I recently had a phone call from a reader in Pennsylvania about the relationship between the '55 Chevy featured in the movie "American Graffiti" and the '55 Chevy depicted in the cult favorite "Two Lane Blacktop." He said they seemed to be the same car. Well, we find the reader is right. Please read on.
"American Graffiti," released in 1973, was the landmark movie about life in the early Sixties that became an instant box office smash. Directed by George Lucas, the film featured many soon-to-be mega stars, including Richard Dreyfus, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers, Cindy Williams and Ron Howard (already a star from his "Opie Taylor" days), to name a few.
"Two Lane Blacktop," Directed by Monte Hellman, became a cult classic from 1971, starring singing star James Taylor, the Beach Boys Dennis Wilson, Laurie Byrd and Warren Oates. Its theme dealt with the nothingness of the foursome on a racing quest with Oates and his GTO from out west to Washington, DC for "pink slips."
It turns out the reader is right about the cars relationship. A car builder by the name of Richard Ruth built three '55 Chevys for the movie "Two-Lane Blacktop." Ruth has a bit part in the movie as a gas station mechanic wearing a "Glendale Speedshop" shirt when Taylor and Wilson arrive for fuel.
Of the three Chevys in Two-Lane, one was used as a camera car for interior shots, of which there are many. The second and third '55 Chevys were utilized for racing, street, and highway scenes. The main Two-Lane Blacktop Chevy featured a 454 engine with aluminum heads, tunnel ram intake and dual Holley carburetors. The transmission was a Rockcrusher Muncie M-22 hooked to 4.88 gears. A straight axle and four-wheel disc brakes were also employed. Lots of fiberglass was used, and sliding Plexiglas was used for windows. One car was built for a rollover scene that never made the final movie cut.
Thanks to Gary Kurtz, who was involved with both movies, the same Two Lane Blacktop Chevy appeared in American Graffiti. He took the primered '55 from Two-Lane and made it into the shiny black '55 used in Graffiti and driven by Harrison Ford. They replaced the big hood scoop with a smaller one, added chrome wheels, put in different windows and then added a hinged trunk instead of the lift off. Other than that, it is indeed the same vehicle.
Thanks for the call, and interesting observation.