Once again not to highjack, but since were onto this stuff... How about Falfa's '55, where'd that end up? Is it true that it was more than just a "movie car" and was actually as tough as it's part depicted (hot 409)?
not at all man everyone feel free. if you watch when they flip his chevy the rims and tires are different from when its cruising around in the rest of the movie
Hey, if you Google "where are the cars from American Grafitti?" you can find a lot of those cars have been tracked very well and there are lots of stories to go with them. That 55 was pretty bad ***! I read that there were a few of them. One was trashed for that final race scene.
Here's the one that 51Mercules was talking about. It's the clone that was at the Merc Gathering. The guys who built it did a fantastic job copying all the bad work,done on the original. YES,it's ****ty,but they did a great job making it look JUST LIKE the movie car. Instead of improving it.
Wasn't there a story on Bryan Setzer and the Graffiti Merc in Street Rodder Magazine several years ago? I seem to remember Gene Winfield doing the work on the car for him. Could be wrong, and all my old mags are in storage, so I can't look it up.
Sorry to go off track a little, but I own a 56 T Bird that was owned by Universal and sold around 86. Black with Black and White interior. Any chance you remember it? It was a movie/prop car also.
I think it was either after the first movie or Am Graff 2. The car went up for sale the first time. The 32 was going to be auctioned the late 70's or early 80's Steve Fitch the guy in Wichita had already bought the 55 a few years earlier for 2700.00. I think he bought it from the original owner-builder. The studio let him be in on the auction since he had the 55. It was a silent auction. Steve had bid 6000.00. Some one else was a little higher. He got another shot at it. He bid 6200.00 and got the car. Another trip from Kansas to California. When he got the car the engine was rusted solid because the studio washed the car but didn't bother to plug the periscope intakes so the engine was full of water. I saw the Merc at the Univversal Studio museum too in August of 1974. It was pretty rough. I remember the interior being VERY fuzzy and white.
[QUOTE And by '62, wide whites were out in most places. Narrow whites may have looked better but AG was a budget movie... no $$$ for stuff that didn't matter.[/QUOTE] Nonsense
Nonsense, Setzer wanted a merc and old friend Steve Bonge located the AG Merc still sitting at Universal studios in California. Steve bought the car for Setzer and brought it to New York. Ed "Big daddy" Roth painted the car burgundy then lettered "Runaway boys" on the 1/4 - which was one of the Stray Cats songs from their second album. When Setzer wanted to sell the Merc Steve put an ad in the paper and someone bought it for a small amount.
I, too, have talked to Bo Hopkins on occasion. The last time was about 2 years ago, maybe 3. Straight from his mouth, he told me that he was having a merc built that would be a clone of the one he drove in the movie.
i think i remember reading a thread on here about the original merc being found in a wrecking yard if im not mistaken?
Yep, both the '32 and Falfa's '55 were offered up to me and my pals for $1500 each. This was after AG was filmed but before it was released. They were both sitting in a barn on a ranch in Sonoma, CA. I think the ranch was owned by one of the producers. I remember him saying the '32 wouldn't drive over 35 mph. Something about when they had the front suspension chromed they had screwed it up. I was 18 at the time. $1500 might as well been $15 million! Although, one of my bud's father owned a ship repair company, so he had some $$$. He made alot of noise about buying the deuce but it never happened. We knew the deuce was in a movie 'cause we watched them film some of the cruisin' scenes at 3am on 4th st. in San Rafael. And yes, even with my young, undeveloped automotive sense, I could see these cars were just slapped together!
Hey Guys if you want about all of your "Graffiti" questions answered check out our web-site All Graffiti All The Time The Merc (copy) and the Original 58 Impala page are also showing future shows the cars will be attending if you want to see them in person.
The 55 and 32 where pretty rough too. I saw the Merc at Universal studios on a tour in 1974. It was a tatty thing. LOTS of white fuzz in the interior. .
Axles info about the cars history can be proven furthermore by the fact that it was featured in Street Rodding Illustrated .Roth was said in the magazine to have been the one to spruce it up for Setzer.
Roth bought it from Universal, then sold it to Setzer. The one Bo Hopkins had built is NOT the same car, look closely and you can see there is nothing about the cars that are the same other than the year. As for the '55, it's in New Jersey and has been turned into another gold-chainer car. The race car interior is now leather, the rollbar is gone, there's a mural on the trunk, hubcaps are now on the chrome reverse wheels, in general, it ****s. Too bad.
The '55 was a hell of a lot more than just "slapped together". It was a nicely finished car as far as the ch***is went, and was infact originally painted a nice blue before the director of "Two Lane Blacktop" insisted it be primer gray. It ran very well and very straight at the drags as well. I've also seen the Deuce in person, and it was not a show car, but would certainly be safe enough to drive well over 35mph. I would say it was very typical of any other hot rod of the day, maybe even better than most. I've always been under the impressinon that both cars were offered for sale in the L.A. paper with no takers, then went to the transportation managers house, in L.A. before being returned to Universal. Whose house were they at when they offered them to you? Just curious, since San Rafael and Petaluma were just shooting locations, the film company was based in L.A.
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