40th Anniversary Of The Dukes of Hazzard Celebration - January 26, 2019 in Nashville TN

This is going to be amazing! On January 26, 1979 the Dukes of Hazzard premiered and the world fell in love with Hazzard County.  Now, 40 years later, to the minute, the world is invited to relive the premiere episode with the cast of the show.  Catherine, Ben and Miss Alma are hosting a weekend full of events all centered around the pilot episode, One Armed Bandits is being shown at the Troubadour Theater with the Dukes cast at 8pm, January 26h, 2019, exactly 40 years after it was first aired.

The celebration takes place January 26 and January 27, 2019.  The events will begin at Cooter's in Nashville Saturday morning.  There will be autographs and photo ops, fan get togethers, cars and collectibles.  It will be so much fun.  Saturday evening there will be a "Toast and Talk" at 7 at the Troubadour followed by the screening at 8.  The party then moves to the Nashville Palace for a Celebration Concert by the cast and special guest Whey Jennings.  Dukes of Hazzard definitely runs through Whey's blood as he is the grandson of none other than Waylon Jennings.

Sunday will be more autographs, more cars, more photo ops, and more fun.  Catherine, Tom, Sonny, Rick, Ben, and Alma invite everyone to this once in a lifetime event.  I can't wait to watch One Armed Bandits with the Dukes.  Tickets to the screening and concert are limited as there is limited seating.  They are available on Cooter's Eventbrite Page.  

You don't want to miss this event.  You know I won't miss it.  It has been a few years since I've been to Nashville and I can't wait to get back.  I am also excited to visit in the winter.  By the end of January here in Pennsylvania, I'm sure I will want a break from the snow.  Nashville will be the perfect escape.  

Some of you might be thinking that showing One Armed Bandits at 8pm isn't 40 years later because the Dukes originally aired at a later time slot, 9pm, during the beginning of the first season.  Miss Alma already thought of that.  Nashville is in the Central Time Zone.  When Dukes of Hazzard originally premiered at 9pm in the Eastern Time Zone, it was on at 8pm in the Central Time Zone.  Remember the old commercials "8, 9 Central?"  Miss Alma is always one step ahead.  

We have more announcements about the event to come including some cool photo fun.  This is going to be great.  I can't wait!

Announcement: Dukes of Hazzard Fan Get-Together at Cooter’s Place in Luray, VA on May 12, 2018.

Dukes of Hazzard Fan Get-Together at Cooter’s Place in Luray, VA on May 12, 2018.

Cooter’s Place, Ben and Alma, and DukesCollector invite everyone who loves the Dukes of Hazzard to an old-fashioned Fan Get-Together at Cooter’s In The Valley in Luray, VA on May 12. Just like the Old-Time Ridgerunners reunion in the Dukes episode “Days of Shine and Roses,” we welcome all fans to meet up, share Dukes stories, show off their Dukes cars and Dukes collectibles, meet fellow Dukes fans, and have a good ol’ Dukes time. In addition to the Cruise In and music by Cooter’s Garage Band, the Fan Get-Together will have lots of laid-back fun, Dukes style. Larry of DukesCollector will be bringing his Dukes of Hazzard trivia along with the original Dukes of Hazzard board game and card game for everyone to play against other fellow Dukes fans. Lego Master Cody from C3Brix will bring his Lego fun for everyone, and Dave’s travelling Dukes of Hazzard Museum will be on site. Bring your scale model General Lee, your life size General Lee, your favorite collectible, your favorite Dukes of Hazzard fan, your most cherished story, your most cherished autograph...bring everyone to this free event at Cooter’s in Luray on May 12.  For more information visit CootersPlace.com, contact Larry Franks at DukesCollector.com, or by email at lafre@atlanticbb.net.

Auto World's Daisy Duke 1971 Plymouth Satellite Arrives Soon

Did everyone have a wonderful Sunday watching the Dukes in HD all day?  I know I sure did.  And now it's back on everyday.  Did anyone rediscover their love for the show and subsequently discover this site and blog?  If so I would like to extend a welcome.  The main focus of  DukesCollector is on the collectibles from the Dukes of Hazzard, all the way back in the 80s  up until the newest items out.  They all fall into different eras of Dukes collectibles.  Along with the memorabilia, I also discuss the different events held throughout the year, like Dukes Fan Fair and Hazzard Homecoming, and discuss Dukes news.  DukesCollector is basically a one stop shop for all things Dukes of Hazzard.  I update as much as I can.  I hope you like the site and blog and stick around.  I love interacting with fellow fans through the comments section, email (lafre@atlanticbb.net) G+, and even on twitter (@larryafranks).  

The newest item to come out will be Auto World's Daisy Duke 1971 Plymouth Satellite.  Much earlier than expected, this highly detailed diecast will be released next week.  My contact on the inside at AW sent me this picture of the completed model in the box.  I will do a complete review when I receive it, just like I did on AW's extremely popular 1/18 General Lee.  This is the first time this car has gotten the 1/18 treatment and I'm excited about it.

A Look Back at New Dukes Item Released in 2013

2013 was a big year for Dukes of Hazzard collecting.  We started out the year defining the Eras of Dukes Collecting.  Placing everything in one of three Eras: gold, silver or modern.  Throughout the year, I've seen it catch on nicely.  We've also been treated to a bevy of new items.  Let's take a look at the highlights.

Not bad for thirty-four years after the show premiered.  Above are the decorative tins signs, Johnny Lightnings 1/18 Cooter's Camaro, the new Dukes of Hazzard coffee mug, The Dukes Fan Fair Official Highlight Film and Concert, Auto World's XTraction R13 General Lees, Neo's 1/43 Hazzard County Patrol Car, Johhny Lightning's all white White Lightning General Lee, and the Official 2014 Dukes of Hazzard Calendar.  It was a huge year for DukesCollector as I traveled all over and made so many new Dukes friends.  With the show returning to TV (in HD!!!) at the start of 2014, next year will be even bigger than this year.  The Thirty-Fifth anniversary of the Dukes of Hazzard will be great!

Little Orange Cars

Gearing up the big Dukes festival season of 2013, the organizers of the Louisiana Dukes Event, the Dukes of Hazzard Family Reunion & Car Show, contacted me and asked if I would write an article about collecting for a magazine they release.  I never wrote an article for a magazine before, so I jumped on the opportunity.  They gave me a word limit which I blew past pretty quickly.  The magazine is called Hug, and this particular issue was given out during their event.  I got early prints at the Dukes Fan Fair in Nashville.  I was really pleased with the article and the magazine in general (lee).  I wanted to share it right away, but I figured I would wait until people had a chance to read it in print before it was online.  I think enough time has passed.  Here is my article "Little Orange Cars" from the summer issue of Hug Magazine.

I also have the article as a pdf if reading the jpg above doesn't work out.
Little Orange Cars.pdf

Jeff isn't the only published author around these parts.  Only one on the New York Times Best Seller list, though...for now.  What do you think?

Still a Kid at Heart by Brad Miller

Aaaaannd we're back.

I've been away from the blog for too long.  Work and such kept me away, but now I'm back and ready to get started Dukes blogging again.  My new buddy Brad Miller, who I met at Dukes Fan Fair in Nashville along with his lovely wife Lynn, stepped up and agreed to take the reigns for a post.  I really appreciate Brad writing this for me.  Here is Brad's post: Still a Kid at Heart.

I am like most of you out there and grew up watching The Dukes of Hazzard.  I had all kinds of the toys as a child and several of the Ertl 1/64 General Lees.  After the show went off the air, I would catch re-runs on Saturdays around lunch time (when the cartoons got finished they would show an episode of Dukes followed by CHiPs).  Then time moved on and so did I to other things,  but I always had my fondness for the Dukes.  I was super excited when I heard they were going to release all the seasons on DVD and would always get the latest one.  That got my mind back on the Dukes and I would stay up late (often way too late) after I got off work at nights to watch some episodes.  It was like it was a new show all over again to me.  We had our first child, Jordan, in 2008 and in 2010 I put in an episode of Dukes just to see what he thought about it and my son has been hooked ever since.  It is a brand new show to him and he doesn’t understand that all the actors have aged or passed on in the 30+ years.  He is a huge Luke Duke fan and has his “Luke” blue jeans (as Jordan calls them), cowboy boots and blue plaid button up shirt that he wears quite often.  We took him to the reunion in Byron, GA this past spring and he got to meet his hero.  Having Jordan be such a fan of the Dukes has gotten me back to my childhood and into collecting Dukes items.  I don’t have a huge collection but it continues to grow and my wife is very understanding (as long as I keep her stocked with shoes and purses lol).  If I had to pick one item to be my favorite it would have to be the latest Auto World 1/18 General Lee because of the detail and accuracy.  Sentimental wise it would have to be the Dixie horn that I finally had installed on my truck.  It was my grandfather’s and I remember being Jordan’s age and have him blow the horn all the time.

We took Jordan to the reunion in Byron, GA this past spring and he got to meet his hero. 

The other Good Ol’ Boy was there too.

One of the guys there had this General Lee and was nice enough to let Jordan slide in the window.

I thought I would share some of my collection with you.  I have one each of the General Lee r/c cars the 1/10 and the 1/18.  It is very tempting to take them out and run them around the driveway but I must stay strong.

This picture shows (left column, top) the 1/24 General Lee and the model 1/24 General, the most recent release of Rosco’s patrol car, and the older release of the patrol car with the wrong light bar.  The other side (top) has the 1/24 Styleized General, the 1/18 General with sound effects (Dixie horn, engine revving,  and Duke boy yell), Auto World 1/18 car, and the 1/18 General with 1/64 car.

Here are some puzzles, calculators, card games, cds, board game, and still wrapped tv tray.

Some unused coloring books.

Some other 1/64 and 1/144 cars, unpunched stunt buster, Dukes glasses (after Larry did his blog on those, I had to have a set haha), and a great “01” mousepad that I found on eBay.

These are really nice items that I got at Cooter’s Place in Nashville, TN or you can get them online at cootersplace.com.   I just installed the trailer hitch cover and the license plate frame on my truck today.  I have the signs hanging in my garage.

Thank you for letting me share some of my collection and story with you.  Thanks also to Larry for posting this for me.  His dedication to the Dukes is unsurpassed.  He puts a lot of hard work into this blog and bringing Dukes collectors together and he should be commended for that.  Keep up the great work Larry!

Brad Miller

Dukes of Hazzard Fan Fair - New Dukes Stuff I Got in Nashville

Aside from the incredible time I had in Nashville, hanging with the stars, making new friends, and especially being recognized from this blog, I bought a whole bunch of Dukes goodies.

The swap meet that was planned at Fan Fair didn't get the biggest response leading up to the event, so there wasn't a centralized location for it.  But people still brought things to be sold.  And I found my way to said people.  One fine seller was a former founder of the Confederate General Lee Fan Club. He had some great stuff.  And I bought a bunch of it, starting with this John Schneider album.  I basically bought anything he had that I didn't.

Another slightly non-Dukes item I bought was Waylon's Music Man on 8-track.  It has the Dukes theme on it twice.  8-tracks are weird.

I also picked up these Charger patches.  Again, non Dukes but on the right track.  They are interesting.

Then I got to the actual Dukes related items.  I picked up another copy of this Bananas Magazine. Always good to have backups. 

And this Cracked Magazine.  

Nice play on words there.  Interesting that the story involves the Dukes using some sort of decoy car, and  the number is 71.  We all know the the story of the 71 car.  

I have seen this Gearhead Magazine on ebay a few times and never knew what it was.  The seller had it so I took a chance.  

Turns out, it's a car magazine from 1997 and they did a whole issue on the south and put the General Lee on the cover.  The story inside is about a fan and Dukes Collector.  Awesome.  I wonder if he still collects?  How about it Deke Dickerson?  Still in to it?

I also got a couple of newspapers covering the big event held on my birthday in 2003 in Covington, GA.  I think I'm in that first picture really small.  I forget where I was standing.  

This sticker is a mystery that I have to do more research on.  It may have been given to cars on the set of the show to let them on the lot, or it may be a reproduction.  It's cool either way.

I'm usually not into buying autographs, but I liked this one.  It is the 2000 re-release of the 1/25 General Lee signed by Tom Wopat on the trunk.  

                                          

I have the same car signed by John Schneider on the trunk and thought they would look nice together.  

 What do you think?  They will look great side by side.

I was happy with all the items we agreed on, figuring I had seen everything.  Then he pulled out these two gems.  These are scripts used on the show.  The first one belonged to Mr. Sorrell Booke, Boss Hogg himself.  I was stunned by these bad boys.  The pink one, from episode three of season four, Diamonds in the Rough, has "Booke" written really big on the cover and is authenticated on the back by someone I have a great deal of trust in dealing with this hobby.  I haven't opened the plastic bag it is in to see if there are any notes by Sorrell.  It is a first draft copy.  The second one is from season one, episode eight, The Big Heist.  It isn't sealed in a bag and doesn't have any names on it, but it looks old and I believe it is authentic.  I love the opening paragraph (seen above).  These are great pieces and I really can't believe I was able to get them.  So glad I ran into this particular seller.  He ended up selling just about everything he brought to the event.

I happened upon a General Lee owner who had a few of the extremely hard to find birthday cards for sale.  He said he had trouble finding them in stores, but found a few and bought them all.  I bought three from him.  Now I have four.  I might actually send one to somebody.  Probably not.

Now lets talk about the the items I bought from Cooter's Place.  These are flattened pennies with Dukes pictures pressed into them.  This is a great idea to have these machines at the store, and they seemed very popular.  They all say Nashville on the bottom. Wonder if they have them at the Gatlinburg store too?  I'll have to get all of those as well.

Can always use an 01 plate.

This Boars Nest sign is big and will look great on the wall.

Now these are gonna be fun on the putting green.  I won't actually hit them off the tee, but they are definitely going in my golf bag.

This Dukes of Hazzard belt is very cool and unique.  It's made to look like a classic car seat belt.  The 01 on the clasp would have been cool enough, but the 01s on the belt itself make this thing awesome. Great job Cooter's Place.

The final item is something I have been obsessing over for quite a while.  This is Sonny Shroyer's album that he put out when he came back on the show, after his spin-off "Enos" ended.  It was so popular that it inspired the Dukes album.  It pops up on ebay every once in a while but goes for crazy high prices.  I have contacted Sonny about it before, and  I even asked him at Homecoming last year, but he didn't have any then. He must have found some, cause he had them at his table.  I scooped one up immediately.  I love finding things that you are really looking for.

The back has some great pictures of Sonny and a bunch of fans.  The song titles are great.  I'm thinking I might buy another if he has them for sale in Hagerstown and open it up to listen to the songs.

Dukes of Hazzard Fan Fair was a huge success.  I made great new friends, talked to the cast about the new action figures and a few other exciting things to come, rode around in several General Lees, and had an all around great time.  Might as well do it all again in Hagerstown.  I'll have tons of pictures from the Dukes Family Festival posted very soon.