American Graffiti 55 has a new owner!! Real car

Primer is finer!
I agree with Highlander completely. Sure, American grafitti was a bigger movie, with more widespread appeal, but the '55 as it was in Two Lane Blacktop was just so raw and real. No Hollywood illusion or "Man behind the curtain" BS, just a state of the art real deal street racer from 1970. The thing ran 10's back then! I know these guys are doing what they've been hired to do and what the owner wants, but to me, the Two Lane version is what it should be. How could you mess with it?

 

I could not agree more. From watching the video, it seems these guys are going to make it into a combination of the TLB and AG car. IMO that is a mistake and sad. I guess that is what the owner wants, but I do not see the logic. The TLB car was the epitome of a serious, hard core, no nonsense, brute street racer.

 

Since I couldn’t upload, and I suck at YouTube links, I took a photo of my monitor. That’s the video I was rambling about in my previous post. Help me PC Gurus. The video is choppy and sucks, but it is part of the history of the car.

 

Didn't realize quite so many alterations took place over the various ownerships.

 

While I fully agree that the TLB version is the one that inspires me compared to the AG version, it seems the other OG car is in TLB guise. So it makes sense to return this one to AG spec. They said it's going to be smooth and pretty, but retain the scars of it's past like the patch in the floor.
I do hope they research it much more before they start tearing it apart, but it sounds like they have a valuable resource in the guy who has documented it and saved some parts. They tried to not shame the previous owner who did all the mods but boy was that a constant refrain. The attitude here is 'your car, your choice' but this shows some should take the 'caretaker' role more seriously.

 

The link to youtube video:

 

Not sure why they say the rollover car had a 454? If you watch the scene of the rollover you see things that indicate it's not a very high performance drivetrain. The car has tiny little exhaust system with glasspacks. Not even sure it's dual exhaust? All 4 tires and wheels are skinny, and just steel wheels painted with chrome or aluminum paint. And not even a dropped axle in front, but original control arm suspension! Also no fiberglass frontend, as the steel held up fine to the rollover!
It does have an automatic, but I'd question everything else about what they stated in the video about the rollover car. I think they simply found a '55 2dr. sdn. and painted it black after radiusing the rear wheelwells, and used it to crash. It also appears it didn't have a rollbar if you go frame by frame of the race scenes. And of course no passenger in it either. I can't see a movie company spending one dime extra to crash a car.

 

Agreed. The crash car always looked to me like a junker pimped up for the scene. I doubt a fully prepped hot rod would have been used.

 

Well the frame was prepped for sure and the roll over car had a th400 in it. It did have drum brakes all the way around and as it is rolling I don't see any exhaust on it. They might have deleted it for the actual roll over as they would want to remove anything that could become a safety concern. You will note the gas tank appears to be missing. As the car was on it's side you could see the hood scoop and the chrome all looked great, so it had some body prep. The bottom view of the car as it rolled shows a beefed up frame and the upside down shot in the movie shows the boxed frame. I doubt they would trash two cars for the same accident scene. But that doesn't mean it was a fully prepped car either.

 

Amen brother; This car has been raped from its original glory of just being a bad ass car. The American American graffiti version is a fucking joke, even as it was in the movie. now if it had a 409 and steal fenders it might be a different story. But in my opinion it’s being restored back to clown car status.
It should go back to its original form painted streaks and all.

 

What was it called in the movie? A field car that pulls the manure wagon dropping shit on the vegetables. lol

 

https://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/chevy-150-sedan-from-american-graffiti-two-lane-blacktop/
Refers to a site no longer out there.

 

Oldiron, you've made it clear that you hate it. But a clown car? Really? Black 55 Chevy 150 with chrome reverse wheels. I'm not seeing it

 

Big Thanks, RodStRace! Someday I’ll figure this link stuff out.

 

This one's for all the out-of-touch AG haters who don't even own a 55 Chevy. 'But but, it don't have muh primer gray and muh 200S's it's a gat damned clown car!!!' Lol

 

That link works fine. Maybe it was temporarily down.

 

I’m surprised that there isn’t more of period correct perfectionists bashing the car. Like I said before it might as well have an LS in it…
When I first came here I posted a question about disguising the new performance parts of my 289 to make it more period correct and I got more flack for the question. These guys aren’t even restoring the car as it was in the movie they are over restoring it to something it never was…

 

@oldiron 440 , was it the thread called THE GREAT DISGUISE...... ? I just read it. Seems ok to me.
As for the TLB or AG versions, I would gladly own either one.

 

So you're a period correct perfectionist? You don't like shiny paint and want to see an LS in the car. Got it.

 

They are restoring as per the customers wishes. They way the owner wants it, not what anybody else wants, it is his car to do what he pleases . I would love to own any version of the 55, but like the TLB version the most.

 

I'm with you on that, Mikey. TLB was a street fighter. AG was the same powertrain without mention made in the movie of what it was & the hood stayed shut. I watched the video all the way through. These guys are seeking to collect as many pieces as possible from both movies to be kept with the car. The work they're doing is to put it back to AG as true as possible. Things like the willingness to chrome & reverse vintage wheels if they cannot find the right ones and not over restoring the car. They're getting rid of the modifications made after the movies. Richard Ruth is involved. I'm able to like both versions for the time frames represented without hating the less badass one.

 

You can clearly see an exhaust pipe and glasspack muffler under the driver's side floor. Just no exhaust beyond the glasspack muffler. And I don't see any "frame prep"? It looks like a plain old '55 Chev frame that's dirty and stock.

 

Ok, I see the one muffler nad the other side is missing but the pipe is visible and longer than the drivers side? As for the frame, you mean all 55s had a double width frame? And the lateral braces for the cage can be seen as well. Notice the inside of the frame is smooth. So boxed or more likely doubled and reversed.

 

I have a 55 Nomad with a rectangular tube frame & another with the overlapping frame, always believed the west coast & Canadian builds were the rectangular builds, however the bodies were shipped to various plants for final assembly, both happen to be K.C. final assembly vehicles. Not sure if a portion of sedans & other body types were shipped likewise.

 

Thanks for the info. Always plenty to learn here. Helps me meet my goal of learning something new every day.

 

Looks just like a std 55-57 Chevy frame to me. This is the underside of my dirty 55 210. I think covertibles had and X.

 

I can still hear that Muncie whining even with the car sitting still.