1955 CHEVY of Two-Lane BlackTop

THE 1955 CHEVY

Richard Ruth built three 55 Chevys for the movie Two-Lane Blacktop. (He can be seen as the Needles gas station mechanic wearing the "Glendale Speedshop" t-shirt.) One was the "camera car". This car was used for all the interior shots. The other two were filmed driving or racing. The Chevy was based on a 1956 Chevy that Richard Ruth had been street racing at the time. The 55 in Two-Lane had a big block 454 with aluminum heads, a tunnel ram intake and dual 4bbl Holley carbs. The transmission was a Munci M-22 "rockcrusher' feeding the power back to an Oldsmobile rear axle with 4.88-1 gears. Ruth fitted the car with a straight axle and four wheel disc brakes. The tilt front end was fiberglass as were the doors and deck lid. Ruth also used plexiglass for the side windows that slid back to front instead of rolling up and down. The wheels were American mags 200-s, 15x6 front and 15x10 rear. They used M&H Racemaster drag slicks for racing and Firestone grand prix rain tires for street use. In the movie the car is said to run "well into the 12's. However later in the movie he beats "Mr. Bardahl". I heard the 55 was capable of low 10's at over 130mph! Rumor has it they actually filmed the famed rollover for the end of the movie then cut it out in favor of the movie burnimg up.

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP / AMERICAN GRAFFITI CONNECTION

Gary Kurtz was involved with both movies. He took the 55 from Two-Lane and made it into the black 55 used in Graffiti! They replaced the "Grump-Lump hood scoop with a smaller one. The American mags gave way to chromed steel wheels. If you look close enough you can see when they mounted the front bumper it had to be raised a few inches to bolt up to the frame rails Richard Ruth installed for the straight front axle.