A few bits of trivia about Knickerbocker Toys and the Dukes of Hazzard Playsets
- There are colour and design variations with the painting of the General Lee on the boxes of the Barnbusters set. Although the design of the General Lee bursting through the barn door is essentially the same, the painting and fonts used are noticeably different (see image below).
- Knickerbocker Toys was founded in 1922. It was sold to Hasbro industries on April 1st 1983 as part of a deal involving the sale of 37% of Hasbro's own shares to Warner Brothers.
- One of the main reasons for the collapse of Knickerbocker was its downturn in fortunes when John Schneider and Tom Wopat temporarily left the Dukes of Hazzard in 1982, much reducing the demand for Dukes toys and merchandise.
- Knickerbocker employed 575 people by the end of 1982, of which 376 lost their jobs with the sale to Hasbro.
- Hasbro acquired the rights to the Dukes of Hazzard playsets and continued to manufacture them up to the mid 1980s.
- The two speed General Lee which featured in the Speed Jumper and Stuntbuster sets was patented.
- It was possible to buy the friction powered General Lee as a separate item, but this is rare. See the photos below for a packaged example.
- The US headquarters of Knickerbocker Toys was 207 Pond Avenue, Middlesex, NJ 08846.
- The UK headquarters of Knickerbocker Toys was Eskdale Road, Winnersh Triangle, Wokingham, Berks.
- All of the components for the sets were made in the USA, with the exception of the General Lee which was made in Taiwan or Hong Kong.
- A child’s pyjama set was made featuring a design based on the Barnbusters box (see the Barnbusters gallery and image below).
- Knight Rider versions of both the Barnbusters and Stunt Buster sets were released. See here for more information about the Knight 2000 Stunt Set and the Knight 2000 Super Stunt Set.
- An Italian version of the Stuntbuster and Speed Jumper sets was made under licence. See the Rodeo Sfondafienile and Rodeo Saltoacrobatico pages for more information.
- In 1984 Warner Bros. obtained an injunction barring the distribution of a toy car similar to the General Lee. The rival orange car was manufactured by Gay Toys and featured a "10" on the side instead of "01". The legal reference to the court case is Warner Bros. Inc. v. Gay Toys, Inc., 724 F.2d 327 (2d Cir. 1983) [ELR 6:4:10]
Notes and sources:
Knickerbocker Toys and Hasbro information came from an article by United Press International, December 22, 1982
Child’s pyjama set image and information courtesy of Larry Franks at Dukes Collector
Barnbusters box came from a message board posting.
Information about the Warner Bros. court case came from two editions of the Entertainment Law Reporter: Vol. 6, No. 4, and Vol. 5, No. 5
Please get in touch if you can add any more information to the above.
Knickerbocker Toys and Hasbro information came from an article by United Press International, December 22, 1982
Child’s pyjama set image and information courtesy of Larry Franks at Dukes Collector
Barnbusters box came from a message board posting.
Information about the Warner Bros. court case came from two editions of the Entertainment Law Reporter: Vol. 6, No. 4, and Vol. 5, No. 5
Please get in touch if you can add any more information to the above.