Featured Art & Inspiration Your earliest movie inspiration?

Thunder Road.
My brother and I would stop the VCR and go frame by frame to see if “ Lucas Doolin” really completed the “bootlegger roll” at the conclusion of the opening chase.
He did complete the roll! It you go frame by frame and watch that rear tire it’s continuing to go over before the cut.
The car morphed into a ‘49 Fordor before the roll. The trunk did open and it lost the spare but it rolled over.
I believe that same 49 Fordor was painted gray and was blown up at the gas station.

Thunder Road was in our blood like it was genetic. It kind of reminds me of PeeWee Herman.

“We don’t have to watch the movie Dottie because we lived it.”

AMC host Nick Clooney was a writer for the Louisville paper in 1958 when Thunder Road premiered at the theaters.
He said when he moved out of Kentucky in 1965 Thunder Road was still playing at the Drive Ins.

 

Yeah with all the awesome rod movies that have come out since hot rods started being hot rodded there's just something about thunder road. I remember wanting a shoebox strictly because of that movie lol. Still do

 

I was 8 years old when I first saw Hot Rod Granny on Gumby I think this was my biggest inspiration believe it or not

 

“Drag Strip Girl”. With the Ivo T. 1956?

 

Hot Rods to Hell and The Lively Set!

 

I was born a car NUT. But the ones I remember as a kid that I loved, were Hot Rods to hell, the Munsters, Thunder road, the Shaggy D.A. ,and Palm Springs Weekend.

 

For me it was the opening credits of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Half a century later I still get a kick out of watching.

 

https://pics.imcdb.org/0is299/wings3fi1.2239.jpghttps://pics.imcdb.org/0is299/wings5zb6.9762.jpg


1927 “Wings”was the first winner for best picture.
It stars the actress Clara Bow, who I had a time warp crush on when I was kid.

This is not the first motion picture with a modified car but it’s one of the earliest main stream movies that feature construction of a jalopy into a go-job, speedster or what we would call today a hot rod.

 

Actually it was Road Warrior, the 2nd one. I couldn’t get enough of those junkers especially the bumpside wrecker. We didn’t have money for fancy movie channels back then and it took me a while to find my niche. I’m glad I wound up here.

 

Mad Max had some very cool rides as well, I still watch Mad Max and The Road Warrior every now and then.

 

My grandparents had a pile of old Disney classic shorts on vhs and one of my favorites was Susie the Little Blue Coupe.

 

I'm a big mad max fan. In fact I even actually like to watch thunder dome lol. But I didn't get to see any of them till I was 16 or 17. First time I watched them it was at least in the original Aussie dub

 

This probably dates me but the movie “Johnny Dark” Tony Curtiss with the Idaho Potato Special from 1954 or so. I was probably 7 or 8 went to the movie with my mother and sister. Can’t tell you anything about the plot I only remember the cars and racing scenes.

 

Yes absolutely! I didn’t see Mad Max until years later.

 

Hello,

Well, that goes back a few years into the post high school surf days prior to going off to college. But, those movies were all fantasy and made the local Palm Springs lore bigger than life. Most So Cal families have been to Palm Springs at one time or another. It was depicted in old movies as a vacation destination. Out in the empty desert area that took almost a half day to get there? In the back of a 53 Buick sedan?

The big drawback is that since we had been to Palm Springs in our early 50s road trips our dad took us to visit his friends, it was one thing to go hours away from Long Beach. But, in blistering heat of the desert climate during the day and then freezing night time weather to require jackets? To us, that was not the So Cal weather we knew and grew up in for many years. That was an extreme destination for some folks.

Cruising down the main drag of Palm Springs was a destination, despite being so far inland. It took us hours driving to get there. But, they did have nice restaurants for lunch and the pickings for dinner were over the top for choices. Yummy…

Jnaki

During our high school hot rod/cruising days, no one ever mentioned going to Palm Springs, despite the numerous sightings in movies and tv shows. The beach was our thing. But, it was out there looming in the hot/cold desert climate area. The movies made it so appealing to others,everywhere.

By the time the movie came out, it was a draw for some folks to actually drive to get there and see what it was like.

But, this was during the so called “Spring Break” or actually, “Easter Vacation” break as it was called, by some folks. The topic of Easter Vacation was always a high point. Places to go were always brought up and popularized in the media coverages. In So Cal it was named “Balboa Island Week” or “Bal Week.”

Note:

When my wife and I were just getting our married life together, we decided to go to the first outdoor rock concert venue located in, of all places, Palm Springs. It was an area of open spaces, but the set up costs would have been horrendously expensive without huge backing like the Monterey Pop Festival. So, it was located in a drive-in theater complex with one screen and a large stage. Yes, the big names in the rock music world were listed as participants.

As we were driving up to the venue, it was a traffic jam to the event and we weren’t even close enough to walk. So, as we were talking about alternatives, a couple of teenage girls popped up in our open windows and asked if we had extra tickets. Big names were on the performers list… So, in looking at each other, my wife asked how much they were willing to pay for two tickets. $50 dollars each was the quote, so as we were hungry and that amount would buy a nice dinner locally, we agreed and sold the tickets to those teenage girls. We made a “U-turn” and we were back in the downtown area for a nice dinner and relaxation.

In the many times we went to So Cal concerts was lucky for us as the Palm Springs event turned out to be a bad omen for rock festivals everywhere. YRMV

 

My dad was a bike guy, and the first movies I remember going to was a double feature: Easy Rider, and The Hard Ride. I was probably 9, and mom wasn't happy he took me.
For cars, I was inspired by American Graffiti, Two Lane Blacktop, and most of the Mad Max films.

 

Two lane blacktop...

 

The first movie that influenced me was “ The Wild One” with Marlin Brando and Lee Marvin! It was running on network TV in the fifties. I wasn’t old enough to have a car license so I rode box scooters all over the place! We would look at “ TV Guide” to see when it played. If it played when we were out of school all my box scooters buddies would bog up and my house with their scooters and we would watch it! We all wanted to be “ Johnny”, Marlin Brando’s character! He rode a Triumph, Lee Marvin rode a Harley.
Next was Thunder Road!
Then it was American Graffiti and Bullet!



Bones

 

I watched a lot of 1950's "B" rated sci-fi flicks in the early 70's, all the heroes drove hot rods to save the day.
In 1977 I tagged along with my older brother and his family to the drive-in to watch American Graffiti and The Van, but those "B" rated sci-fi flicks is where it all started.
Many decades later when I built my t-bucket I reached back to my youth and 1959's The Giant Gila Monster flick to borrow some styling ideas from.

 

the usual stuff that came on tv. 2 lane BT, Cal Kid, Vanishing Point, Easy Rider all on free farmer vision...and I sure don't see anything that cool anymore on the satellite tv I pay 90 bucks a month for.

 

Butterflies Are Free. It was the first time I saw a woman in a bra other than the Sears and Robuck wish book. It was a double feature as I recall with Herbie and the Love Bug. While women would go on to be a driving force in my life, I never had an inclination to own a beetle.

 

the coolest thing about it was when the stole the hemi out of the sheriff's patrol car!

 

when i saw that ford roll to get away from the feds, i was hooked on shoebox fords for life!

 

And then got away with it lol

 

I remember watching Hot Rod where they stole the Hemi from the cop car but I never knew the name of it.

I’m interested in opinions on the best streaming service for car guys. What say you?

 

I honestly find most vintage rod movies on YouTube. Actually where I watched hot rod the first time

 

Thanks for the heads up! I just watched Hot Rod, brought back some memories

 

1947 movie "Born to Speed'' I kicked the slats out of my crib when I saw this.

 

AM GRAF definitely put me on the path of a life centered around hot rods and customs cars. Ironically, a movie depicting a group of friends facing the changes associated with graduating high school and leaving their familiar local routine was being watched / studied by someone (me) about to start high school and that whole social scene. Although I was closer to Makenzie Phillips age in the movie, I, of course, identified heavily with John Milner. This is probably why, years later I own a '34 3w coupe.

 

One of my favorites. I still watch it from time to time.