Motion Pictures Two Lane Blacktop Revisited

Like the Movie ,,Or Not ,,the behind the scenes history is pretty intersting ,,the Wheatley Bros Race Team was racing at the Pheonix Drags,,the TLB Film crew was there ,,the Producer Asked em how long it would take em to change a 4 speed ,,they said "'bout 20 minutes" ,,they were hired on the spot to mantain all Three '55 Chevys during the filming ,,all across the country ,,Here's Jay Wheatly and the Number One '55 ,,

 

Neet Photo Too ,,TLB fans copy the Pic for your TLB Pic File ,,rare pic,,

 

There had always been some discussion about some James Taylor (the singer) being in that movie. I heard he denied it, and said it was a different James Taylor. Common enough name. There was an NPR interview last week where he said that we wrote a particular song while filming Two Lane Black Top.

 

It was James Taylor, the singer. He once had hair like most of us then.....

 

It WAS the real James Taylor ,,what he said was ,,"He'd Never Make Another Movie" ,,and he didn't,,,, TLB was the only one ,,
here's James Taylor today ,,re-united with the Restored To Original No 2 TLB '55 Chevy camera car at a recient car show ,,

 

James Taylor behibd the wheel of the '55 Camera Car during filming in 1970 ,

 

Cowboy hitchhiker: How come you ain't still in Bakersfield?

GTO: Cause I'm in the southwest!

 

James Taylor is the only Star still alive today ,,

 

A recent entry on The Selvedge Yard about Two Lane Blacktop with a couple "behind the scene" photos.

http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.co...p-under-the-hood-of-the-epic-1971-road-flick/

 

1970/71 ,,the Veitnam War ,,Long Hair,,Wacky Tobacky ,Street Racin' ,Muscle Cars / Gassers /Hot Rods,,and still Drive In Movies ,,First Saw TLB at a Des Moines Drive In Theatre ,in my '69 SS396 Chevelle in '71 ,It WAS a crazy time in History ,

 

ClayMart; Neet Link,,Thanks ,,I was in Boswell ,Oklahoma in '06 with a bunch of other TLB fans ,,town ain't changed at all ,the Gas Station has been torn down ,,but met the old man that owned it in '70 ,,he's still alive and kicking and remembers ALL that stuff from that time ,,had a lot of stories to tell ,,his two sons ,,they're still there ,,where in the movie too ,,

 

Yes,,,and so are a lot of the other extras in the movie ,,i was just referring to the four main stars ,,The Mechanic ,,the Beach Boy Dennis Wilson Drowned ,,,The Girl ,,Commited Suicide while living with Art Garfunkle ,,GTO died of health problems a couple years ago ,,But,,like you say ,,a lot of the other "Charactors" are still around ,,
by the way ,,i liked Harry Dean Stanton the best in "Escape From New York" ,

 

"make it three yards, motherfucker and you got yourself an automobile race"

 

FordGuy321; THAT line has to be the best of the whole movie ,,and maybe one of the best of all time ,,I used it against the Father of the Kid in a Nisson 300ZX i raced last year with my T when he called and wanted a rematch ,,never heard back from him ,,lol,,lol,,lol,

 

CONNMAN, and friends...

I was an Air Personality at KAAY Radio in Little Rock in those days, and some of the Cast & Crew of "Two Lane Blacktop" stayed overnight in L.R. during the Arkansas shooting.

Carl Wilson, was traveling with Dennis and I did a great Interview with him at the station during that time in 1971. Very nice guy.

Earlier in '71 I had a breakfast & Interview session with Kenny Rogers at the Little Rock Airport. He was with the 1st Edition in those days, and a super-likeable guy.

[A couple of years before that, when they were filming "Bloody Mama" in the L.R. area, I got to do an in-depth Interview with Pat Hingle...a fantastic character actor who had been on Broadway before he went into film. You'll remember Hingle from when he starred as Commisioner Gordon in the first 4 "BATMAN" films. That brought him to a whole new generation of viewers.]

What can I say ! Arkansas was drawing many, many Producers, Directors, Actors, and, Music Artists to the area in those days, AND what many (who weren't there) forgot, or never knew, Winthrop Rockefeller was the Governor of Arkansas at the time and set up a group to entice Film Makers to come to Arkansas to shoot their pix.

PLUS, Rockefeller was a car fan too, and he set-up a Car Museum on a part of his property on Mt. Petit Jean, and had many cars that had been in his family for DECADES on display there. A great place to spend a Sat. Afternoon !

Hope this sheds a little light on the Arkansas History portion of "Two Lane Blacktop" for all my H.A.M.B. friends...ride on, stay safe.

Jonnie King www.legends.thewwbc.net

BELOW: Hey, that's me on my KAAY Mini-Bike that was given away on my show in 1971 ! And, there's a pic of Kenny & me doing the Interview at the L.R. Int. Airport.

 

I guess he just dropped in to see what condition his condition was in.

 

Richard D n Guys; In that last scene ,,at that old airport ,,,where he's racing that Black n White SS eL Camino ,,,the Owner / Driver of that eL Camino's name is "Spoolie" ,,,he's alive n well still living in Tennesee ,,he's a friend of a member on the Two Lane Blacktop Group Forum ,,

 

my favorite production pic (lookin for it) is the under hood shot of the other prop 55 with carbs mounted to plywood and A/C on the big block to keep the "actors" cool.........

 

steering wheel looks wrong,compare to old photo,the other is that open foam w/o seam,also loks to big...JMO

 

^ you got that pic? The 3 yards line is classic...

 

meatball; Yep ,,the steering wheel in the late pic of the restored TLB '55 ,isn't the original one ,,which ,after 40 years ,,is no longer made ,,SO ????

 

Meatball; If you'll watch the movie ,,you'll see the later steering wheel was used also ,,there were THREE TLB '55's ,,parts were swaped back n forth a bunch during that year of filming in '70 ,,

 

A Funny Sidenote; James Taylor had NEVER driven a stick shift car before ,,so he had to learn making TLB ,,

 

In the TLB paperback book ,,it talks about a lot of behind the scenes stuff that went on ,,
OH,,BTW; for those that might not know ,there's a "American Grifitti" paper back book too,,,I have both in my collection ,,

 

I know some of youall think the TLB movie sucks ,,some think it's Great ,,but Esquire Magazine thought it was the Movie Of The Year ,,in 1971 ,,Grafitti didn't come out 'till 1972/3 ,,Hollywood Knights a few years later ,,All three are GREAT ! ,,it's just TLB is a Thinking Gearheads Movie ,,It wan't done for the masses ,,just for us Serious Street Racin' / Cross Country Racin' Crazys ,,LOL,,

 

I first saw that movie when I was a kid. Seeing that car and the scenes shot inside as James Taylor was running throught the gears inspired me to some day have a car like that.


Short Story....

One day, about fifteen or so years back, while at work a couple of us got to talking about cars and I brought up how much I dug the car from TLB.

Roger O'Dell (also on the HAMB) says "I got a car like that!"
Those here who know Roger know also he has a shit pot of cool rides.
But dumb shit me. I say something like "Bullshit" thinking if he does have something like it, it aint close.

Well Roger didn't say much more on the subject about the TLB like car.

A couple of days later, in the parking lot a work while in a prework stuppor.
I hear this motor rev and a clutch dump with a decent burnout.
I look over and there, with a shit eating grin, is Roger in his 55.

It was a bad ass car.
Flat black, straight axle, L88 427 motor and a spool rear end.
pretty damn close to the TLB car.
He drove it to work nearly 40 miles to show me.

After that, I came to learn that Roger's word is Gold.

PS. Roger sold the car to Darrell who still has the motor in it, with the car done up as a nice gasser!

 

For the most part I'd love to do it all again.

 

BobG; You Bet !!! I'd go back in a heart beat ,,and do it all over ,,i'm still lost in those good ole '60's - '70's memories ,,Too Bad We Didn't Know What We Had ,,we just took it all for granted ,,thinking it would never end ,,,
Drag Strips were everywhere ,,Front Engined Diggers Still Ran,,( I was on the crew for the Tasmaniam Devil FED outa Iowa Falls ) ,Altered Wheel Base A/FX Cars ,,Wild Match Races ,,and a ton of Muscle Cars of Every Discription ,,
IF ONLY WE KNEW !!!

 

Here's James Taylor with the owner of the restored TLB no 2 camera '55 ,,Walt Bailey ,,at a recient car show ,,,James was doing a Concert nereby ,,Walt got free box tickets for him & his wife to the Concert ,,