DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

I graduated high school in 1963.

American Graffiti, the surprise summer blockbuster that ignited the career of filmmaker George Lucas (director and co-screenwriter), is one of the most car-saturated movies that is not explicitly about cars. Set in Modesto, California, at the tail end of summer 1962, it follows the exploits of a quartet of recent high-school grads: college-bound Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss), class president Steve Bolander (Ron Howard), the nerdy Terry the Toad (Charles Martin Smith), and drag-racer John Milner (Paul Le Mat). The action takes place on a single night against a backdrop of endless cruising. Lucas made the movie in 1972, and it was highly autobiographical. In an interview in The New York Times, Lucas said of the film:
It all happened to me, but I sort of glamorized it. I spent four years of my life cruising the main street of my hometown, Modesto, California. I went through all that stuff, drove the cars, bought liquor, chased girls... a very American experience. I started out as Terry the Toad, but then I went on to be John Milner, the local drag race champion, and then I became Curt Henderson, the intellectual who goes to college. They were all composite characters, based on my life, and on the lives of friends of mine. Some were killed in Vietnam, and quite a number were killed in auto accidents.
American Graffiti is newly available on HBO's streaming services this month, so we figured it was worth another pass down the main drag. Here are some lesser-known facts to know about it, in case you settle in for a rewatch or a first watch — it's highly recommended if you haven’t seen it before.1. Some 300 cars were used in filming. Local vintage-car owners were paid $20 to $25 per night (reports vary) plus food.
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Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm.
2. Milner’s ’32 Ford chopped-top Deuce coupe had a ’66 Chevy 327-cu.in. V-8 with four Rochester 2GC two-barrel carbs. The engine was mated to a Super T-10 four-speed gearbox, and a ’57 Chevy rear end with 4:11 gears. The car was originally red but was repainted yellow for filming, and the red-and-white interior was dyed black. The rear fenders were bobbed, front cycle fenders added, and the dropped front axle chrome-plated. When the movie was done, the car was advertised for $1,500 but failed to sell for more than a year. It eventually ended up with a collector in Kansas and has since gone to an owner in San Francisco, both of whom preserved it.
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Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm.
3. The character Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford), who drives a '55 Chevy, comes to town to challenge reigning drag racer Milner. Three black ’55 Chevys were used, including a junkyard find for the crash scene and two others. The two principle cars had previously appeared in the film Two Lane Blacktop. One had a 454-cu.in. V-8 and a Turbo Hydra-Matic 400, while the other was powered by a 427 cu.in. V-8 paired with a Muncie M-22 transmission. During the race scene, the car’s axle broke. In a second take, the replacement axle broke. Only one of the ’55 Chevys remains, and for a time was owned by the same Kansas collector who had the ’32 Deuce coupe. It later went to an owner in Maryland, who restored the car to show condition, but extensively changed from its appearance in the film.
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4. After filming, transportation manager Henry Travers sold Steve’s '58 Impala via a classified ad in the San Francisco Chronicle. A local teenager bought it for $285, and on the way home, the brakes failed and one of the taillights fell off. The owner kept the car until 2015, when it went to auction and was purchased by NASCAR personality and racing commentator Ray Evernham. Evernham had the car restored to its as-filmed appearance, and the renewed Impala made its public debut at the 2016 SEMA show.
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5. Curt’s obsession is a mysterious blonde (Suzanne Somers) in a white ’56 T-Bird. Somers had a surprise reunion with the car in 1999 on an episode of Leeza Gibbons’s TV show.
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6. The film takes place in 1962 but Curt’s Citroën 2CV is actually a ’67 model.
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7. Toad’s crashing his Vespa in the opening scene was unscripted. He lost control of the scooter but stayed in character, and George Lucas kept filming.
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8. The license plate on Milner’s Deuce coupe is THX 138, a nod to George Lucas’s earlier science-fiction film THX-1138. Steve’s ’58 Chevy Impala has the license plate JPM 351, and that plate appears again on the Studebaker that Carol, Judy, and some other girls are riding in.
9. The prank in which Curt attached a chain to the cop car’s rear axle, which is then ripped out from under the car when the police set off, was tried and proven not possible on Mythbusters. For the film, the axle had been cut away from the frame, and the chain was not really attached to a light pole but to a winch on a heavy-duty tow truck. The winch was activated as the cop car pulled away, yanking the axle out from underneath it.
10. Although set in George Lucas’s hometown of Modesto, California, the film was shot largely Petaluma, California. Petaluma hosts an annual Salute to American Graffiti.11. The entire movie takes place over one night, and filming was done between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. The shoot lasted just 28 days.
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Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm.
12. An assistant camera man fell off the trailer of a truck and was run over shooting one of the road scenes, suffering minor injuries.13. The DC-7 airliner that appears in the final scene was later converted to cargo use, and in 1986 it crashed after taking off from Dakar, Senegal, killing all four people on board.
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14. All of the principal actors were unknown, and Universal Studios was so sure the movie would flop that it wanted to release it as a TV movie. Co-producer Francis Ford Coppola convinced the studio to do a theatrical release, and the film grossed $55 million (on a budget of just over $750,000); it earned another $63 million in re-release. It also earned a Best Picture Academy Award nomination and the Golden Globe for Best Picture.
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Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm.
15. There was a 1979 sequel, More American Graffiti, that checked in with the crew in the mid 1960s, but it lacked the cruising theme (although the Milner character had become a drag racer). The sequel was a critical failure and a box-office flop.

If you want to see the pics go to

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/07/10/15-little-known-facts-about-american-graffiti

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I saw your title "... as old as me" and thought I might qualify. I found that you were a young whippersnapper (I was in the HS class of '57).

There were a number of guys in my class that were car freaks (not the contemporary term) but I was not among them. I have always been kind of a pragmatist, and view cars as a means of transportation. The car freaks viewed cars as style, not utility. I have held that view to this day.

Buying liquor and chasing girls was, of course, another subject altogether.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

A lot of info in your post. Interesting trivia about the movie.
I lived in Ceres for 10th grade and Modesto for 11th grade going to Downey High 61-62 then moved back to my home town in Western Kentucky for 12th grade. My Uncle, Aunt and cousins lived in Modesto from about 1959 on.
I went to a few things, a couple of the places shown in the movie but was never into that cruising scene. With a one year older step sister who was a member of the "In Crowd" at Downey I almost never got to drive anyway. Diana had the car. And if I wasn't fast enough for her she would leave school with her BFF and leave me to walk. I would walk the two blocks to my Uncle's house, do my homework with my cousins and wait until someone could give me a ride. Besides I was one of the nerds/bookworms and the closest I came to being in the social life was a club run by the Physics teacher at Downey that had a concession stand at all of the home football games. So I was at every home game and went to a few of the burger joint hangouts after a game with my friends. I spent more time at the library and bowling alley* then I did with HS social life.

*My Uncle, Aunt, Step-Father and Mother all worked at the Gallo bottle making plant and it had a bowling league, I earned pocket money (plus lessons and free burgers) being a score keeper for league games. My Uncle and I were the two who loved to fish so I spent a lot of time with him up in the mountains fishing.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I graduated HS in 54' and I'm still alive & kicking! Having fun, too!! My dad bought a 49' Olds 98, after his beautiful 46' Maroon Dodge, one night, burned to a crisp in the garage. After my Dad passed in 53 (age 41) when I was a hurtin and crazy teenager, I would sneak the car keys and drive that hot 98 Olds around the area. I should not admit this, but I was only 16 and without a license. I also worked 70 - 75 hours a week for $.50 an hour. I'm not ashamed of some of the crazy things I did as a teenager, but I do think about it often. My two grandsons and granddaughter love hearing my "old days" stories. I think sharing and being open about my follies lets them know that mistakes and "screwups" are human, normal and that we can survive it and still turn out to be decent people. At least I hope I am!

Stay safe & well,
Mark

oldart Loc: Dallas, Texas

I'm somewhere in between, having graduated HS in 1959. I was, and still am, a certified car nut. (Note my avatar.) Owned a '55 Bel Air, a '58 Impala, and others after that. Having been a Hemmings subscriber for years, I recognized the source of this article after the first few words. Thanks for sharing with all the UHH car guys!

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

I was married in 1956. Left school aged almost 15 and went to work. Like Mark, I am still alive and enjoying lockdown life.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

When I lived in MA, I had been part of a lunch group, ROMEO (Retired Old Men Eating Out*) which got together every other week. When I moved away I had to forego the meetings because it was a 3-hour drive each way. With the lockdown, the meetings have been held on Zoom for a few weeks now so I can participate. The primary topic of the last meeting was what we did when we were kids.

One thing we did was, after we had a lesson on fermentation in Biology class, we got some corn meal, added sugar, yeast, and water, and let it sit for a week or so. Then we built a still. During the distillation process, we got the heat too high and the mash burned. The distillate had a concentrated odor of burnt popcorn. Nobody had the stomach to try it.

Another thing we did was start an element collection. We made some Bromine by getting some Sodium Bromide and passing Chlorine over it. Chlorine is fairly easy to make with household ingredients. This was all done in one of the guys' basement. We got a couple ounces of liquid bromine out of it, but we were very lucky not to have gassed ourselves with the Chlorine in a small space. (We put the Bromine in a glass bottle and put a rubber cork in it. After a couple days the Bromine had eaten away the cork and disappeared).

The best way to learn something is to make a mistake. We learned from those mistakes and never made them again.

* The ladies had their own group, JULIET (Just Us Ladies Imbibing, Eating, and Talking).

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I graduated from H.S. in 1965, then went to college. To us in the Midwest, this all occurred on a different planet.

Sirsnapalot Loc: Hammond, Louisiana

Thanks for the memories......I’ll turn 75 in a few days, American Graffiti hit close to home, I was a real car enthusiast and cruising was a big deal for our generation!

alawry Loc: Timaru New Zealand

Loved the movie, love the post here and the memories. But no one yet has mentioned the music, I wore out the soundtrack album. and some of the tracks are obscure, like the Beach Boys "Havin fun all summer long" The atmpshere the movie evokes is just Awesome. I must hunt it down and watch it again. (I'm a 1955 model)

ottopj Loc: Annapolis, MD USA

Great info about AG. I graduated in '62 in CT. We had similar stories and several friends were really into cars. One guy had a '57 Chevy coupe with fuel injection and a blower. Screaming fast. He did a lot of cruising.

Fun memories. Thanks to all.

ottopj Loc: Annapolis, MD USA

Great info about AG. I graduated in '62 in CT. We had similar stories and several friends were really into cars. One guy had a '57 Chevy coupe with fuel injection and a blower. Screaming fast. He did a lot of cruising.

Fun memories. Thanks to all.

malawibob Loc: South Carolina

I'm with Mark, graduated HS in 1954. Best car I ever owned was a White with red trim 56 Mercury Montclaire convertible. Total chick magnet.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Excellent story and one of my favorite movies. I graduated HS in 62.

ssiretire Loc: Warsaw, KY

Hi Mark. My older brother's (he's 82, I'm 80) first auto was a '49 Olds fastback with a straight 8. He put a '51 Olds. V8 in it. I loved that car
Frank