I was looking at an old auto trader from 1987. the 55 is in there for $14,000. same book my dad bought his 57 from, just think.... i bug'ed him to buy the 55.
wow, that was a good price! Did it show a pic of it? Ive heard it has a buncha crap painted on it now and it isnt recognizable as its heritage anymore.
I remember seeing it for sale in the newspaper (sacramento bee). It said that it was built in the sacramento area. Cant remember by who or what year that was. Sometime in the early 80s I think. I also remember a feature in one of the mags (hot rod or ?) on some guy that had the AG 32 and the 55.
It was here on the East coast about 5 or 6 years ago. Still looked the same. I helped put on a small indoor show for the club I was in. I think the owner was from Maryland. Clark
I think I recall seeing it (ten years ago?) in HOT ROD mag ads. It had Cal plate "SAMS 55" on it at the time...Who owns it now?
while talkin to the guy at Detroit Autorama with the Graffiti display, he told me that were actually like 5 different cars used, and the MAIN car Has been repainted, and just generally modified too far to be considered the same car (changed the suspension, etc...). The car that was on display at Autorama was apparently the "PR" car, that they took to all of the photo shoots and press crap.
I believe the one in the Hot Rod Magazine classifieds was here in Ks. At the time I think Kurt McCormick owned it.
[ QUOTE ] while talkin to the guy at Detroit Autorama with the Graffiti display, he told me that were actually like 5 different cars used... [/ QUOTE ] I want the one that they wadded up. You here about as many stories about someone seeing the AG '55 as you do the Mysterion. I guess I'd want to see a bunch of documentation before I dropped big cash on it. I still want the one they wadded up.
There were 2 main cars used in 2 lane blacktop. One for external shots and one with mounts for cameras to do the inside shots from the outside of the car. The car that was rolled on Paradise Road in AG was a new car I think from a junkyard and was junked again after the movie. It was not in Two Lane Blacktop. The rest of the shots in AG were from the Two Lane Blacktop car. When the studio tried selling the cars after the movies there were no bidders the first time around. I've heard you could have picked up the 55 AND the Deuce for under ten grand for the pair. Nobody wanted them.
yes the 55 was in wichita and the guy down the block from him owned the 32. i got to go to the guys house's and see them , and oh what a sight it was to have that kind of history right here in kansas. anyone remember the 55 golden ann. olds that was in W.W. and the dixie dance kings ? It was in wichita about the same time can't remember the guys name but he was an instructor at the vo tech school. what history to have had all in the same town and time,would have been some good cruzin
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] while talkin to the guy at Detroit Autorama with the Graffiti display, he told me that were actually like 5 different cars used... [/ QUOTE ] You here about as many stories about someone seeing the AG '55 as you do the Mysterion. I guess I'd want to see a bunch of documentation before I dropped big cash on it. [/ QUOTE ] Being a big fan of both "Two Lane Blacktop" and "American Graffiti" I've done a lot of research in the past and have come up with the following. The Coupe seen at the Autoramma was the real deal. I questioned it until I saw Rick Figari himself standing in the booth. He had owned the car for many years. To get back on topic, the 55 that was seen at the Autoramma was a clone... not just any clone, but the most accurate clone to date. The clone has been confused with the original due to the fact that the builder (Richard Ruth) of the original car was comissioned by Rick to build the clone. Rick has recently taken down his website with the info on the car, but the same info can be found at the links below. There were actually three original cars built for Two Lane Blacktop. One for "drive" (exterior) shots, the second the camera car used for interior shots, and the last being the car that was supposed to be rolled at the end of the movie. The "drive" car became the American Graffitii 55 and has been mildly modified from its "AG" appearance. The camera/interior shot car was sold and later subframed and painted black to look like the "AG" car (how ironic). That car was featured in Chevy High Performance after a major rebuild back to its "TLB" look. The third car never got rolled in TLB due to that part of the movie being eliminated. It did eventually get rolled, but this time in the end of "AG"... the famous Paradise Road drag race. Info about the "drive" car can be found Here Info about the camera/interior shot car can be found Here A couple of pictures of the new Richard Ruth built, Rick Figari owned 55 can be found Here Hope that wasnt too much to grasp at one time... and it's just what I've come up with to answer my questions about these cars. As far as I know this is as accurate as it gets. Brett
The the 2 lane car was also in a few episodes of that oh so cool police show "ADAM-12" you can still catch it on re-runs
When we first saw Two Lane Blacktop and they melted the film at the end we all hung around waiting for them to fix the projector! Stupidest joke ending in a movie I ever saw. Did someone actually intend that or did the underpaid dweeb in the cutting room screw up and they kept it? I've always wondered about that.
14k is probably all that wreck is worth now! For 1987 you'd need you head examined to pay 14k. Your dad probably got a nicer car for a fraction the cost. Kudos to dad. Tell him i said so please. Boy, i can hardly wait to see the response to this. Come and get me suckas
I was pretty sure it was the original car at our car show. I remember the plexiglass windows and that god awful gold firewall. Clark
I read the article "Sisters of the silver screen" in some car mag(don't remember which). To sum it up: the 55s are tracked down and accounted for. Funny part about it was that the guy who had the mag was trying to say he had a TLB/American Graffiti car, I started asking questions and he started backpeddling. The car is a very bad clone. For the Tucsonans that are on here, chances are you have or will meet him; most redundant con artist you will ever meet.
dead on flamin. ive spent many hours looking for info on that 55 and ive come up with the same. but i know a guy named walt, who ownes the two lane black top home page hired ruth to build the 55 clone and its a dead ringer. its a yahoo group and theres lots of good pics.
[ QUOTE ] anyone remember the 55 golden ann. olds that was in W.W. and the dixie dance kings ? [/ QUOTE ] i'm sick of all this A.G. and 2LB you guys are always spouting off about,what about W.W.&tDDK's car?
LOTS of fakes out there and know of several that are "claiming " to be THE car, wrong! no documentation,I love telling these clowns at car shows in front of their wowing teen groupies that the the car is a fake,here is the link to the site on msn, been on it for almost two years,all of the important Am Graf 1 cars are accounted for including the vespa,lol http://groups.msn.com/twolaneblacktophomepage I never saw the WW+DDK movie, but will at my first op, how about the Hollywood Knights movie cars? the Pie wagon is still out there, not sure about the rest I hope the "Nancy" tuned 40 cpe is still orig. AND yellow,there is a sight for that as well, but can't find my link right now.
Mike Landewer wanted to know about Hollywood Knight cars. I bought the grey 65(?) Elcamino from a car lot (with the ford teardrop scoop) for under $1000 back in 1970something. It's the car that the guy that farted the song Volare drove against his brother's wishes and got towed from the dance or some shit like that. Anyway, not knowing any better i took off the scoop, painted the car yellow, put a healthy engine in it, and street raced it! That's what i did with ALL my junk in the 70s. Had a fucking ball doing it and no regrets. Alright, if i could snap my fingers and do it all over again i would have preserved it (tear in eye). YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Newbalm Turk ,ya I'm a fan (AND HAVE A 56 DELIVERY THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE A CLONE)and I did'nt know any better back then either,cut WAY to many up to race em, lol.
[ QUOTE ] but i know a guy named walt, who ownes the two lane black top home page hired ruth to build the 55 clone and its a dead ringer. its a yahoo group and theres lots of good pics. [/ QUOTE ] I was unable to find a Yahoo group for TLB. The car I was mentioning in my previous post was at the Detroit Autoramma this past weekend. This car is owned by Rick Figari and was built by Richard Ruth is an exact clone of the AG car, not the TLB car. There are a couple of pics of it on the TLB MSN group. Heres a link to the pictures. I do believe the owner of the TLB page on MSN owns the camera car from TLB and has restored it back to its TLB condition except for the front suspension. That car was the car in Super Chevy. Mike Landwehr has posted the link to the MSN group above. Brett
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