Thursday, February 5, 2009

'55 Chevy of "Two Lane Blacktop"

1955 Chevrolet Original Two-Lane Blacktop '55 Chevy |(From "Lenp's Garage)Nope, this is not just another clone. This is one of three '55 Chevys built by Richard Ruth for the 1971 movie Two-Lane Blacktop starring James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, and Warren Oates. Two of the three '55s were reused in American Graffiti - this particular '55 was not. It was only used in Two-Lane Blacktop and then sold to a studio employee. This was the camera/dialog car and most any time you see the actors inside the car during a scene in Two-Lane Blacktop, it was this one. The studio fitted the car with scaffolding and camera mounts so the actors were filmed inside the car while they were actually driving down the road - some of the brackets the studio welded to the frame are still there. After a four-year search, the car surfaced in Canada and I was able to bring it back to the States in 2001. I restored the car cosmetically in 2002 and in 2005 I trailered the car to California where Richard Ruth removed a Camaro front clip that someone had put under it in Canada and fabricated a replacement straight axle with coilovers from original plans and photographs of the cars under construction in his shop in 1970. The '55 still has a 454 BBC topped by a Weiand tunnel ram, a vintage Muncie M-22, and a 1960 Olds rear. It is driven regulary. For more photos, visit www.twolane55.com.