If ya voted for the "puke green/piss yella" Deuce coupe then IMO ya should play the movie again and listen to the '55!
maybe 'cause in the movie it STILL had the built rat motor from twolane blacktop instead of the correct period motor,guess thats why they never opened the hood.............
You want some now Falfa?....... I like both and own both.Both movie cars are bad ass.It would be very hard to choose between the two.I dont think the 32 is ugly as some say,although I wouldnt choose to paint my 55 yellow only because its not my choice.Others like yellow and green and red etc.,but I wont be hatin' someones car because of the color.The fenders were on the 32 because of the time period,legal shit.I got many tickets for no front bumper and no front licence plate on my Chevy when I was a kid,now cops dont look at me twice for that.The 32 and 55 are icons,legends ,and inspired many of us when we were kids. I wanna see some of the haters cars,if they even have one Oh,and dont think the 32 would have lost in the end.A good friend of mine had & still has a 30 roadster that 20 years ago 3 of us were on the freeway playin around.My Chevy had a pumped 327,4speed & 4:11's and would make most street cars work hard to beat me.My buddy nailed the gas at around 60 and shot right past us in his 30 roadster. Power to weight ratio was there,no questions about it... and it only had a 283!!!!
Im pretty shure i read somewhere that the grafitti 55 is made from what was left of two nearly identical cars built for blacktop which came out before grafitti? OldWolf
Originally Posted by autobilly If ya voted for the "puke green/piss yella" Deuce coupe then IMO ya should play the movie again and listen to the '55! I read somewhere, maybe here on the HAMB, that the 55 engine sound was dubbed in the movie. Anyone know anything it, true or false?? Two Lane Blacktop was released in 1971 and American Graffiti was released in 1973. I assume TLB was filmed first. Larry T
Whelp...The REAL 55 From the movies Grafitti and Blacktop belongs to a few guys in our car club....The Astros Car Club here in Baltimore Maryland..... Ive driven the 55 on and off the roll back many times, I've washed it, got it ready for car shows and drove it around the block many times trying to get the cob webs out etc...etc... The car is and always has been a total PIG due to not driving it....the car SIT'S & SIT'S and Sit's etc... etc.. etc...... Ive dummped the clutch many times only to have it fall on its face with a Chug-A-Pop-poop-pop-phooh" .. Even with a killer tune up the car is not even close to being fast or quick anymore..... The car looks like it did when it was in the movies on the OUTSIDE only... the inside looks nothing like it did in the movies... However... My buddy Denny Moran & Wayne Newson that own the car swear they will be putting it back to its former glory...( God I Hope So) .. Ill take the 55 Chevy over the coupe just because its a part of our club and you gotta stay true to your buddies..... You can read about the car on the American Grafitti Web Site...gives the history, who built it, where it is now etc... After 4 or 5 quarter mile passes up on the dead-end of Route 70 here in Baltimore...the 55 Chevy has shown signs of its former Movie Glory Self..... I'm sure with two new carbs, new valve springs and some leaded gas, Ill bet $500 bucks it'll beat Milners Piss Yellow Deuce Coupe any night of the week..........!!!!! BRING IT ON RICK....THE 55 IS WAITING FOR YOU!!!.....WE ARE CALLING YOUR PISS YELLOW COUPE OUT AGAIN!!!! Only This Time there wont be a fake movie car to flip over...Lets see who the REAL WINNER IS?.... heh heh
Of course the 55 sounds as bad ass as it did.It had one of the most wicked engines that Chevrolet ever made,an aluminum head 427 12:5 to 1 compression,square port aluminum heads,solid cam,aka......the L88.It had over 500 horses out of the box.The 55 Chevy when built for TLB ran 10:80's but had a tunnel ram on it,and fiberglass doors,trunk,front nose,plexiglass rear window and all side windows.That car was bad ass. There was no such thing in 1962 and nothing that could touch it if the L88 existed in 62,and I'm talking street cars,not dragsters.So we can assume Falfa had a wicked little 283,327 or maybe a 57-58 392 Chrysler Hemi? Yah,we can all argue on what was faster but ..."Winning is winning" and Milner won Did you know.....the engine sounds dubed in for the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit part 1 were from the TLB,AG 55 Chevy And I still love both cars!!!!
THE REAL 55 SITS at NORWOOD SERVICE CENTER IN BALTIMORE MARYLAND....DOCUMENTED BY RICHARD RUTH the Builder..... Read for yourselves at the America Grafitti web site...WAYNE NEWSON & Denny MoRan own the car today and have owned it since about 1981 or 82? ITS THE REAL CAR....WALT Baily Owns the Camera Car from the outside shots...also a maryland car....check the two lane blacktop site for that one. Ive dont a few healthy burnouts in that 55...its Runs today finally!
Or, perhaps a tuff 348/409. Interesting (if true) about SATB, I always dug the sound of that Poncho too!
Steve Fitch owned both cars at least until the Summer of 1984. He bought the 55 in June of '78 and the Aug of 81. I know he sold both in the mid 80's.
Here's some AG trivia the 32, 55, Ron Howard's 58, the chopped 51 Merc and a Studebaker back ground car were all offered in a package deal for 4700.00 before the release of American Grafftiti!!
After seeing and hearing SamIam's 55 (and watching him scar Jimmy White) I have developed a soft spot for a Tri-5 that is strictly business like that...
What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgDNviWwbvw Falfa's 55... but I might be a little impartial.</EMBED>
1st pick would be Milners Blown SB Dragster....! 2nd would be the Swedish Blonde. 3rd, the Duece. Crap - sorry - wrong movie...!!
Somewhere buried in my collection I have the Street Rodder magazine from around 1976 that featured these cars. I can't remember if it was in the Street Rodder article or not but I remember the (then) owner of the 58 Chevy saying that he had bought the car before the movie came out not knowing anything of the cars being in the movie. When AG came out he had a blast driving back and forth in front of the theatre as the crowd was letting out.
Milner was the coolest, but I always loved that 55. I must have watched American Grafitti on VHS 200 times when I was 13.
I would love to have any of the cars in the movie. I guess it was the yellow coupe that really wants me to build one. After saying that I would like to find out about the truck with the 'chute. In the scene where Kurt is sitting on "Gills" car if you look there is a 40 model Ford truck with a 'chute. Makes me wonder.......
Good god get those gross K-Mart smoothies off that car and shoe it with some REAL, three-bump steelies like it deserves... Details, man, details. You don't take a girl to the dance in Keds.
Here's a few pics I took after Steve Fitch first bought the 55 and after he restored it to movie condition.
The Jalopy Journal
