern Age, the Silver Era, the Golden Era of the Dukes of Hazzard, and was even the only product on the shelves during the dark ages of Dukes.  You would be correct, but that model is a skill level 2 and requires paint and glue.

This new model is a skill level 1 and doesn't need anything but a Dukes fan for completion. Let's take a look at the box.

Even on a tiny representation of the decals included, the flag is missing.  But we have to hand it to Auto World, they continue to provide us with exciting new Dukes products while still maintaining Warner Bros' mandate about the flag on the exterior.

The front and smaller sides use the same artwork.  I believe this is new artwork for this model.  It is similar to the art used on several AW releases, but not the same.  It's a nice low angle picture of the General.  Low angles are used more often lately so as not to show the flag.  Just like in Auto Trader's commercial.  

One long side has a great profile shot of the actual product.  This is what your car will look like after it's done, unlike models that require paint and glue and feature a picture on the box of what your car will look like if you are a professional model builder.

The other side has a list of features in three different languages.  The whole world loves the Dukes.

How about we take a step by step look at the process of completing this model, and that sounds fun, right? Step one, open the box.  I will stop that joke right now.

There are a few part trees along with the body, decals and wheels.  For some reason, I got two decal sheets. I'm not sure if everyone does in case they mess up during application, or if I was randomly chosen as a super great terrific Dukes of Hazzard fan.  I'm going with the latter.

Who is the lucky graphic designer out there who gets paid to draw pictures of the General Lee in production?  I envy you.  The 01s look great.

On the inside of the roof on the main body piece is all the WB trademark info.  It gets very specific with the manufacturing location in China.  I love seeing 2014 and Dukes together.

Here are all the pieces before being taken off the trees.

I thought maybe one set of decals was water slide and one standard, but they are both regular old stickers.  I wonder why they are on different color backs.  I also wonder why I got two - probably because of the terrific super fan thing.

I love the inclusion of the tiny CNH-320 plate decal.  Great attention to detail AW!

The vector wheels, roll bar, push bar, CB radio, and antenna are also great attention to detail.  You really knocked this one out of the park AW.

Here is a shot of all the pieces taken off the trees before assembly.  It really isn't that many pieces.

The first step in the instruction is the completion of the interior.  It includes the seats, steering wheels, gear shift, a tiny CB radio, and the roll bar.

Tiny Lost Sheep can use the tiny CB to call Bo Peep, Shepard, or Crazy Cooter.

Next you put together the four wheels.   They each consist of three pieces.  These are great renditions of the vectors.

These look better than the Johnny Lightning's 1/18 wheel.

Step 3 is very easy.  Use the only metal pieces to connect the wheels to the base.

The next step requires a piece that, momentarily, I thought I didn't have.  Then I realized it was orange and found it connected to the inside of the body piece.

The front grill goes together fairly easily.  To me, a Charger, even an orange Charger, doesn't look right without a push bar.

Much better.  Step four of the instructions is now complete.

You then attach the rear lights, bumper, gas cap, and antenna.  You also affix the windshield piece to the inside of the orange body.

The final step in the construction is putting the three pieces, base, interior, and body all together.  I found this to be the hardest step.  But I got them together.  The instructions instruct you to put the decals on as you go, but I waited until last.

Not a bad looking orange charger.  If you saw this rolling down the road you, the wheels and push bar would tell you it was on the way to get Generalized.

The gas cap and antenna are great touches.

On no, it's the dreaded bald General Lee.  The decals are easy to put on, just peel and place.

I put the flag on before the General Lee text.  It seemed easier to place them that way.

Here is the final product.  It looks great.  Sure, it doesn't have the appearance of a real car like a painted detailed model, but it still makes one heck of a great toy.

The wheels roll and it's ready to be played with.

The addition of the plate really stands out.

You get two CNH-320 plates, but I didn't put one on the front.  Some states require it, but good ol' Pennsylvania doesn't make you have a front plate.  The General doesn't look right with one, in my opinion.

Auto World may hide the flag on the box, but you can be assured it's inside.  This car looks great from the top.  The whole process of construction only took me about thirty minutes.  It was a fun thirty minutes.

This Snap-It model kit by MPC/AW is a really fun car.  I can't recommend it high enough to every blog reader.  For less than $20 any Dukes fan can have fun putting the car together and then have a great General Lee to display, play with, jump, or any other fun thing your Dukes oriented mind can think of.  Everyone, go buy this car.