American Graffiti

[68Chevele]

Last night I was on Tubi and noticed they had American Graffiti there, so I decided to watch it again. Now it's a classic with great stuff, but being I am the sort of person (as my Son says) that spots things in movies that are not supposed to be in there.
So in the 1st. cruise scene I see parked on the side of the road a gold '67 Carpice 2dr. WTF? I thought this movie was set in 1962?? then later when Susanne Summers was cruising down a street I spotted the Caprice still there, had not seen that before.
Finally when Milner and Falfa race, the '55 turns over and I spotted what looks like a turbo 400 pan, I thought that car was a 4spd '55, dang. I must be getting old.

What have you guys spotted in a car movie that's not supposed to be in there?

 

[cheveslakr]

The 55 rollover is a huge tell, that's actually a hardtop car they pulled from a wrecking yard. They put plywood inserts in the quarter windows painted to mimick the b-pillar. Yes, the auto trans is there also. Painted silver wheels vs. chrome reverse. I believe there were even whitewall tires visible?? "Where were you in '67" just doesn't sound right. Surprised you didn't see a silver vega repeated scene after scene like Rockford.

 

[Nashville Cat]

I watched this last night - there were about 16 different 1970-78 Firebirds driven by James Garner for "The Rockford Files"

 

[77cruiser]

The 55 rollover is a huge tell, that's actually a hardtop car they pulled from a wrecking yard. They put plywood inserts in the quarter windows painted to mimick the b-pillar. Yes, the auto trans is there also. Painted silver wheels vs. chrome reverse. I believe there were even whitewall tires visible?? "Where were you in '67" just doesn't sound right. Surprised you didn't see a silver vega repeated scene after scene like Rockford.

I remember seeing single exhaust on it.

 

[68Chevele]

I watched this last night - there were about 16 different 1970-78 Firebirds driven by James Garner for "The Rockford Files"

But those "white walls"

 

[Derek69SS]

The girls' Studebaker and Steve's 58 Impala have the same license plate number. JPM 351 if I remember correctly.

 

[Derek69SS]

The 55 rollover is a huge tell, that's actually a hardtop car they pulled from a wrecking yard. They put plywood inserts in the quarter windows painted to mimick the b-pillar. Yes, the auto trans is there also. Painted silver wheels vs. chrome reverse. I believe there were even whitewall tires visible?? "Where were you in '67" just doesn't sound right. Surprised you didn't see a silver vega repeated scene after scene like Rockford.

There were 3 cars used. The rollover stunt car was a sedan. The car they burned was the hardtop.

Two Lane Blacktop had 3 cars also.
L88/M22,
LS6/M22 (some reports it was LS7, but Richard Ruth said LS6)
454/TH400 with AC used for a lot of interior shots. Easy to tell this car from interior shots by looking at the visible carburetor.

The L88 car became the hero car in AG
The TH400 car became the rollover stunt car in AG.
The LS6 car was sold off, located in Canada and restored to TLB trim, and sold at auction a few years ago.

 

[ZL1Chevelle]

Interesting, I remember an LS5 with fake tunnel ram (fabricated tin?) to mount the carburetor(s). But, my memory isn't what it used to be.

 

[Derek69SS]

Interesting, I remember an LS5 with fake tunnel ram (fabricated tin?) to mount the carburetor(s). But, my memory isn't what it used to be.

That was the TH400 car. They had a tray mounted to the cowl with a single carb on top of it. In-car shots you can see there's no front carb. That car also had AC added to it during filming of TLB, which is why it was used so much for interior shots.

I don't know if it was an LS5, but was definitely a milder 454 with a single carb on a stock intake. Being built in '70, I guess LS5 would be the only mild 454 option.

 

[cheveslakr]

From what I remember, 3 cars were built by Ruth for 2lane, 2 454 crates, and the L88 as Derek mentioned, and the interior shot camera car was the only one not used in AG. It's engine was sold, and the car went from owner to owner until Walt Bailey got it and restored it to it's 2lane form with some help from Ruth.....I think he even made another set of headers for that car which is cool as heck!
That car had the 454 in 2lane. It had a TR and 660s.
The stunt car in 2lane was fitted with a roll bar and seperated braking system that isolated left and right sides, for the scene that where they came upon the wrecked station wagon. The car was never rolled as intended
That car and the outside shot car, considered the No.1 car, were used in AG, but not Walt's car.
The 3rd car, or the car filmed in the last scene on it's top, was the only car used in AG, but not in 2lane, and it was a hardtop.
IMO, Walt's number 2 car is the most interesting, since it was followed for at least 4 owners, now 5 since Walt sold the car at BJ auctions.
The number 1 car was modernized with plush interior, expensive black paint job, and a stance that wasn't true to either movie, kind of a shame.

 

[cheveslakr]

Back when I built my 2lane clone, I became a 55 junkie, and often used weekend nights with a good friend watching the vhs and pausing so many times, watching time doubled! I bought that car for $1000 as a rust free roller and it had a screwed on vin tag from a 210 post, but the trim tag spelled out 150 utility sedan, which was the model of the number 2 car from 2lane. This was a surprise to me, not knowing that at the time of purchase. It had no signs of the back seat, but was missing the shelf. I actually found an NOS rear shelf cover, which would be a huge investment today. Miss that car.