American Graffiti 55 has a new owner!! Real car

Taylor has to get the jets changed....

 

I think I remember it was burned in a storage fire

 

https://www.latimes.com/business/au...captain-america-bike-sold-20141019-story.html

 

That's a Lotta cash for a bike with questionable provenance! Damn!

 

No doubt. Makes the Hirahata Merc seem like a bargain to me both in the authenticity of the car as well as just how much you get for your money as compared to an old panhead.

Oh, and back on topic, I would also like to know more about the current situation with the Graffiti 55.

 

Here's another quarter in the fountain hoping THE 55 makes it's first public appearance, post rehab, on The HAMB. Thank you current owner and Richard Ruth for saving and preserving this car. We wanna see it!!! We wanna see all that previous owner fluff and debauchery in a dumpster.

 

The guy in Maryland that had the 55 and did all changes on it was named Wayne Newsome. He use to own hearth and home. He shared a shop with my old boss at one time. My old boss asked him to bring to the 55 to the shop a couple times because me and couple other guys were into cars but he never did. I wanted to get a picture of my 66 Impala with the 55.

 

I remember seeing pics of the car at a show and did not approve of the changes, but I ain't anybody..

 

Yeah I saw it at a show in MD and it wasn't special anymore just another black 55. I still couldn't get a picture with it.

 

Personally I wouldn't have bothered to take a pic or two unless it was to show how a car with heritage could/how they get lost. Had to make it his own non originale TLB car. Doesn't make sense.

 

The late Pat Ganahl once told me a compelling tale of one of the the '55's from this film. I believe there were three '55s used in the movie; the primary, the camera car and a stunt car.

He said long ago he had done extensive research and found a guy who said he owned one of them. I'm not sure which.

Pat said the guy and his father took the car to a James Taylor concert and actually got Taylor to look at the car, see if he could confirm its provenance. Taylor looked under the car and quickly said this was one of the cars. He said it was the car he had raced in the final scene. He knew because he had done damage to it on the first take, and the damage was was still there.

That day in 1971 Taylor said he had done the classic Muncie 4 speed first gear/reverse gear confusion/brain fart, (full disclosure: I've done that, too!!) He did a full throttle launch in reverse, snapped the u-joint and almost sent the drive shaft through the floor. Apparently the under body damage was still there when Taylor examined the car in whatever year this concert visit supposedly took place.

Pat said he had long since lost touch with the guy. Pat told me this story around 7 or 8 years ago.

 

Great post John. I'm guessing it was the late great Jay Wheatley who put a new joint in it for take 2....

 

Somehow, IMO I can't believe Taylor got down and looked under the car, let alone drove it hard. I think the story is confused with AG and the last race. And I admit I don't remember how TLB ended. Have to look it up, don't think TLB used three cars, but AG did. have to look that up too.

 

It’s two bad the car can’t get restored back to Two Lane Blacktop specks, the car with a L88 and four speed will never be a 1962 build, never it might as well have an LS in it.

 

^I'll take a wrong big block over an LS any day!

 

Cool Photo! I never met them but The Wheatley Bros were in my club back in the day. Colonial Rodders of Easton, MD.

 

I don't see the restoration going to accurate, I watched that video yesterday, even asked them how they got picked to restore it because they didn't know anything about the car.
The stuff they talked about sounded like they did a quick Google search and all of a sudden became experts on the subject.

 

Nice to see the car getting restored back to as close to practical the way it was in Graffiti. In 1977 I talked to Sam Crawford who owned the car at the time. He lived in Dixon, CA. Living in nearby Stockton at the time, I wanted to come and see the car, but he said it was pretty rough...nothing special to look at. It only had to look decent in the movie, but in real life it didn't look great, at least in terms of body work and paint. You can imagine that as a person restoring such a famous car, you'd probably get tarred and feathered if you actually restored the body & paint work to the funky level it was in the movie.

 

396?
454
No shit?!?!

 

yeah its going to be interesting to see how the car is restored. I've always loved the car (not as much as the 58 Impala in the movie) but have always thought a real version of the die cast that was made would be neat. The die cast was more period correct to 1962 as it had a dual quad 409 stuffed in it.

 

In the movie I remember the car having a crap paint job. Dry spay and bad bodywork. So what are you willing to bet the car will be straight as an arrow and have a ultra gloss coat of color.

 

Step one, scrap those chinesium, summit racing dual pattern moons for some real, Kelsey Hayes center chrome reverse, or at least go back to what it had in 1976...

 

The rear fender flare looks wider too, but the first things I spotted were those smoothies and that scoop...UGLY !

 

I always thought it had a tunnel ram and 2 4s on it. Man was I wrong.

 

Look for a YouTube video under “A G 55” search . Watched it yesterday. The video shows the 55 completely disassembled, body freshly painted on a little trailer outside. It still had masking paper and tape. Parts are show hanging on the walls inside the shop, parts everywhere. I think two young men are talking to Wayne Newsom...I don’t know...wasn’t there...but he was complaining that the engine was mounted to the frame without motor mounts. I see no problems without rubber...but what do I know? Anyway I know the HAMB DETECTIVES will find it . GOOD LUCK.

 

Fuck it, I'll say it. The ONLY car is the TLB version. That's it. The AG version was 2nd string at best. Kool? I suppose so, but the raw, primered, big block, tunnel ram (impractical but who gives a shit), 'glass front, M22, straight axle, and yes-yes-yes, even the American "daisy" wheels. Tell me right hand raised that car doesn't move you. Of course it does be it your cup of tea or not. It sez fuck off. It sez you get it. It sez fuck around and find out. Yes indeed it said all that in a time where 9 second cars didn't come with a payment book and laptop tuning. Just makes it better. I don't have the time or the means to build a look-alike but the dream still lingers. AG version? The only pass I give it is that it was once the TLB. And still we are the United HAMB of America, so all the best to those of you who prefer the AG. It never moved me like it's 1st version did.

 

^^^ya boy, 111%

 

Ironic that he had to tweak the carbs. It seems like that was half the activity in "Two Lane Blacktop"

 

Preach on brotha…