Motion Pictures Hollywood Knights 57 Chevy info

you forgot about the two legs

 

I have the RJ issue. Some great shots. I also know Steve Reyes who shot a ton of the images and also dragsters back in the day. I have put a request in for his help as well. Thanks all!

 

Got in touch with Doug Marion through Steve Reyes. Here is what he told me about the infamous scene where you see the smoke form the engine.

"
I was the only PHR staffer at the movie set. My job was to trailer the ‘57 there; show Tony how to drive the ‘57. He owned a ‘65 Corvette. I have written what happened to the ‘57 many times and can supply same.


We were told months before to install a second key way on the GMC 6-71 blower drive. (The key way holds the blower pulley in place. Pulley is turned by a large rubber belt that is driven off the crankshaft pulley. Every time the engine is revved up, the belt tightens on the left side thus puts side pressure on the key way. Eventually, the key way will flatten. Because we were a 2-1/2 man staff (I was also editor of Super Chevy magazine), we had no free time to install a second key way. Noting Murphy’s Law, the keyway indeed flattened causing the blower pulley to spin off the blower drive. It immediately fell into the radiator fan - bending the metal blades into the radiator. Pressurized coolant then sprayed over the roof. On film, it looked like smoke! This was in a scene where the ‘57 was street racing a 427 Cobra. I drove the ‘57 on the initial launch across the intersection (at 3:00 am). Tony then drove when the keyway mushed! I then installed a new radiator, fan and blower keyway the next day. Gary Dyer of Dyer’s Blowerdrive Service in Illinois also told us to replace the crankshaft snout with a snout from a 440 Mopar (Dodge/Plymouth) but no time for that either. But Project X probably had 50+ full-throttle runs on it prior to the movie. It ran 11.70 at 117 mph pulling the front wheels. So......the very LAST scene of Tony in Project X was him driving slowly into the Club Headquarters parking lot. He got to within 2 feet of stopping when we all heard a “thunk” while the engine shut off! The forged steel crankshaft snout finally fractured. The lower pulley was really heavy. Some of the film crew helped push the ‘57 onto our trailer at 5:00 am and back to the PHR/SC garage I went. Had to replace the crankshaft and all the valves."

So there you have it. The story behind the scene. Pretty cool.

 

Very cool story on what took place. Thanks for sharing the story with us.

 

Oh boy...

 

Project prius lol

 

When was the video made????... Last I heard is they (Hotrod garage) put an ls in it.. GRRR.....