yes Whitey that was fun.Really like your truck.....could probably do with a piss yellow spray job and a 5inch chop joking!
Just my 2 cents worth... I bet there was more of the 20 somethings on here that were influenced by the ZZ Top coupe than will ever admit it on here too... Back to the topic at hand Try this site, it may give you what your looking for. No opinions, just info and parts... www.projectthx138.com
Kinda a little like now really....we see the wilder rat rod types in our "little" world here, but when out driving on the public streets, you don't (well, I don't anyway) I enjoyed your story Harms Way.......I'd love to see AG on the big screen.......pretty cool memories right there!!!
I read, back in the seventies, that the coupe was chaneled when they bought it. Lucas had it "unchanelled" because a California car would not typically be chaneled. That supposedly explains why the grill-radiator was sectioned.
It's a popular car because it played a significant part in a significant movie that has changed the lives of thousands of people! It rocks. It started a dream for thousands, if not millions, of guys, and anybody who puts it down is doing the equivalent of saying Elvis was just another gospel singer.
I saw both cars in nearly the same time period at universal. I was 13 and visiting family. It was raining the coupe had a broken rear window open carbs and to this day I can feel the pit in my stomach just thinking about it being neglected. D1
Had to stop reading this thread, because some guys stopped by when I had my garage door open and they saw the 55 and wanted to see it. There are several local "bad boys". They could be classified as "deliquents"(sp),,,but when we talked to them and I started my 55 ,,you could see it in their eyes,,I told them that I would take them to the races,,with their parents permission,,and that they could help me work on the 55. I'm going to let them borrow my copies of Two Lane Blacktop and Am. Graff. Also my son (17) loves Smokey and the Bandit,,wants a 79 Black T/A. For their further education, I'll let them have my copy of HollyWoood Knights.Hopefully,we can interest them in hotrods and not drugs or violence
I once bought a motor off Riley Collins (sprint car driver) and he has a 32 that's modled after the California Kid coupe (but his says The Chevy kid on the roof). Anyways he told me his couple was one of the orginal runner ups to be the AG coupe and although it wasn't chosen he say's they still used it in the movie and it can be seen in the first cruise scene.
Posted already: "AMERICIAN GRAFITTI was a MOVIE, the coupe had no impact on anyone(to the best of my knowledge) prior to being featured in the movie, many other coupes did and those are the cars that have my respect because they were built by guys that loved hotrodding and the progression of hotrods, NOT by what HOLLYWOOD percieved hotrodding to be....." I have a question. These other cars you speak of, how did you see them? Did you see in person every car you are referencing in the actual event or whatever that made them famous? Or did you see them in a Magazine? By your logic the AG car is less of a car because it's popularity in a movie is the reason for it's status. What about these other cars? Without seeing them in magazines or reading about them in articles, which touted their heritage and greatness, would they still have the same status as the AG coupe or lack of status as you say ? After all, Movies or Magazines each give the perspective and desires of one group of people, people who are looking to make money by getting you to watch or read their product. That's my .05
don't know how long i'll wait for an autograph of harry potter on his broom? AG changed my life in the same way potter is kids today..
Geez!!!! I wish all the haters would search for something they like on the HAMB and go talk about it. If you hate the coupe great then dont search for Graffiti stuff. Some people are only happy when they are complaining then again most of them also bleed 4 to 5 days a month. Get over it boys when I see your cars in a movie that makes over a million dollars then you can talk all the smack you want. Till then keep rubbin that rusty rod with that dirty rag tellin me how others should build there car!!!!
Well if that doesnt get the girls going here is a visual aid for them to complain about! Not a hot rod??? mmmm 1932 Ford 5 window coupe (steel) Fiberglass is for boats! 1932 Ford frame. 1932 Ford Dropped axle. 40 Ford front brakes. Small block Chevy T-10 4 Speed and a 57 Chevy rear end with a 411 gear oh yea your right I guess its not a hot rod........(zzzzzzzz its all just a dream zzzzzzzz)
I agree in a lot of instances you see cars that are made for what Hollywood wants (IE: Road Warrior with some weird non functioning blower operated by a switch) but I wouldn't count the AG car into that crowd. George Lukas, was a hotrodder as a kid and wanted a car that repersented what he was into at that time, so it wasn't just some suite slaping somehting together for a movie. And yes that coupe is more famious then most cars because of it. And I think it deserves it. For alot of people (including alot of people on the HAMB) this was thier first look at a Hot Rod. Not to mention to this day it's still a driving (unrestored) cool car,still goes to the shows and cruises. My 5 centis is stop being so pollitical admit it's a cool car and get on with what you're into...
that is a total myth...the plates were not found behind the door panel. rick figari now owns the coupe, and a repro of the 55. the coupe has not been restored, and rick does not plan on restoring it. he said that restoring the car would ruin it's movie image...he wants to keep it as it was found. the only thing he has done, is add a fuse box because the car did not have one, and he had the headers jet hot coated. other than getting it running and making it safe to drive...that's all he's done to it.
I saw that movie when it came out. I was 15 years old and just getting into cars, but the cars that were popular were the factory muscle cars. People who were old enough to drive will tell you that if they had an interest in going fast, it was VERY hard to ignore a factory car with a warranty that could smoke just about anything that had been built in a garage. Yes, there were hot rods around, but most had been parked and very few (die hards) cruised. Then AG came out. Think about the timing. It came out just as the muscle car era was beginning to die. The war in Nam was full bore bullshit and people were yearning for a simpler time. Enter AG. It was perfect timing. It reminded people of a time when things were easy going. The '32 coupe captured the interest of young kids like me who had little or no idea of what a hot rod or a custom was. I can remember asking an older guy, "What's with the fast old timey cars?" Lucas broke a lot of ground in how a movie could be filmed. If you remember, there are four different stories going on at the same time, but the most important story was John Milners. He didn't want to let go of his time, just like the older people who saw the movie the first time. That is why there was such a deluge of interest in fifties shows and nostalgia shortly after AG came out. As far as the car community goes, this movie was the spark that made the guy who had parked his hot rod, go take it out again. It also started interest of them in young people who had no idea that hot rods were a part of American history. They became cool again for a whole new audience. That's where I come in. That movie had me buying EVERY issue of every magazine that had a hot rod in it. All of a sudden, big block Vettes were bullshit. The greatest film with a car as a prop? Without a doubt. A movie that broke film making barriers? Damn straight. A career launcher for some of Hollywoods best actors? Yup. Iconic? Hell yea. Did it cause a rebirth in hot rodding? I tend to think so. American Graffiti is an important part of Hot Rod history and whether or not the grille is right is a mute point. The people who got into hot rods because of this film all know who we are and we will be forever thankful. If you want to take it to the next level, check this: http://zoetrope0.wordpress.com/2007...and-memory-in-george-lucas-american-graffiti/
the reason I watch AG,and its the only movie i can stand to watch again and again, is because its the real thing! .It had so many things that were so real and gave the same feel of those times. The background AM music, the train sounds and that yowling of 'wolfman Jack' that we played loudly as we cruised E street in San Bernardino in 57. The scene where the cops pulled out and lost thier rear axle, happened in San Berdo' and Corona, and all over Ca. It was an urban legend, just like the monster in the Santa Ana river. And one out in the desert. And the kids actually pulled some of those stunts.And you had to be there to know it and to make a movie like that. It is the best, authentic movie made about hot rods and a certain time frame almost 50 years ago, and Lucas was there and he got it right.
They just weren't there when the movie first came out. Period. I was 22 then, always like the old rods but had no talent to build one, and there were NONE left on the roads. It was so much "cooler" to grab a muscle car because it took no talent to get a loan for one. The muscle cars were turning into barge-sized cars....cruising was done & gone, and then, BANG... there was Milners 32.....sticking out like a sore thumb. If you don't "get" Milners Coupe, that's a shame.
I remember my folks going to see it and I'm old. Famous cars do have an impact on people. I'm still bummed they trashed the woody on Mod Squad and I was likely 7-8 when that happened. AG has never been a favorite of mine but I certainly understand the fascination and love of the movie and the cars that others have for it. Even though it isn't my favorite I still respect it for the impact it had on others. I even made sure to take notice in Columbus this summer.
Here's what I don't get... people who love the car enough to clone it (and how many hundreds of other clones are there?) and are paying $125 for the EXACT pin that hangs from the mirror, and then run RADIAL tires?
I am in your area if you see me running radials SHOOT ME!! all vintage all the time! Period correct to me on "this car" means no part newer than 1973 the year the movie came out. I know it was about 62 but alot of the parts on the car dont fit in that time frame. Some were added later and dont fit the 73 time frame. Always remember its a movie car.
Graffitti32, have you been to woodfire chicken before? I think I remember seeing a couple clones there at one point. You should come by our shop some Thursday night for Adult Beverage Night. I'd love to check out your coupe in person. There are some really cool coupes inspired by the Graffitti coupe on http://www.projectthx138.com ...not the clones but cars that took the influence and made it their own.
I am still putting mine togther. It will see the street next year$$$$ I have been the woodfire and I have stopped in the shop in addison. I am putting mine togther from parts and peices it has never seen the road in the current configuration. I would like to stop by sometime. I have a buddy Eddielee He is re-building a 57 Fairlane he wants to check your cars out to. Jeff
I couldn't agree more. I don't think there are actually hundreds but there have been enough half-assed attempts to make it seem so. Right now I know of no well done replicas of the Coupe, other than Jeff Beck's and his isn't real, real close. The challange has been the ownership of the Milner Coupe. He shows the car plenty, but has a hands off policy when it comes to measuring or getting in and around the rod. And that's just fine with me. He's made it a real challange to figure out how the car was put together and out of what parts. The details of the chassis construction and the drive train have been unknown until recently. But a small group of people have spent considerable time the last four years doing countless hours of research to learn as much as is possible with what is left of the car as it was in the film. The cat is now out of the bag so to speak. Very shortly you shoud see a couple 'tributes' on the road that actually do the car and that genre justice.
A few years back, I met a guy that had what I thought was the "real" AG coupe. He told me the owner of the real car allowed him to take many detailled pictures of it, and over quite a few years he built a pretty exact replica of the car. He pointed out a couple of things to me that weren't quite right, but most people wouldn't pick up on them. I'll have to look, somewhere I've got a bunch of pics I shot of that car. I believe it was from upstate New York somewhere.
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