Coca-Cola and the Dukes of Hazzard - Share a Coke Dukes Bottles

Is there a more iconic brand than Coca-Cola?  The logo and the contour bottle are among the most recognizable images out there.  Disney, Ford, McDonald's, and Google come to mind, but in my opinion, Coke is at the top.  I've always loved the Coca-Cola brand.   I don't drink as much Coke as I used to, but I do enjoy an ice cold Coke from time to time.  I have several Coca-Cola t-shirts that I wear often, and even have a small collection of older glass Coke bottles that I found interesting.  A really cool marketing campaign that Coke released in 2014 is back again this year, the Share A Coke campaign.  Coke added names to their labels on regular plastic bottles sold in stores.  It was very popular and award winning.  In addition to the standard bottles in stores, fans of the product could go to shareacoke.com and have names printed on the label of glass 8 oz. bottles.  I had to incorporate the Dukes into the fun.

 I originally tried to make these bottles when I first became away of the possibility a few years ago.  There is a screening process and Coke doesn't really tell you the guidelines.  Copyrighted material or offensive wording probably get flagged.  When I first ordered, Cooter wasn't an allowed name and I didn't want to make everyone but our favorite mechanic so I put it on hold and sort of forgot about it. While organizing items at the new museum at Cooter's in the Valley in Luray, VA (Grand Opening 05/06/2017!) there was a Coke box with custom bottles inside and one was "Cooter Davenport."  I asked Alma if she used her clout, she has clout all over the world, to get this bottle printed and she said she had nothing to do with it, it was a gift created by a fan.  I figured, maybe they let up on the requirements this time around.  And then I sort of forgot about it again.

This week I was at Sam's Club and noticed a case of plastic Coke bottles had names printed on it.  Last summer Coke changed it up and went with song lyrics which was nice, but wasn't as much fun as the names.  I went online to make sure that wasn't an old case of bottles at the discount giant and read about Coke bringing the campaign back this summer and got all excited about it again.  I returned to shareacoke.com once more with the thought that maybe the trick to getting Cooter through the process was adding his last name, Davenport.  I made an order with all the characters last names and it went through!  Until it didn't; about an hour later I got a cancellation notice.  Coke didn't like Cooter Davenport or Cletus Hogg.  Weird that only those two were flagged.  I decided to try one more time, and this time I got through!  No last names, except one, and I even got our mechanic through!  First off is General Lee.  This was a last minute addition and I really thought it was going to get flagged.  Nope.  I got it!  Man, does it look good.  Very iconic.

Next up are the Duke Boys!  I didn't really want to include the last names and I'm glad it didn't work out doing that.  Adding too many letters makes the font a little smaller and in my opinion the bigger the name, the better.  The Coke Dukes Boys Bottles look great!

Maybe I just flew under the radar, or the flagger wasn't paying attention, but I got by the censors using "Crazy Cooter."  "Cooter" and "Cooter Davenport" didn't work (for me) but I think adding "Crazy" works out just fine.  Crazy Coca-Cola comin' at ya!

I do believe there are plastic versions of the standard bottles sold in stores with Daisy, Bo, and Luke out there.  I know I've seen Luke.  I considered chasing those, but haven't decided yet.  The glass bottle of Daisy sure is perfect.

One of the reasons I like not using the full character names is because "Uncle Jesse Duke" doesn't sound as good.  "Jesse Duke" isn't right either.  I'm glad I was able to just use Uncle Jesse.

Surely these flew under the radar because Boss Hogg would have been flagged for copyright usage, right?  I'm not complaining.  This might be my favorite in the collection.  I'm sure ol' Boss would love enjoying this Coke with some pickled pigs feet.

I debated on whether to just have "Rosco" on his bottle, but this is the one instance I went with the full name.  The font is quite small, but I think I made the right decision.  I love it, I love it.

Unlike Mego, I included both deputies.  I considered making them "Deputy Enos" and "Deputy Cletus" but they were never really referred to that way on the show.  Their first names were used most of the time, along with "Dipstick."  Possum on a gumbush, these look great.

Now you know, in my mind, I'm the third Duke Boy.

I actually made the Larry bottle way back when the promotion started and I tried to make the Dukes. I had to get it out for these pictures.  I made a Natalie bottle too.  The first year of this promotion, we found a plastic Natalie bottle at the beach and started looking for Larry.  We went to every gas station, pharmacy, and grocery store in Ocean City looking for Larry, but never found one.  When I got home, I stopped everywhere to find my name on a Coke.  I found three different variations of my sister's name, Kate, Katie, and Katherine, my cousin's name, Lara, who was named after my grandfather, Larry the first, I found my mom, Renee, Chad, Jeff & Jeffrey, and just about everyone else I knew. But no Larry.  At the end of that first summer, I had to resort to ebay for my plastic Larry bottle.  At least it was out there somewhere.  I have them in both plastic and glass now.

My collection of Dukes of Hazzard themed #shareacoke bottles sure is awesome.  This summer the twist to the campaign is that Coke is also releasing bottles with last names on them.  They haven't released a list of available names, but said they focused on about 200 popular last names and gave examples such as Miller, Smith, Lopez, and Davis.  I kind of doubt Franks is on that list, but you never know.  Duke might very well be available and if I do see one, I'm probably going to try to get as many Dukes names as I can.  Am I a little crazy?  Yup.

Auto World's Hazzard County 1975 Dodge Monaco Police Car

It has been a long time coming, Auto World has finally released their take on Hazzard County's Finest's favorite vehicle.  This is the Hazzard County 1975 Dodge Monaco Police Car by Auto World.

This release follows the latest AW trend of the red stripe on the side of the box.  I like how it differentiates from other similarly styled Dukes items.  This car is a part of AW's Silver Screen Machines line.

The back of the box is similar to other Dukes diecast replicas.

The entire one side is red.  It looks cool with the Dukes logo.

The bottom of the box shows the detail on the bottom of the car.

It is marked 2013.  Still can't figure out how that works.

The car uses the same casting as the previous two Rosco car releases by Ertl and Johnny Lightning.  Those were 1974 Monacos and this is a 1975.  I'm not enough of a Monaco expert to know the difference.  It looks similar to the previous releases, but there are subtle differences.

The car has side molding that makes it stand out.  It has a light grey line that goes the length of the car.

The correct Hazzard County Sheriff decals are a little darker on this car.

The grill has bold detail and the rebel flag is included.  We all remember the issue with WB and the flag.

The correct license is included on the car.

The feature that really stands out on this car is the light bar.  This thing looks real.  There is so much detail in this light bar.

The back of it has the amber colored section and the lights inside.  It looks just like a full size AeroDynic brand light bar.  AW really knocked this feature out of the park.

I was told the interior would be a little more detailed than it turned out to be.  There is a rifle attached to the interior, which is a nice addition, but we all know Rosco and Enos couldn't handle that kind of fire power.

The gauges and radio have detail, but there is no carpet or seat belts.  The colors look great and really add to the car.

The seat could use some detail to make it look real.  It just looks like a blank piece.

The wheels are similar to the last releases.  They look like police special wheels.  The triangle design on the wheels is once again absent.

Compared to the past two releases, this is the police car to get.  Though it doesn't have a great deal more detail than the JL, the higher detail it does have makes a difference.

The decals are a little darker than both other releases, and the sheriff decal is not present on the front fender. The glass on the new AW is clear where as the JL had a green tint to it.

The front end is slightly different on the new model to show that it is a 1975 Monaco, where the last two were '74s.

This is the first Hazzard County  police car in 1/18 to feature a correct Hazzard County license plate. These little details really add that finishing touch.  The sheriff decals are in different places on all the different releases.

The trunks of the three cars all lack detail.

But there is much more detail under the hood of the AW as compared to the JL and the Ertl. The different components are individually painted and there are add wires.

AW really did a nice job on the engine bay. This is the level of detail you'd expect.

There is a tiny decal with a lot of tiny words that my camera couldn't pick up.  Again, great job AW.

There is no comparison in the light bars.  The Ertl got it totally wrong and the JL was mostly generic looking.  The bar on the AW is its crown jewel.

The bulbs on the inside of the bar really make the work that went into it stand out.  It makes the JL look all the more plain when they are next to each other.

The yellow sections and slightly deeper appearance of the grill add to the differences from the past two cars. The rebel flag is still on the side, not in the center where it should be.

Has the king of Dukes of Hazzard diecasts met its match with the new AW release?  The answer is unfortunatly no.  This car is about as far behind the AW General Lee as a real Hazzard County Police Car is behind a real General Lee.  But that's the way it is in Hazzard County, and that's the way we like it.  The General Lee will always rule the back roads around here.  The new police car does compliment the AW General, but it was created with a base model replica casting and the the General used a higher detailed casting.  So the differences are apparent.

The plate on the Rosco car looks more realistic than the General's.

The General has the seatbelts and added detail.  I wish the Rosco car did.

The engine detail is on par with the General.  These both look like they are about to start up and rumble.

The box is the size as the AW General Lee and slightly smaller than the previous Johnny Lightning car.  The new AW police car features a picture of the Gen'ral where the JL had a picture of the Rosco car.
Interesting.

The back has the same pictures and info as the General Lee, but Daisy is replaced with Rosco and Flash.

In a fun little coincidence, the box my models came in was made by E. Smith Box Inc. which happens to be based in Conyers, GA.  By now you should now why I bring this up, but in case you don't have extensive knowledge of all things Dukes of Hazzard like I expect you to, Conyers is the town where all of the cast first met.  The meeting took place around the swimming pool at the Holiday Inn.  I have stayed at the same Holiday Inn.  Yep, I'm that nuts.  They also filmed the first five episodes there in addition to Covington.  In the first five episodes you have a greater chance of seeing an earlier model Dodge Monaco used as Hazzard County Sheriff cars such as this one by Auto World.