AMEN!! People tend to pick the car apart now... but watching that car in the movie as a kid.... cruising up and down the Boulevard. The traffic light race, and seeing the car under the street lights, then Paradise Road. Fuck, if it didn't give you goose bumps you better check and see if you have a pulse!
The movie was the closest thing to actually going back in time. It was about the times, and peoples lives, and the cars of American Graffiti reflected that time. I watch it every time I need a shot in the arm to relive my youth, all I got to say is thanks George Lucas. Rags
Man!!! - Well stated Shakey and Axle, you guys are so right!! I have watched that movie dozen's of times and I feel like I'm 16 or 17 again every time I watch it, still is and always will be one of the best, if not THE BEST car movie of all time!! Mike
I remember my first time I was like 15...and caught it right when judys sister hopped into milners coupe....i was hooked...i was like what the fuck is this movie holy shit I think i came twice...too bad it was on cable and comercial brake fucked things all up...now im 22 w/ a 3 yearold and we watch it all the time...watched it thursday night by his choice...
I remember seeing a thing in hot rod about the movie cars. The same guy at the time owned the two cars and the coupe was red chopped and full fendered when Lucas found it. I also remember seeing the 55 for sale in the Sacramento bee after AG.The ad said the car was built in sac.
Believe it or not, I saw the car on display at a show over here in the UK just a couple of years ago. It was on a bit of a Graffiti tour with Paul Le Mat. Really cool to see such a Hotrod icon..the car I mean...not Le Mat...but I gotta agree with you fellas...that grille looks crap mounted so low, and yeah, it was lookin' pretty ruff around the edges!
All urban legend!! I have the car! I've taken it all apart, and stashed it all over my property. In the garage, in the attic, on the bottom of the pool, buried under the statue of Von Dutch, in the dog house, under the bed, even in the freezer! Here's a picture of the plates to prove it. I have Jimmy Hoffa too!
He made the rounds with the coupe in Salem a few years ago, but I think it was like the General Lee, this had a completely different dash than the movie. I'm sure there are a few "Milner Coupes" making the circuit...
Paul Lemat told me at the Primer Nats,that there was a pretty good replica that was used for photo shoots and promos,that belonged to a guy here in SoCal. I saw it at the Del Mar,GG show two years ago. Actually there was four clones at that show. They even all drove a few laps at the same time! One of them is real close,but the other three,weren't near as good. There's one for sale on Hotrodhotline,right now.
It's rusty and unrestored. It's at Peterson's. It's on tour. It's in Europe. It's the Loch Ness Coupe.
Grafitti didn't change my life - I lived that life, only a few years later than '62. In my small town cruizin' was all we could imagine the world to be back then. Young guys should understand that AG and Two Lane Blacktop became icons for rodders because of the technical details and accuracy never before shown in "car" movies. In Two Lane' there is a whole scene where the two guys are changing out the gear pumpkin to a tall street ratio before they leave a race track! Only a gearhead would insist on that! In Grafitti, Toad walks up and comments about Milner opening his headers. And when that '55 lights'em up off the streetlight - the scene and the sound was just prefect! (Yeah, I know there were minor goofs, but compared to most "teen" flicks these were great.)
Young guys should understand that AG and Two Lane Blacktop became icons for rodders because of the technical details and accuracy never before shown in "car" movies. In Two Lane' there is a whole scene where the two guys are changing out the gear pumpkin to a tall street ratio before they leave a race track! Only a gearhead would insist on that! In Grafitti, Toad walks up and comments about Milner opening his headers. And when that '55 lights'em up off the streetlight - the scene and the sound was just prefect! (Yeah, I know there were minor goofs, but compared to most "teen" flicks these were great.)[/quote] Exactly!! In my DVD copy of the movie (A.G.) there is an interview with Lucas, and he mentions that the original film was about twice as long, but that the studios wouldn't pick it up, so he had to 'edit' it! Can you imagine if only all the lost footage could be put back in the film?! I have to assume it's long gone, or it would have surfaced by now in an anniversary edition or something.
I used to date a girl that knew a guy that used to hang out in the same pool hall that the guy that was supplying makenzie Phillips connection hung out. She swears that this is the origional piston shifter that paul gave her.
saw the coupe, and the dragster from II at universal studios in the late 70`s . both motors were full of water no air cleaners on the coupe ! no carb`s on the dragster. it was sad , water up to the top of the blower.
I HAVE THE LOST FOOTAGE FROM AMERICAN GRAFITTI!.. i hid it in my toilet tank. who would look in the toilet tank? I did see the car at the seattle roadster show in 1999, or maybe it was 2000. Paul le Mat was there and so was the actress that played the chick that hung out with toad. she was still hot for 60
probably one of the most cloned cars out there seems every show of any size has one here's one from today
Awright...I am under a few beers here, but the THX-138 plates were custom made for the coupe in regards to Lucas' first movie THX-1138. Right?
Jimmy, my man, when you're about 30 years older, you will find A LOT of hot chicks in their 50's and 60's! Life is great that way - and they all know excactly what they need! Practice, practice, practice. Oh, uh, unless you're committed for life or something
I have a customer who just built a regeneration of the coupe in South Dakota. He did extensive research about the car and found an old hollywood pic of the coupe, the 55 and steves white car sitting in a hollywood studio lot next t a building. i have no timeline of whe this was it looked like it was possibly after the movie. It was a cool coupe....All the rght parts in all hewrong spots....
Whether the grill's too low,or whatever it is that doesn't look right to you...most of us would still die to have the ORIGINAL Milner Coupe. I would shit my pants to have the ORIGINAL 51 Mercury! Even with all the flaws it had also.
I was real young the first time i saw the movie. And i can still remember the chill's i got from seeing the coupe, even as a kid. The sound, the way it looked among all the other later model car's..it stood out just as i'm sure Lucas wanted it to. That car was the reason i like hot rod's, and 32 Fords. At that time, i wasn't into reading mags so i didn't see other style cars like that much, i didn't even really know what a real hot rod was..i just knew that the car i saw in the movie was something i really liked. How many time's do you see one object effect so many people to the point that they can remember how they felt when the saw it the first time? There are thing's on it like the grill shell being chopped that i don't like like now that i'm more in 'tune' with hot rods. But back then it didn't matter. As kids, we look for the "hero's" in thing's, whether it's the 'Duke' from the western's, your favorite super hero etc.. This car was the 'hero' of the movie. Supposed to be the "baddest in the valley". We all know it wasn't as the 55 would have handed it it's ass in a real race, but in the movie it was king. It had it's presence on screen and was made to be THE car of the movie, and for the most part it was. I'd bet that car was responsible for many, many people who may not have had an interest in hot rods become interested.. I'd never build a tribute car or a replica of it, but i can say that my own 5 window will have certain cue's borrowed from it just because it was the one that got me interested.. But my grill will be stock hight Tony
I graduated from high school in 1962. There will never be a movie that will capture the essence of that time any better than AG. A friend ,who is my age saw the movie before I did and insisted I go. So the wife and I went. Afterward we both just looked at each other and spoke at the same time "it's really like it was". Axle said it changed his life. It didn't change mine. I lived it and still feel the same way today as I did then. Since the movie I've talked to people from all over the US and it almost universal the fact that those who saw it and lived through that time connected with it like no other film before or since. Frank
Bass guitarist Jeff Beck has one too. Quite a car collector....that guy! Barry Meguiar had him on Car Crazy.
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