A few years before he became impossible to separate from a space saga called Star Wars, director George Lucas had entirely different tricks up his sleeve. Like, say, charming the world with coming-of-age stories set in small-town America.
It was in 1973 when Lucas-directed American Graffiti came out to paint a nostalgic picture of sunny America that still reverberates to this day. It is a story, somewhat inspired by Lucas' own life, about a group of California teenagers and the way they spend their last night together after graduation in the early 1960s.
Like all things made at that time, this movie too had a lot of the things the American public has always loved: cars and music.
The movies starred the great actors of the time, including Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Cindy Williams, whose characters spent that great night together the best way they knew how: racing custom cars the likes of Ford Thunderbirds, Chevrolet Impalas, Chevrolet One-Fifties, and even a Citroen 2CV.
The movie had quite an impact at the time, and even if its appeal has somewhat subsided since, there are still people who find it iconic enough to still pay tribute to it today. Including by customizing cars in such a way as to remind one of the flick.
We've seen several such tributes over the years, but the one we have here is the most recent. It was put together in frame-off, nut-and-bolt rotisserie restoration style by an unnamed crew in California, and it is going under the hammer at the end of the month with all the bells and whistles.
Many of you will argue that a bright yellow Ford 5-window coupe from 1932 was the most imposing car in the movie. After all, not only was it the most in-your-face of all American Graffiti vehicles, but it probably helped a lot with the resurgence of the public's interest in hot and street rods as well.
Photo: Barrett-Jackson
The car we have here, a 1955 Bel Air, is however a tribute to the classy Chevys that were featured in the movie, and even if it's not as flashy as the Ford, it'll probably turn a lot of heads around at the upcoming auction.
The car is the result of five years of hard work, and it has only been used for 28 miles (45 km) since it was completed. A practically new work of art, if you will, that has all the mechanical bits to round that off nicely.
Visually speaking the car is faithful to how it looked when it rolled off the assembly lines. Wrapped in high-gloss Tuxedo black, it presents the world with smoothed front, bumpers, and fenders. Most of the original trim and moldings are still there, only made to look better, but some of the Bel Air's emblems have been removed to give it a smoother look.
The classic body of the car is propped on the original chassis, which was modified and upgraded with the fitting of a chromed 9-inch rear end, 31-spline Dutchman axles, and a suspension system comprising a 4-link rear, adjustable shocks, and a sway bar.
The car is powered by a replacement engine, in this case a 383ci stroker running Hilborn electronic fuel injection and stainless headers. It's unclear how much power the engine develops, but we do know all of it is sent to the road in controlled bursts through a 4-speed manual transmission.
The interior of the American Graffiti-tribute Bel Air keeps up with the elegance of the exterior and throws into the fight for the highest bidder black leather with red stitching and the contrasting shine of chrome spread on the roll bar, and hinges for the doors, hood, and trunk.
Photo: Barrett-Jackson
The dashboard has been upgraded to hold Classic Instruments gauges, and the entire build was given a touch of infotainment prowess with the fitting of a Bluetooth stereo system.
We found the 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air waiting for its first owner in Scottsdale, Arizona. At the end of January auction house Barrett-Jackson will try to part ways with it with no reserve, leaving it up to the crowd to determine how much the black beauty is worth.
That means we have no way of knowing how much the car is worth for the people going there. To give you an idea of how much these things usually go for, consider the fact valuation specialist Hagerty places the value of a Concours condition Bel Air from the same model year at $49,000.
That's without any upgrades, and certainly without a forced connection to one of the landmark movies of the 1970s.
We'll keep an eye out for this car and update this story with the selling price as soon as we know more. In the meantime, maybe it's time to see American Graffiti one more time this weekend - trailer below.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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