Motion Pictures Two Lane Blacktop Revisited

Don't think anyone else can do much with it ,,its an old poloroid pic taken thru a window ,,henc the reflections ,,,clear back in 1970,,

 

Connman,

One of the biggest bummers is the fact that Jay Wheatly has passed on too. He would definately be the best source for any real car related information re TLB. Have you ever heard if anyone ever interviewed him about anything TLB related? I remember seeing some 60s tri five stockers with Wheatly Bros. monikers in old drag pics here on the HAMB. Clean cars as I remember. Got any more info on the Wheatlys? For anyone who hasn't seen TLB in it's cleaned up restored current issue it's a must see. Weather you dig the story line or not, the audio of the car stuff is so killer and not the dubbed and edited movie crap so typical of the times. You're hearin' that '55 as it was....... highway flyin', big block, M22 whinin' away........ Road scenes are great too, night shots even better........

Meatball,

That car carrier pic is just too cool. If only the focus were better. Can you imagine THAT thing rollin' through your town back in the day!? Damn...... Jay coulda made a little $$ from town to town street racin' a bit! Cruise town with the LS5, find the big boys, mouth it up a bit, wait for nightfall and unload the L88! How fun would that be! Hell....... toss the script and make THAT movie..........

If only...............

Steve weim55 Colorado

 

hell I bet there was some stuff that "happened" we will never hear about.........but yeah..how about TLB 2 (the untold story?)

 

Weim you cottenpicker ,,where you been hidin' out at ,,ain't heard from you in a coons age ,,,,,
Sad to hear about Jay ,,darn ,,he wasn't that old yet,,,
yep,,racin' those cars from town to town woulda been fun ,,but who knows ??? maybe thats what the crew did in their down time ,,,we'll never know now i guess ,,

 

Ive seen some digital enhanced/restored pics with missing pieces and they have been amazing...........just gotta find the right guy to do it

 

Yep,,,the right guy with the right equipment ,,I agree ,,,

 

Damn...if only Jay were around. Think about it, he would have been perfect to setup the street race stuff for any of the footage the script called for. Who else on a movie crew would know how to make that stuff happen on the fly from town? Knowin where to go, who to talk to, how to quickly set up a race or two. I'll bet at some point a peice of that really did happen. If only we knew........ At the very least I hope Jay had some serious fun for the weeks he was on the TLB gig. Man I know I would!

Steve weim55 Colorado

 

Thread drift here...............

I would love to see real street race footage on movie or TV. Even today. Not Pinks that S%$# with the Hollywood hype. The real deal, in the streets. Someone goin' town to town with some serious iron. At least the way I remember anyway. I think I owe it to myself and get out there and see what's really happening on that scene these days........

Steve weim55 Colorado

 

Do a search on utube..........its there

 

Street Racin; Is Coming Back ,,not so much from town to town like we did in the late '50's when i was in hi-school ,,or the '60's & early '70's ,,but in a lota little towns across the country ,,street racin' is goin' on ,,alot ,,Like Branson ,Missouri on a Fri / Sat nite,,,these hi school kids are doin' it ,,
there just ain't anything else for em to do ,,'cept drugs ,,,

 

Meatball; Did the link i PM'd you about the Fagari AG '55 car come thru O K ???

 

just for the hell of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2__Hk1todQ&feature=related

 

yeah thanks.....not the same story I got per our PM............

 

Budd ; just noticed ,,,you're from Vancouver Eh ?? been thru there coming and going from Alaska several times in the '60;'s ,,great City ,,great folks too ,,always wanted to go back ,,there's a black '40 Ford Pick-Up runnin' around there that i put a '64 GTO 389 tri-power motor & muncie 4 speed in,,back in Alaska in '67 ,,he moved back to Vancouver in the early '70's i was told ,,had a home made wooden camper in the bed back then ,,gone now i reckon ,,

 

Meatball; well,,when Fagari had the two cars in Sweden here while back ,,for a big Grafitti Show ,,the '55 was hyped as the REAL AG '55 ,,not sure who hyped it as that ,,the press ,,the radio announcer,,or who ,,but ,,the Swedes loved it ,,
Funny how stuff gets turned around ,,heck ,,Barris even had a Black AG 55 for sale at an auction and told everyone HE built the AG '55 ,,then the real story came out ,so he sold it as a clone ,,for 'bout 20% of what he was asking ,,
you outa here the stories Walt gets when he shows the TLB '55 ,,everybodys cousins girlfriends brother has the real TLB '55 ,,

 

I watched TLB last nite (1st half,fell asleep) I noticed something I haddnt before....after the race at the beginning,and they stop in the morning to change tires the car has REAR DISC BRAKES....how cool and really ahead of its time........

 

Connman thanks for posting this, I immediately dug out my vhs copy of TLB, now I just gotta find a VCR that works.

 

grappler; i have both the VHS and the DVD ,,,crazy thing ,,the DVD shows a TON more stuff on each side of the main part ,,stuff you can't see on the VHS copy ,,you can buy just the DVD on eBay for 'bout $15- $20 bucks ,,shipped ,,the Collectors Tin is the coolest tho ,,a small pewter '55 & key chain,,booklet and a neet tin box to put it all in ,,those go for 'bout $45-$50 bucks shipped ,,but well werth it ,,plus the quality of the video is a lot sharper on DVD ,,
Meatball; Rear Disc Brakes on a Olds Rear Yet not a 9 inch,,,one of Richard Ruths trick deals ,,that was a kool thing to see when i first noticed it ,,

 

One of the first DVDs I bought; I am looking at it right now, still have the keychain in a little plastic bag, there is a nice booklet with it as well. All that shit would have probably been lost with out the metal box.

 

Richard D ;; Yes ,,i still have my little pewter '55 & key chain in the plastic bag ,,I also got the new TLB DVD from Criterion with the two DVD's ,,one the movie Re-Digitized and the other Producer /Directors disc with all the behind the scenes videos ,,plus the Movie Booklet ,,AND ,,the Paper Back Book ,,( i have the Original Paper Back Book from 1970 too ),,this set is available from Amazon.Com ,,might find it on eBay too ,,but get it NEW from Amazon ...REALLY a Bitchin' Set ...,,

 

Check out that unibrow!

 

Everybody restores the 55s to Graffiti style. It's nice to see someone do a TLB version.

 

After the TLB filming was done ,,the No 1 and 3 '55's went on to be in Grafitti ,,the No 2 camera car was sold to a studio employee who gave it to his son to drive to hi school ,,here it is just before it got sold to a drag racer who in turn sold it to a Canadian ,,yes ,,the Kid Re Painted it up in early '70's Hippie Graphics ,,lol,

 

The "Proud As Punch" Hi School Kid ,,and yes ,,it still had the TLB LS-5 454.Custom Hedders by Ruth ,and the Muncie M-22 Rock Crusher in it ,,how'd you like to have paid about $2500 fer that in the middle '70's ,,??? Ya ,,Cry Me A River !!!

 

Here's the No. 2 TLB Camera Car after being sold a couple times and ended up in 1987 in Ontario Canada where Walt found it and bought it to restore back to TLB form ,,Notice the Fiberglss Doors are gone ,,the Straight Axle was Sub'd for a Camaro Sub Frame ,,BUT ,,it still had the LS-5 454 with Ruth Custom Hedders ,,and the Attachments welded to the frame for the Camera Platforms ,the racer steering column,,seats ,,and other tal tal items only a TLB expert like Walt and Ruth would know ,,like,,
the dented rear bumper guards that showed in the movie ( and still on it ) ,and as you can see ,,it was Painted up as a Grifitti Clone ,,thats how it was advertised fer sale ,,
Richard Ruth helped id it ,,entify this car as the No 2 '55 from TLB ,,,

 

$2500 was a lot for a 55 post back then (mid 70s)

 

Yep ,,most could be had for a grand or less ,,,i did say "About" not real sure the exact amount ,,but i reckon the drag racer that bought it was more interested in the 454 and the "Rock Crusher" ,,plus it still hed the 'Glass Doors and the 'Glass Tilt Front End ,,
In '69 ,when i left Alaska ,,, i sold my '54 Ford F-100 Drag Pick em up with a BB 396 anna Muncie M-21 for $2500 ,,paid for my move back to Iowa ,
you could buy a mint Tri-5 Bel Air up there then for $750-$1000 bucks ,,Muscle cars had taken over ,,

 

BTW; after Walt bought the No 2 car ,,,after some great research ,,he found the original Fiberglass Doors in a JunkYard in California ,,

 

Meatball; Since Walt has the No 2 TLB '55 insured now for ONE MILLION BUCKS ,,,"'Bout $2500" sounds pretty cheap ,,LOL,,LOL,

 

This is where Walt found the original TLB No 2 cars Fiberglass Doors ,,on an old gasser sitting in a Junk Yard ,,the owner knew the origin of the doors and contacted Walt that they were for sale ,,,
After Walt got em home ,,he sanded down that Purple and reveled the old White w' Orange & Yellow Graphics the Hi-School Kid had painted on em