wanted king of the mountain speedster

There doesn't seem to be that much information out there about the car, and I don't think it's whereabouts are known. I'm of the understanding that it was a real steel Speedster, but watching the movie doesn't reveal much, as there are no close up shots of the car itself. Any one else have anything to add?

Hey Denis,

What happened to the Gulf Blue IM you purchased from the guy in Santa Cruz?

 

Regarding the KOTM Speedster, Was there a reason you wanted that exact car?

 

From the wiki about the movie: Harry Hamlin's Speedster was actually a modified Volkswagen Beetle based kit car wearing a replica body with flared fenders; actual Speedsters did not have the flares. This was done primarily because real Speedsters are very rare, it would have been difficult and expensive to locate a real one for rent and the possibility of damaging the vehicle was too great.

 

There is also a long thread on Pelican parts about the 'real' King of the Hill. I didn't read it but there may be some info in there. 

With that, it looks like it'd be an easy recreation from a cmc widebody. The one in the movie had 914 gauges in the dash, a grant wheel, and a few other gauges on the dash.  The wheels were wide centerlines. The roll bar and nerf bars were pretty non descript.

Let me know about the blue speedster.  I was reallllly close to buying it at one time. I'd love to know where it wound up.

Ted

There we go- details! Great stuff, Ted! Is the trans in yet?

I searched around for a bit. Last known location of the replica was supposedly in a shop in the San Fernando valley - that was 30 years ago. Who knows what's true.

 

Ted

Thanks everyone. My gulf blue IM was sold and now resides in Switzerland. As for the KOTM speedster what i know so far is it is a kit and the flares were added because any real Mulholland racer flared out any car for that extra edge.  Why do i want the movie car?  Just been a fan of the movie since it came out and the disappearance of the vehicle sparks my curiosity.
Denis

The IM was sold and is now in Switzerland so that could be pretty tough to locate.
Short answer about why i want the real kotm car is just to solve the mystery of its disappearance and i have been a fan of the movie since it came out. I have a good collection of the memorabilia and the car would be the crown jewel. It seems a car with all that custom work should not just vanish, but it seems to happen in hollywood often

This is an interesting thread. Movie cars are often not what they appear and actually acquiring one may net you THE movie car, but it could be not what you thought.

 The "classic" car movies often feature vehicles thrown together for appearances only. American Graffiti probably rejuvenated the hot-rod/cruising lifestyle more than any other movie and as such the vehicles are highly sought after and often replicated. The Studio had two movies in the pipeline and wanted cars for them. Two Lane Blacktop's '55 Chevy street-racer came from the same builder as the shiney Black '55 driven by Harrison Ford in 'Graffiti. The cars, plus a "stunt" car for the rollover sequence at the end we delivered in pristine metallic blue because the builder took the movie company's request for cars that looked like his own Drag-race car quite literally. So the studio primered and "aged" one for 2-lane and painted the others black for 'Graffiti.

 The chopped Mercury lead-sled in 'Graffiti was a hurriedly thrown together, roughly done roof chop by the studio. The hero, John Milner's yellow coupe was a fairly basic little hot-rod bought in for the movie and not the really hot car it was cast as in the movie. Most of these cars languished around the studio lot after filming, but now of course they are cosseted by the lucky people that managed to buy them.

 Even in Steve McQueen's homage to endurance racing, Le Mans, the glorious Porsche 917 that he crashes was a re-bodied Lola T70. If you stop frame the crash you'll see tell-tale monocoque construction, not spindly Porsche tubing.

 Not all cars in stunts these days are CGI. A lot of movie producers realize that you can't truly simulate certain aspects of car dynamics in stunts with a computer. So are franchises like The Fast And Furious tearing up exotic Supercars like it appears they are? No, just like the Le-Mans crash car, they are not what they appear. Race Car Replicas out of Fraser, Michigan have a nice little sideline providing their race-proven aluminium monocogue chassis to movie studios who then body the chassis to whatever they need. I'm sure that up close the rough edges are highly evident.

No Pagani Huayras were harmed in the making of this film.

Speedster and Spyder replica manufacturers have history with this kind of smoke and mirrors stuff in movies. Remember the Miami Vice Ferrari Daytona? The two Corvette-based cars used in the show were built by Tom McBurnie. McBurnie Coachcraft, which begat Thunder Ranch,Rockwest, etc, etc.

 

But you probably knew that anyway

Thanks for the lengthy and insightful reply. I am familiar with the tlb chevy story. I actually did the same search for that about 25 years ago using hemmings and got a couple replies about contacting Richard Roth. The kicker is another guy right in my town wound up owning the tlb chevy so i at least got to see it a few times. I would imagine the kotm speedster is trashed out pretty well by now if it even exists, but thats fine. Have you ever seen the way the first general lee looked when they found that? I would really be interested in just even knowing whatever happened to the speedster.
Denis

The TLB '55 Chevy sedan and the AG '55 Chevy sedan were the same car. Richard Roth built the original TLB '55 w/BB427 and Muncie 4-spd. He also a built a clone 'camera car' w/ a 454 and automatic. Both cars were purcahsed for the film from Roth and redone by Henry Travers and crew for the AG movie. The rollover car in AG was actually a junkyard '55 Chevy BelAir ht w/a six cylinder, 3-spd,non-running, painted gloss black, they put a 2x4 post in the 'B' post position to make it look like a sedan and the stock steel wheels were painted chrome silver to look like the chrome rims on the original film car. The TLB car was bare bones no back seat, door panels, two bucket seats, the AG transportation crew bought both cars from Roth, then repainted them gloss black, installed a tuck and roll stock bench seat and front door panels and a black tonneau cover from the package shelf to the rollbar to coverup the bare backend. The film cars were given to AG transportation director Henry Travers as a thank you, he sold them not long after AG2 though the camera car languished on the lot and Travers partially parted it out until it was purchased by an owner somewhere on the east coast who removed the 454 and auto and put in a 427 and Muncie, painted it in primer gray, reinstalled bucket seats removed the AG installed tonneau and door panels...pictures of the TLB car today show camera mounts welded to the frame on both sides, the front and the rear, it has been sold numerous times over the years and it's exact location is not known for certain. The AG car is owned today by Wayne Newsome of Maryland...do not let anyone fool you re: the TLB car being original, camera car, yes, original film car, no--Wayne Newsome owns it in AG trim.

The '32 hi-boy was purchased as a full fendered Candy Apple red street rod with a flathead and then converted by Rod Hamilton Street Rods to a bobbed frame, bob fendered street rod following George Luca's wish to subtly portray CA's then ridiculous fender and heighth laws(portrayed when the cop pulls over the car and hassle Milner), with a rebuilt 327 w/Man-A-Fre induction and Muncie 4-spd it was fair example of a street rod of the era and even today is fairly quick, I saw the owner Rick Figari light the car up w/ the headers uncorked in the parking lot at of a casino in Reno at Hot August Nights in '92 when the AG cars were on tour for the 20th anniversary of the film. It was kind of squirrely or Rick is just not a good driver..lol.

When building my '55 I researched all I could about the TLB/AG car thinking of building a clone of one or the other, then decided to just build an 'old school' look one.

A clone of the 'Milner Coupe' is on my 'bucket list' for someday...lol

 

As far as i know the tlb car is definately in maryland. On a side note did you happen across the story of the tlb doors being found in Canada and the pics of the car with some 70s dragster paint job? Also somewhere there is a clip of the tlb car on an episode of adam 12. Crazy!
Denis

Great thread! Keep the stories coming.

Does anyone know where Tom Cruise'  "Risky Business" Porsche ended up?

Probably at the bottom of a lake 

Yes, Denis, I heard that the 'original' doors to the TLB were found in Canada...Henry Travers did start parting out the camera car...true or not I do not know...after all '55 Chevy sedan doors back then were a dime a dozen, strip some paint and put on a coat of primer gray...voila instant TLB doors. BTW the TLB car had either plexiglas or Lexan side windows in the movie, the AG car had glass windows replaced by Travers and Crew for AG.

The AG car is definitely in Maryland...the TLB Camera car whereabouts is unknown, last heard of in No Carolina in '98. If you look closely at the picture I posted of the TLB car you can see the camera mounts off the frame. Truly the AG car owned by Wayne Newsome is the original TLB car in AG paint and trim...there were not 2 film cars.

You are correct but the doors they found were the fiberglass door with the
sliding plastic windows and had the proper paint under the paint that was
on them to verify the wacky drag strip paint. But like you say, you coul
buy all the fiberglass from jc whitney so who can truly verify what is what