Thunder Road

This is a little off topic but I have always been looking for a movie I saw as a kid I think it was made in the 70's it's about a guy who has what I think from what I remember was a white or primered willys gasser and he come to town for some racing, he is not welcomed by the local law enforcement and he winds up losing his engine so he steal's one out of the cop's car and file's the numbers off of it, Does anyone know what movie this is I have been searching for years, I am 28 and I saw it when I was 16.

 

It's called Hot Rod ,but I think it was release as somethig else also. It's available at amazon.com

 

Salt: I remember that show. I think it was also a made for T.V. The guy with the Willys was not well known BUT the second guy that he made friends with was a little better known.??

 

thats defianely Hot Rod, i have a copy right here infront of me. "..if you beat the munns, its yours..." love the race scene when barret strongs "Money (thats what i want)" plays in the background makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up....too cool

 

I can't seem to find it under the name Hot Rod.

 

Yes, the magic '50 Ford, it could roll over and pop back up on all four wheels with no visable damage, truly amazing! (watch the chase in the opening sequence carefully).

One of my favorite movies.

 

Hmmmmm! I lived in NC for over 45 years and my friends (one of whom did 18 mos for hauling white lightning) all believed that Thunder Road was the first of three movies based on the life of Junior Johnson who was a full-time moonshine runner for his father before he switched to NASCAR driver/owner. Junior still lives in North Wilkesboro, NC. in the foothills of the mountains not too far from the TN border. I wonder where the truth lies. The majority of early NASCAR stars came from moonshine backgrounds.

Junior said you could only hop a flathead up so much so when the new Cadillac hearses came out with a high-powered (at that time) V8 he went down to the Cadillac dealer and bought a brand new engine and put it into his 40 Ford.

 

I thought the Thunder Road shoebox had a Y-block in it?

 

The 50 Ford in the movie is one of several used for the shoot. The one that was seen most frequently was originally a black 51 with a 50 grill and a 49 hood. It was equipped with a 55 T-Bird y block from contempory accounts. After the first scene (bumper snatcher) the car was painted grey due to an accidental rollover. IT remained grey throughout the film. It was apparently taken back to the studio after the filming and was supposedly driven by Jim Mitchum in and around Hollywood-Culver City, Calif. for a while. It was eventually sold by the studio (MGM/UA) in the late 50's and bought by a local high school boy who drove it for a while. No trace can be found from that point. However some of the other stand in Fords were probably flathead powered and Jim Mitchum did take back to Hollywood a flathead engine built by the legendary Banjo Mathews who had a shop in the Asheville area. In my research I have found no connection with Junior Johnson; however the movie is based upon a "moonshine theme" and was made in 1957, a time when Junior was giving up the "transporting trade" for a career in racing, which career turned out to be very successful in the NASCAR circuit.

 

I love that movie, saw it when it came out in '58 and again when it was re-released in '62 when Mitchum's version of the Thunder Road song was on the top 40. It was filmed in Buncombe and Transylvania counties in NC (just across the county/state line from where I live. The place where the bad guy's 57 Ford went off the side of the mountain is in Transylvania county and now has condo's on the site (damn). </OI had always heard that the Ford's engine with the three deuces on it was an Olds (but then that's hearsay). Gabbard's book is excellent, I have a copy at home and one at my wife's family homeplace up in Macon county, NC (in the mountains). A writer, Lee Server, did a biography of Robert Mitchum in 2001(entitled: Robert Mitchum: Baby I don't care). On pages 320-332, Mitchum tells how he came up with the story line and details on how he did the movie. As was mentioned above, the movie was a big deal around these parts. I live in northern Greenville county (which is mountainous) and there were moonshine problems here as recently as the 1970's; the Sheriff's dept here has a still they captured in the 1960's set up in their waiting room.) Have had a love for the '49-'51 Fords ever since that movie.
</O<OLet's keep the good info coming on this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!</O

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<O(I think I need to get in touch with Hexbore.)</O
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Two Lane Blacktop was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The "plot" is nearly non-existent, the acting makes a porno look like an Academy Award contender, and the script, all 5 pages of it, could have been written by a couple high school kids in detention after school. The ONLY thing cool about the movie is the '55, and we've already seen it in American Grafitti, when Harrison Ford was driving it. At least Harrison Ford was a worthy pilot of that car, he went on to be Indiana Jones and throw terrorists off of Air Force One. What did James Taylor do? Cry himself to sleep while pussifying the American male with more lame ass acoustic folk music. His nickname is "sweet Baby James" for chrissake. He's like the grandfather of emo, which amazingly is more manly since they're at least blending whining and emotional weakness with metal.

I've seen Two Lane Blacktop twice, the first time drunk and I thought it was awful. The second time sober, couldn't make it through the whole movie, so I turned it off and watched the Girls Gone Wild infomercials at 3 am.

 

Whoa, sorry for the rant.

BTW, Thunder Road was awesome.

 

No Your Not!!!

 

And his son played his brother!

 

It's like a porno without the sex

 

Now, that is funny, I don't care who you are.

I read a long time ago that they wanted Elvis to play Mitchum's little brother, but Col. Parker nixed it, so they used Jim Mitchum instead.

 

Id have to watch again,

But i believe the engine they sow while in Doolin's garage was the Olds

The engine they show to be in the '50 was a Hopped up Y~Block ford

 

I thought it was a Y Block and he stepped up to the 57 for an FE. Great movie my dads all time fav.

 

great movie

 

I saw it years ago on the old black and white TV. I thought it was a great movie, but haven't seen it since.

I also remember another 'hot rod' movie from many years ago which was in colour. It was a bit like the old 'surf' movies in its style, and it started with a drag race between a candy apple red deuce roadster and a red T bucket with mountains of chrome on the engine. Then it went on about a turbine powered car that they ran in a cross counrty race. Car accidentally' lost its bonnet partway through the race so you could see it was actually running a turbine engine.

Cheers, Glen.

 

That was called the lively Set.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058296/

 

NetFlixed Thunder Road , going to watch it tonight for the first time , don't know how I missed this one , ...

Around the time of Corvette Summer , there was another cheese film with 70's style vans drag racing . I searched Netflix and the web , I can't remember the name of the film .. I remember a girl drove one of the vans . The big race at the end had everyone up all night working on their vans for the race . I think there was a crash at the end ? Or the girls boyfriend drove off a cliff ? Or am I confused with the end of QUADROPHENIA .
Anyone know this one ?? Vans drag racing ??

 

Ill have to check it out, Never seen that movie before

 

Check out 'Travelermovie.com "
I have this movie it's a documentary on the person who's life Thunder Road is based on and as crazy as this sounds also the Dukes of Hazard !there is a real Hazardville only it was a hidden drinking spot in the mountains of North Carolina you can see it all in the film.The Shiners car was called Traveler after General Lees favorite mount in the Dukes of course the call it the General.the original runner Traveler was at a local car show its a 57? Chrysler 300 with dual quads.I have an autographed copy of the movie and you'll be quit surprised with it lots of real names etc. appear in the Dukes TV show characters,and the guy still has lots of things to prove his story.very interesting movie Randy Travis even played the stage in hazard when he was a kid!

 

Thunder road is excellent. sixstringsamuri is right about Moonshine Highway, the story is not great but the chase scenes are awesome. If you're into mercs they hammer one throughout this movie.

 

Could the title be "Midnight madness" ? I barely remember this from HBO reruns when I was really young. I just recall them tricking out vans for a scavenger hunt. (I may be totaly wrong here.)

I was going to ask about a shine runnin' movie I saw once. I think it was called "Moonrunners" or something like that. It had alot of the same names and plot of the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. Am I even close?

 

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100&#37;" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">I was on the board recently when xderelict flashed a post that it was on at the momen on Turner classic movies and I saw the whole thing. Its great, thanks x-man!! I had the good fortune to detail Robert Mitchums ride when I had some detail shops in Santa Barbara, Ca. he was as cool as his persona on the screen. It was a total thrill. Having my auto investment protection business in that city was a great opportunity to work for many famous people. Fess Parker, Johnathan Winters, Julia Childs, Joe Walsh, Kenny Loggins, and the coolest guy ever John Travolta. Watch for this classic movie, its way cool!!-Sololobo/Roadburners of Omaha
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Anyone else see spam in the first post?

 

yes I see a link to TODAY.COM