Motion Pictures The '55 Olds in W.W. & The Dixie Dancekings?

I liked the Dance Kings movie. I think the Smokey movie was ridiculous.
However I did like Jackie Gleason. Also the pathetic Gas Monkey recreation was worse.

 

A friend of mine had a rather ratty used-and-abused '55 Olds more-door back in '77 when I was a sophomore in high school - had just gotten my drivers license and drove to the little town to the north of where I lived to check it out. It was baby blue/white, a real tank. Around that time the movie made it to broadcast TV (for those who didn't grow up in the pre-HBO era movies had their theatrical release, then went into hibernation for a couple of years before making it to prime-time TV and then on to the late-nite circuit), maybe an 'ABC Sunday Night Movie'? All I could think of was "that's like the car in 'WW and the Dixie Dance Kings." He ended up running it in a demolition derby (he did that with virtually all of his cars), but ever since I saw that '55 along with "WW" I've had a soft spot for mid-'50s Oldmobubbles, even though what I really have lusted after are '55-'56 Fords and T-birds.

 

I never heard of that movie.

 

Looks like you can even watch it on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0llkCMEuwQk

 

wow. I saw it on TV circa 1979 and hadn't seen it since. you'd be amazed at the Burt Reynolds fans you can stump with this one.

 

The car is owned by a guy in Wichita, Ks he purchased it from the studio. These pictures were taken at the Towanda Service Area on the Kansas Turnpike. The guy's daughter and son-in-law were taking the car to Kansas City and are restoring it.

 

THAT's awesome!!

 

Very cool! Did they just buy it from the studio recently?

 

The law was on his trail so he dumped the car in a ravine and burned it. Then he bought an old Packard. He was working on the Packard when detective Art Carney tracked him down "Is that your car boy" " No sir this is my car over here. I don't know where that one came from".

 

No, the guy in Wichita has owned it since the early 80's

 

One of my favoutite movies. The earlier Youtube links don't work anymore, try this one.

 

Love the movie, love the car. I still remember seein' it with folks at the drive-in. Ah those were the days.

 

Movie, Poster and more stuff for sale on Amazon.

 

Here's the info about the three movie cars in W. W. and the Dixie Dancekings. One star car, one camera car and one that was burned in a ditch. The star car had fender skirts and no sill panel chrome moldings.

 

I worked with Wayne Levesque about 1981. He was really proud of that car and his part in the whole movie deal. Wayne was a die-hard kustom guy from Canada and a huge Starbird fan. Last time I saw him he was building a 70s Ranchero with big flares and sculpted features.

 

I've seen this '56 a couple times at the AST show and it always reminds me of the movie car

 

I've been looking for the W.W. car for years. Conny Van Dyke is my Mom and since I'm a car enthusiast, it is a natural obsession for me. I'd love to get in touch with the guy in Kansas who owns it, if anyone knows his info. Thanks for posting these pics. - B

 

Greetings to all. I have a bit of info about the movie cars,some based on experience, some on heresay. I'll share a bit of both. I lived in Nashville in the '70's and saw the movie downtown on Church Street and fell in love with that '55 Olds. During the filming I had seen a couple of scenes being filmed, one being the drive-in bank hold-up and the other, the gas station stick-up at the fork of Hwy 70 and 70S in West Nashville. As stated above, there were three cars used in the movie. The "hero" car used for exterior and driving shots, the interior car, and the stunt car. From what I understand the stunt car had no motor or trans, and did have some sort of rocket booster out the back. During the bank robbery, this car shoots across the parking lot, uses a parked trailer as a ramp and goes airborne across the highway to evade the police. It was the stunt car that did this trick and in the movie you can see it land on it's nose damaging the front rolled pan. The shot immediately cuts to the hero car (undamaged of course), Burt makes a wisecrack and away they go. I was told by a body man in Nashville that they took this car back to the shop and worked on it most of the night, straightening the front end, filling it with bondo and repainting the black. This car was hauled out to the country the next day and was the one used in the scene when W.W. burns his pride and joy. (so rest easy Olds lovers, this was a gutted car). I was driving down Dickerson Road one day and glanced over at one of the many used car lots, and a glimmer of gold and black caught my eye. I turned around and pulled into the lot. Sitting in the back row was what I later found out was the interior car. The body was painted exactly like the hero car, metalflake gold and black and was very straight and rust free. It had no rolled pans or custom grille, and both bumpers were missing. It had square tubing camera mounts welded to the frame below the doors. The interior was very nice, rolled and pleated metalflake gold inserts with black vinyl trim. It had nice black carpet and door panels. The dash was in very good condition as well, but was stock and it had a stock steering wheel, not the walnut three spoke in the hero car. The weirdest thing was that the roof had a cut out area probably about 12" x 48" right in the center of the roof . This is where they put the movie light and it was positioned in such a way that it would light up the actors in the back seat during scenes with the Dancekings. This was used in the gas station hold-up when W.W. is talking to the Dancekings and you can see their faces are lit pretty well. I believe this was also used at the end when the preacher is riding in the back going to the police station, as he is lit well, and the steering wheel is stock, not wooden. After filming, they had actually done a pretty nice job of sealing and patching the area with a metal piece and painting it to match the car. Most people thought it was a sunroof. Also the black headliner must have been installed after, as well, because it was complete with no hole. OK, so the car lot owner says he'll take $1,200 for the car. (now this is mid '70's, but still a decent price). I had to have it, and sold what I could to scrape up the dough (including my '71 Gremlin LOL). The Olds had it's orignal V-8 and auto tranny and I took it to my mechanic and had him look it over. He found a donor '55 and scavenged the bumpers, a tail light and other odds and ends that my car was missing. He cut off the camera mounts as well. One other funny thing it had was a fake continental kit bolted to the trunk lid with two L brackets. It was a fiberglass shell that from the back could pass for a real one and could also be seen from the inside in interior shots. I kept it on there and drove the car as my everyday driver for a couple of years. My intent was to eventually roll the pans and put on the nerf bars and custom grille, but never had the extra cash to do so. My girlfriend and I had a lot of fun in the car and took it to the drive-in often. It attracted a lot of attention and the most common request I had was to honk the Dixie horn (which it did not have). I finally decided that at that point in my life I couldn't afford a custom car, so decided to sell it. As luck would have it, the movie was showing that Sunday on ABC, so I ran an ad in the paper that weekend stating it was an actual movie car. I had some curiosity calls, but no bites until a body shop guy called and asked if it was really a car from the movie. After confirming that, he came by to look and made me an offer. Turns out he was a W.W. fan and had gone so far as to find a four door post '55 that he was about to turn into a replica, so he was delighted to get one this far along, and one that was actually in the movie. I probably got what I had in the car, but was actually happy that someone got it who would do it justice. Fast forward a year or so and I'm driving down Fourth Ave near the old city cemetery and bingo, the Olds is sitting in the parking lot of a Corvette shop, in all it's W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings glory. I swung in and had to check it out. I assumed it was my old car, but he had completed it to look just like the hero car. Skirts, rolled pans, grille, real continental kit, wooden steering wheel, moon discs and whitewalls. He had done an awesome job. I confirmed it was my old car by looking across the roof and in the right light you could barely see where the hole had been patched. If you didn't know it was there , you probably would miss it, he had done that good of a job. I didn't have a camera (and we didn't have cell phones then) so no pics, but I still remember that black and gold beauty sitting there shining in the sun. I was delighted he had finished the job. I saw it on another occasion cruising down Church street, but that was the only two times I saw it. Where that actual car is today, I do not know, nor do I know where the hero car went. (it appears the car in the post above could be the actual car and is on it's way to a good home). I heard that Burt bought it, and that it went to a car museum, but that story is not substantiated. Whew! Long story, but it's what I know to be fact and hopefully fills in some gaps for other B/G Olds fans. One other thing. If you Google images of the Olds, there is a nice 2-door hard-top replica in some of the pics. I have seen this car, several times at the James Dean Rod Run in Fairmount. It is really nice and he caught the essence of the original perfectly. Even has "50th Anniversary Special" painted on the skirts. Cool! FYI, I eventually got to where I could afford a custom (ha ha) and at different times have owned a '32 chopped 3 window hot rod, a chopped, flamed, and lowered '51 Merc and a '70 Challenger Vanishing Point replica. I love old cars and the stories that go with them. Thanks for reading and Blessings to one and all!

 

hotrodguy51, thank you for your memories and information. I always enjoyed this movie and the Olds is one of the cars that really got me interested in the mid/late 50's (non-tri five chevys) cars.
-Dave

 

hrg51,

Great read, thanks for taking the time to post it.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys. I had been meaning to post that for a while and was happy to finally do so. Take care and keep cruisin'! Jeff

 

i loved that movie too. my dad had a '55 olds--very nice car. the pic of the guy looking in the trunk--i think that's hal needham, director of "smokey and the bandit," probably was doing stunt work for "ww."

 

I know, old thread... BUT I just came across this:
https://flint.craigslist.org/cto/d/1955-oldsmobile-golden/6352284121.html

 

I saw this car a few times this past summer and it's a quality build. In talking with the owner at that time, he said it was a faithful recreation. So...????

 

I signed up just so I could tell y'all this. I got a hankerin to watch W.W. and could not find it anywhere but youtube with very bad picture quality. Stumbled across H.A.M.B. because this forum came up in a google search for the movie.
Long story short, I just ordered a dvd of the movie here-https://www.vermontmoviestore.com/products/w-w-and-the-dixie-dancekings
You can start your order on their site and they have an option to pay thru your Amazon account. It is a bit pricey for the money($25), but the site is legit.
That is all.

 

I had heard the name of the movie before but never knew or even thought about this being what the content was,
A lot of the older movies seem kinda cheesy now but Im still gonna try to watch this.
Two lane blacktop was a disappointment for me as I had heard all the hype but hadnt seen it til a few years ago.
It was almost painful to watch but had some cool cars

 

This is gonna sound crazy but the car actually shows up on the show "Happy Days," in the episode "No Tell Motel," the first episode from season eight, November 1980. Chachi and Joanie cruise away in it. It wasn't theirs though, Chachi borrowed it from Fonzie's garage.