The big, white, Chevrolet Impala featured in American Graffiti is about to be sold at auction for what experts some say could be more than $1 million. That's an amazing amount of money for a car that was cast for the film by accident.
"American Graffiti" is a study of the cruising and rock and roll cultures of post World War II baby boomers coming of age in Modesto, California in 1962. What there is of a "story line" is told in a series of vignettes about a group of teenagers and their adventures over a late summer evening just before two of them head "back east" to college. One of many things that makes the film interesting today is that while it's set in 1962 it was made in 1973, and unwittingly, neatly bookends one of the most tumultuous periods of time in American history. George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola knew exactly what they were doing in making the film about as "apolitical" as possible. It's also a great car movie.
There are six perfectly cast modes of transportation in American Graffiti that are as centric, if not more so, than the actual cast or setting.
There's the 1955 Chevrolet than Harrison Ford's character, Bob Falfa, drives. Could Ford's arrogant, hickey, dim witted Falfa have driven anything else but a hopped up '55 Chevy? For the record, thanks to a not-period-correct, somewhat modified 454 Chevrolet V-8, Falfa was beating Milner in the drag race at the end of the movie before he crashed. Note the fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror.
Hot rodder John Milner, played by Paul LeMat, drove this 1932 Ford "Deuce Coupe" with a 383 stroker V8 (which would have been highly unusual in a 1962 vintage car), Man-A-Fre intake with four two barrel Rochester carburetors, Muncie M21 4-Speed transmission and 9-Inch Ford rear end. Much like the car, Milner is a one dimensional softie who knows his relevancy is limited and the only way for him to get noticed is to drive a car like this. A car that just looks cool and really can't do much of anything. This '32 Deuce was originally a full-fendered, red, street rod and was purchased by the film crew mainly because it had the chopped top the film's original script called for.
Note the THX 138 license plate or tag. Director George Lucas carried something from his previous films into his next ones as a good luck charm. THX 138 refers to "THX 1138", a sci-fi movie he filmed in northern California prior to American Graffiti. BTW, if you look very closely in Star Wars, you'll see some fuzzy dice hanging in the Millennium Falcon; they're the dice from Falfa's Chevrolet.
Suzanne Sommer's character, who is simply known as "a vision" to Richard Dreyfuss' "Curt", drives a 1956 Ford Thunderbird. Could such "a vision" drive anything less than such a delicate, feminine automobile? All we know of the car was that the producers of the film found the car on a street in Pentaluma, CA and left a note on it asking the owners to call them to ask if they could use the car in a movie. Legend has it the car was originally painted red and the owners of the car painted it (historically correct) white sometime after 1960. Legend has it the white Ford Thunderbird featured in the video for Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" is the same Thunderbird from American Graffiti.
Richard Drefuss' "Curt Henderson" drives a 1967 Citroen 2CV. It's a 1967 model, which like the 454 engine in Balfa's '55 Chevrolet and to some extent Milner's 383 powered Duece Coupe, is historically incorrect. Doesn't matter, though; it fits Dreyfuss' studious, diligent "Curt" to a tee. You don't have to be perfect to be great.
While not a car, the 1959 Piaggio Vespa GS 160 that Charles Martin Smith’s, "Toad" toils on is pivotal to any conventional plot that "American Graffiti may have. When Steve offers Toad his Chevrolet to take care of til Christmas, part of Toad's glee is that he doesn't have to ride the Vespa any longer. At least for a little while.
Which brings us to the 1958 Chevrolet Impala Sports Coupe that is about to be sold at auction.
The casting of a 1958 Impala in American Graffiti wasn't because of the Impala's handsome good looks or it's 348 V-8 engine - although it's far out sheet metal certainly couldn't have hurt. The film's original script called for the character of Steve Bollander to drive a car that had a "tuck and roll" interior. Tuck-and-roll refers to hand-stuffed channels that are used to form decorative panels in automotive interiors. It's a time consuming and expensive process but the results are quite dramatic especially on a big automobile with a large, expansive, cavernous interior like a '58 Impala has.
Apparently, after the filming of American Graffiti, the car was sold at auction for $325. Understand that there are many films filmed that do not become hits and their props, which producers want to get rid of, become all but worthless. Also, seeing this film was shot in 1973, a 1958 Chevrolet was not exactly a hot commodity. More than likely the most "valuable" car from American Graffiti at the time of the filming was probably Milner's Deuce Coupe. Honestly, although I'm a big fan of this car, it's appreciation recently escapes me even if it's a famous "movie car". Perhaps it won't sell for nearly the million that is projected. We'll see.
All I know is, if you have an old car that you bought years ago, don't think it's all of a sudden going to appreciate through the roof like "Steve's Impala". I'm hard pressed to find '58 Impalas in great shape going for more than $50,000. Let's see what happens.
And while we never find out what kind of car "The Wolfman" drives or if he drives at all, there's no denying how important a part he plays in all of the cars in "American Graffiti".
Hey, I got a dedication here that's for a friend of the ol' Wolfman. And he wants me to play the next song for a blonde young lady in a Thunderbird. A white T-bird, you understand? Now my friend's name is Curt and he wants to talk to you out there, baby. So you meet him at Burger City, or you can phone Diamond 3132. Now he's a friend of mine, you hear, and little girl, you better call him, or the Wolfman gonna get ya.
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