Motion Pictures Two Lane Blacktop Revisited

do you know the name of the junk yard

 

No,,Sorry ,,the name of that junk yard was never revealed ,,,Walt knows of coarse ,,
here's those doors after the Purple was sanded down ,,they were a mess,,cracked n worn ,,and took a lot of work to make em right again ,..

 

1320GASSER: I'll see if I can find out that name of the Junk Yard ,,,I'll ask anyway and let you know ,,

 

lol.....top secret junk yard..... figures Walt would be that way.

 

1320 GASSER; well i never thought to ask ,,that pic of that Purple Gasser was taken 'bout 10 years ago ,,so i was sure it ain't there no more ,,but heck ,,maybe it is ,,i'll try and find out the Junk Yards Name ,,

 

didn't ask to try and go there and buy anything, I asked because I grew up around wrecking yards in So-Cal and was curious..............

 

1320 GASSER; i just talked to Walt ,,well,,it's a little more complicated than i thought ,,the "Plum Wild" '55 Gasser raced at Byron ,,was impoundad and sat in that junk yard for a few years ,,then bought by a guy in Canada ,,the doors were replaced ,and the 'glass doors were advertised in a Auto Parts fer sale mag ,,a friend of Walts saw the ad and called him ,,Walt flew up there to look at em a found they were the originals ,,here's a pic of the "Plum Wild" '55 when it was raced at Byron ,,story is ,,the guy that raced it named it after a Olds Gasser he once raced a few years before ,,the name of that Impound Junk Yard isn't known ,, ,,

 

Walt just sent me these pictures ,,here's "Plum Wild" at Byron ,,

 

Anybody from the Chicago Area remember this '55 Gasser ???

 

i have a question how did he know those were the doors off the tlb back up car? im sure whoever made the doors made more then just one pair of them im just curious

 

,, when he went to look at those doors ,,some of the Purple had flaked off ,,so he scrapped more off the reveal the white and red yellow old graphic paint underneath ,,that the son of the studio employee that bought the car painted it years before ,,plus ,,the way the sliding plexi windows & tracks were done by Richard Ruth ,,Ruth had given Walt the build pics of his unusual tracks he made for the sliding windows ,,

 

ok thanks much its all good by me

 

If you look carefully the 55 in American Graffiti as it rolls has an auto trans...

 

My wife is pretty handy with photo shop, I'll see if she can do somethin more with that cool poloroid you've got.

 

Harry Dean Stanton in "Repo Man" is pretty damn cool. It's an early 80s film with one of the stars being a '64 Malibu 4 door. I was so twisted after I saw that movie, that when I had the chance to buy a 64 Malibu 4 door, I did. Ever been to Utah?

 

jamesgr81; According to the Grifitti Studio and a couple crew guys on the film crew ,,the AG '55 always had the Muncie 4 speed ,,no automatic,,there were lots of changes to it from the TLB days,,of coarse the obvious,,paint ,scoop ,,wheels n tires ,,new front bumper ,,but ,they took out the bucket seats and installed a bench seat from a 4 door ,,so the "Chickies" could sit close to the driver ,,and that white cover over the back seat area ,that was the rage in '62 ,,i had a white one in my black '52 Chevy in '62/'63 ,,
the Die Cast model of the AG '55 has a "Period Correct" dual quad 409 in it ..but still the 4 speed ,,the L-88 427 that was in it in the TLB days was still in the AG 55 ,,thats why the hood/nose was never opened in the movie ,,
while we are on the subject of AG cars ,,the '58 Impala was said to have a 6 carb 327 ,,when in fact it had a tri-carb 348 ,,Movie Stuff ,,,lol

 

I kinda miss those years (except the war). Was still in high school in '71. I believe I rebuilt my first carburetor that year. If someone had taken a picture of my high school parking lot it'd look like a car show today. '71 was the last year of high compression in muscle cars, we lost Janis & Jimi and the first oil embargo was on the horizon. Gas was about 40 cents a gallon then.
Nowadays its Tuners & Rap and whogivesaratsassaboutlindseylohan? ...sigh...
At least we have the HAMB. lol

 

I graduated in '61 ,,in the Air Force '61 to '65 ,,based at Roswell,N Mex ,,a S.A.C. B-52 Base ,,then Anchorage ,Alaska , a F-102 Fighter Interceptor Base ,,,as a Jet Mechanic ,,,talk about two ends of the spectrum ,,the rules & Regs in each was totally Different ,,left Alaska in '69 n moved back to Des Moines ,,I miss all those days ,,even the Cold War ,,but not Nam ,,Too bad we didn't know what we had back then ,,we just thought it would never end ,,,
AND look at us now ,,,,the government wants to take everything away from us ,,EVEN our history and our Memories ,,

 

People that supposedly are "in the know" about the '55 that crashes in AG say that the "crash car" was just a junkyard heap but I think there was more to that car than most people think. When that car is upside down, I recognized the distinctive early Olds/Pontiac 3-Rib differential, obviously a Turbo 400, glasspacks, and a really decent-looking custom-made transmission crossmember that had been welded across the framerails. It also had a stock front suspension and not the tubular front straight axle from Two-Lane. It's a shame they used that car for the roll-over because it had these typical drag car modifications and may have been something special.

 

StLouis Gasser ...spoken like a true car guy. I saw the same stuff and thought ...they are different cars.

Shows you the American Graffitti guys may have known how to make a movie but knew nothing about cars.

 

stlouisgasser: Yes ,,you are right ,,but ,,there were TWO rollover '55's ,,the first one as you discribed was the No 3 car from TLB ,,it WAS NOT the burn car ,,the burn '55 was a POS from a junk yard ,,after the movie was done ,the No 3 TLB / AG Rollover '55 was sold ,,the 454 was bought by one of the crew guys ,,,AND as was stated here a couple pages ago ,the '55 became a stock car ,,back in 'the early '70's ,,a mint '55 Bel Air wouldn't bring $1000 bucks on the open market ,Tri-5 Chevys were out ,,,Trick Muscle Cars were IN ,,,sign of the times ,,

 

Case in point ,,the REAL Gen U Wine No 1 TLB / Grafitti '55,,just as it was in the AG movie ,,,was for sale ,,in '74 or '75 ,,in the Classified back pages of Hot Rod ,,
FOR ,,,$3500 Bucks ,,it didn't sell for over a year ,,then ,,it sold for a lot less ,,

 

Janis and Jimi died in '70.

I saw Janis in Charlotte in Nov 69. She came out with a fifth of Southern Comfort, took the cap off, threw it in the audience and said we won't need this again. By the end of the concert the bottle was empty..

 

BTW; i think it sold for $2750 ,,ended up in Kansas where the guy that bought it also bought the AG '32 Duece Coupe ,,he had both in his driveway ,,,then ,after re ferbishing the DueceCoupe ,after sitting on the back lot of the studio for a couple years ,,,it was a mess ,,intake had been stolen ,motor full of water ,,etc ,
and fixing up the '55 ,,he put BOTH up fer sale ,,,Rick Fagari bought the Duece Coupe ,,his Mother had werked at the Drive-In resturant as an extra in the AG movie ,,and he still has it ,,
the AG '55 was bought by a rich dewd back East ,,now is a Crushed Velvet / Gold Plated POS show car that don't look nuthin' like it did in the AG movie ,
However; werd has it the TLB no 1 /// AG '55 is gonna be restored back to movie form ,,

 

ffr1222k;; yes ,,i miss ole~ Janis still today ,,and the "Sittin' on the dock o the Bay" guy too,,
there was a Willie Nelson concert here in little ole Lampe ,Missouri in '87 ,,we have a unique amphetheater here ,,,he first came out on stage with a bottle of 'Jack" black label ,,sat it on the piano ,half way thru the show it was empty ,,then ,,after the lights dimmed ,,and came up again for his next song ,,there was a new bottle sittin' on the piano , ,,by the end of the 4 hour show ,,it was empty too ,,

 

Conman, Janis got by with only one bottle. The day after the concert my mother was flying to Ft. Lauderdale. When she returned she told me that Janis flew down on the same flight as she was on and that she had on the worst looking clothes she had ever seen (Purple skirt, Orange sweater). I told Mom that was what she had on at the concert.

I listen to Otis' 4 cd set, probably once or twice a month.

Anyway, I went to the concert in my 56 Victoria.

 

I wanna say that a couple of years ago someone one here on the HAMB posted photos of the Green, Rat-powered Street Rod from the Drive-In restaraunt that they raced in TLB for "3 Yards" has survived intact. I think it may have been a different color than Green these days, but's it's still neat to know that it's still around. Anybody still have a link to that thread and photos?

 

back in '87 ,,i lived jusr a short trip down the hill to the Swiss villa Amphtheater ,,,i also werked at the Swiss Villa Resort ,,so got free tickets to the shows ,,Willie ,,The Beach boys ,Steve Millar Band ,,and a bunch more ,,A show every weekend in '86 n '87 ,,
Drove my '66 SS427 Impala to em ,,

 

stlouisgasser; that green '32 Chevy ,( called a '32 Ford in the movie),,is alive and well in Sante Fe ,New Mexico ,where that scene was done ,,and still owned by the guy that leased it to the studio and drove it in that scene ,,
don't have a link to it ,,but it's now blue ,and has had a few mods to the body since then ,,several pics of it was posted on the TLB web site last year ,,by a guy that lives ib Sante Fe and knew the owner ,,

 

do any of you guys have any detailed shots of the front suspension set up? i want to do the front end on my 57 like that. trying to see how ruth did the coil overs, four bar, etc. & also what coil overs were used. thanks for any info