Art & Inspiration Your earliest movie inspiration?

Just curious what everyone's earliest hot rod influence when it comes to movies? I saw movies like American graffiti, Hollywood knights, moonshine highway and countless others. But something about thunder road spragged my sprog. Part of where my love of shoebox Fords came from. Explosions, police chases, straight pipes, multiple carbs, booze.....movie covered a lot of bases for a movie that old. Like when I found it on DVD for a dollar last weekend I couldn't buy it fast enough. I know it's not a rare movie but I'd never come across it on DVD before. It's influence did lead me on a stupid period of repeatedly outrunning gumballs.....but I survived that twenty year period unscathed.

What flicks turned you into a hooligan?

 

Hot Rod was the one that probably messed me up as much as any. Then, the other obvious ones you mentioned as well.

 

Oh I loved that one. But oddly never even heard of it till I was about 30.

 

Loved how they got the "replacement" hemi from one of the police cars used by the bent local force lol

 

The hot rod that Elvis drove in one of his early movies did come into play.
Still it was Norm's T on 77 Sunset Strip that did it for me. I can't tell you one plot on any show but always knew when the T would show up.

Amercian Grafiti convinced me that I wanted to dig my 51 Merc out from behind my grandfather's barn and redo it.
It actually sat this way from 1967 to 1978.

We were living in Texas when American grafitti came out and I had no way to haul the car back to Texas but we moved back to Washington in 1977.
I put a 350 Buick in it that my buddy gave me and made it to one of the early run to Roslyn shows shown here lower rf with a few more PNW Mercs.

 

The old man was cheap with his money so we had a black and white tubed tv until about 74 and watched Bullet with him on that black and white.

 

That the same merc right foreground?

 

Death race 2000. Hot rod and Hollywood Knights. I never was a fan of A.G.
The Munsters was another one.

 

I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in cars, so the earliest movie inspiration may have been the flying model T in The Absent Minded Professor.

 

The Impala was enough to hook me on ag at like 7 years old lol

 

Never Happened that way.
Movies were not viewed 'til adult years. ( with a very, very few exceptions )
TV I avoided 'til the mid -' 80's. It was around sure, but I wasn't.
My inspiration ( and education ) was the street,,, and used magazines.
Magazines supplied by my Scrap Dealer neighbor
Matter of fact I was revved-up for rods when mainstream society ( movie going ) was Gaga over New Detroit smell

 

12 years old when California Kid came out. Prior on the boob tube would have been Hot Rods to Hell and Fireball 500.

 

I'm a bike guy, The Great Escape!

 

it was Norm's T on 77 Sunset Strip!!

 

American grafitti and Rebel without a couse was the first ones for me.
I saw both movies in my mid teens but my interest in cars came in my childhood.

 

The Love Bug { I was just a kid}
Two lane Black Top
Gone in sixty seconds 1972 or 73
American Graffiti
California Kid
Bullet
All these fed my car Junky habit but Two Lane had the most influence.

 

American graffiti
Bullitt
Thunderbolt lightfoot
Last american hero
And to name a norwegian carchase Olsenbanden.
They took some inspiration from Bullit here, amazing carchase

 

I'll go along with that. No wait, as a young kid it was Connie Stevens on 77 Sunset Strip . Then it was the T hotrod

 

Ain’t none better than the “ The Kid “ to me .

 

1st movie, Hot Rods To Hell, I was around 8 years old when I saw it. 2nd movie, American Graffiti. 3rd movie, Hot Rod. 4th movie, The California Kid.

 

The 1950 movie Hot Rod and mid '50s Hot Rod Gang planted the seeds for a '32 roadster, and The Blob sold me on a '40. Norm's T on a '57? Life magazine cover and in Sunset Strip, Rebel Without a Cause, Thunder Road and several '50s B movies all played an important early role. The later "Kid", Hot Rod, American Grafitti etc were icing on the cake!

 

Life Of Riley TV show….son builds a hot rod

 

Since I’m a millennial born in ‘88. Probably the most influential movies are American Grafitti and Christine.

 

Two Lane Blacktop
Vanishing Point

 

Another vote for Two Lane Blacktop

 

Mr Magoo.
That guy could drive.

 

My introduction to the custom car world was through Lowriders & Bombas. For me the first flick that got me juiced was Boulevard Nights.

 

Cheech and Chong

 

California Kid,AG and Rebel Without a Cause.