Hi all, This is probably a long shot but I know there's a few American Graffiti experts on the forum. Can anyone tell me more about the red T-Bucket or the red 32 that appears in front of Milners coupe? IMG_7794 by WCreighton posted Jan 31, 2020 at 5:26 PM IMG_7793 by WCreighton posted Jan 31, 2020 at 5:26 PM IMG_7788 by WCreighton posted Jan 31, 2020 at 5:25 PM Thanks, Will
The Red car in front of the Milner Coupe looks more like a '33/'34 to me, but it's hard to tell from the pictures. I know nothing about either it or the "T" so I'm no help. May have just been local cars that were used and the owners paid some money. Some of the studios also had cars.
I agree with the previous post. Red coupe looks to be 33-34. More than likely majority of the cars were probably rented. I belonged to street rod clubs in SoCal in the 70-80's and knew people who rented their cars for movies. One of them had a 30 highboy, black pinstriped flames with a chopped windshield and deuce shell. His car was used in the Jeff Bridges film "Starman". A club in the Valley had some of their cars used in the "Hollywood Knights " (title?). Seemed like at the time the going rate was around $150 a day, but I don't know that to be factual, hearsay. My. 2 cents
There is probably no info on them unless it is possibly buried in the film credits. Filler cars that they paid a daily fee to the owners for and said owners may have also picked up a few coins as non speaking background extras. I think the guy driving the T did have a speaking part telling "Milner" that the dude in the 55 was looking for him. I drug my wife to the show on one of the first nights it showed in the theater but have never been hung up on the cars in it like some guys are 47 years later. It was fun to watch and reminded me of Cruising Yakima Avenue in Yakima Wa on Friday nights or the Renton Loop http://rentonloop.com/ in Renton WA where you could pick up a street race sitting in the parking lot of Dag's (thanks Larry) drive on and cruise out to East Valley Highway by the radio station to square off. I got caught sitting after racing a Road Runner there in 1969. Stopped to talk to the guy I raced against on the side of the road rather than a crowded tavern parking lot where my car would have disappeared.
427 or 454 depending which scene it is lol https://unofficialamericangraffiti.weebly.com/the-1955-chevy.html
I believe the same 55 was used in the movie Two Lane Blacktop. Back years ago some of these prop cars from movies that were built would go up for sale. My aunt lived and worked in California would sometimes send me a list of props for sale from movie studios which included movie cars. I'm sure a ton of these cars from these movies were borrowed though. At the time of filming who would of thought they would be worth anything?
Look on the internet for fan sites. I was looking up an episode of Perry Mason the other day to find out who a particular actor was, I looked at a fan site called “perrymasonshow.com” or something like that and they had listed every episode, the cast, errors, filming locations and even featured cars ( I noted a custom Buick Riviera by Barris) There may be several fan sites for American Graffiti. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I found a current day claim of the T Bucket from a car show, but not much info. Looks to be Portland, OR area. https://pamplinmedia.com/sb/74-news/370315-252829-foster-road-cruise-in-fundraiser-for-a-dream There was also this T Bucket in the film. Anyone know it's fate?
So looking these stills over, I See a difference in windshields, radiator, valve covers, mirror location and headlight height. If it’s the actual car, it no longer resembles what it once was. I always wonder what happened to the 2CV, the Vespa, Edsel, Black 55 Ford Fairlane, White 60 Chevy HT. And so many other including the 36 Ford P/U with the parachute on the tailgate? It’s actually a 41. Good luck in your search.
i recall a piece in "street rodder" about the main cars. most were pretty bad. crappy chop on the merc and the milner car radius rods kept tearing up the frame. they advertised it for $3,500 (pre- release) and didn't get any takers!
The '41 Ford P/U is covered in this thread. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cars-of-american-graffiti.873559/
Rod and Custom also did a piece on the original Deuce used in the movie and it was in pretty rough shape and had spots where brackets were welded to the frame for cameras for the film.
Thanks for the discussion everyone. The T always struck me as really badass and the perfect look. Will
Gent, I think you will enjoy this article: https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2016/05/11/american-graffiti-deuce-coupe
The white 58 Chevy is in the Ray Evernham collection. (from Hendricks Motorsports) Ray bought it and had a museum quality restoration done on it to make it exactly as it was in the movie, only better. Candy Clark was in Vegas for the unveiling and said it had never looked that good. As to that red t-bucket, if it ever was in the movie it has had so many changes made that it's irrelevant. Would still like to hear about the Vette though.
No one has brought up this one yet..unless I missed it...its been around for a long time and is still around Sent from my SM-J737V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Rudestude, I love seeing the ‘40 in the movie, but I always thought it looked way better before the quads... Will
Knock yourself out: https://www.imcdb.org/movie_69704-American-Graffiti.html No history on the cars, but has a lot of pics.
Here's another pic of the T from Kip's blog. I've always loved the simple and clean style of this T. IMG_7836 by WCreighton posted Feb 2, 2020 at 1:47 PM Will
Without a doubt!! Streetrods were fairly new and the aftermarket was starting to take notice!! The term Streetrod gets a bad rap on this forum but if not for there influence and the aftermarket plus Movies our Hobby would be a lot different today!! ( just my Humble opinion as I was 19 yrs old when American Graffiti was released) Pete