Okay, first off let it be said that American Graffiti is a great film, but I always had a bit of a problem with the circa "1962" cars they used for the main characters.

Milner's coupe?  Ugly.  The guy is the epitome of cool, and they stuck him in that nasty thing?  This is what he should have been driving - Alex "Axle" Idzardi's '32 fiver.  Better chop, stock height grille shell, 400 ("389") Pontiac V8 and a 4-speed.  Maybe those girls in the Studebaker would've gone for poor old John if he'd had this puppy.



Steve Bolander's '58 Chevy worked okay, but I really think it needed different tires.  The film's tagline was "Where were you in '62?"  Maybe it should've been "Where were the whitewall tires in '62?"

I also think this car sits better:



Finally, Milner meets his match in a farm kid named Bob Falfa (wonder if he had a brother named Al?).  He's driving a straight-axle '55 Chevy that looks very early '70s (probably because it was built for the movie Two Lane Blacktop).  I always thought he should've been in a showroom new SS 409 Impala, symbolizing the death of the hot rod in the face of factory performance of the 1960s.

-Dave