Six of our favourite classics from American Graffiti

Some films define a generation. Other films perfectly evoke a bygone age. A third, rare class of films manages a balancing act between the two – both crystallising a past era and reflecting on its own age, and perhaps even drawing parallels between the two.

The brilliant 1973 movie American Graffiti is a member of this select group. On the one hand, it looks back fondly at a less anxious age in US history – the very early 1960s, before the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War and the Kennedy assassination. On the other, it also comments on its own era, the early 1970s – a more troubled time, after the various utopian visions of the 1960s had died away.

A classic coming-of-age tale, American Graffiti (strapline: "Where were you in '62?") follows a group of teens who are just finishing school. Change is everywhere that night: the film's two main characters, Steve Bolander (played by Ron Howard) and Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss) are enjoying one last night with old friends in their small California town before they head right across the country to start university on the East coast.

Change is coming, then, for Steve and Curt: it's also coming for America. The Cuban Missile Crisis is two months away, Kennedy's assassination a little over a year in the future and the nation's long and painful involvement in the Vietnam War just two years over the horizon. These events would leave America profoundly changed: American Graffiti will already have seemed, to its 1973 audiences, a product of a more innocent time.

What's fascinating is that, just as the teenagers in the film are standing on the edge of major life changes, things were just about to change (again) for the audiences watching the film in 1973. In particular, the forthcoming 1973 oil crisis would push up fuel prices, making large, gas-guzzling cars seem suddenly out of step with the times.

A huge part of the film is the culture that the small-town teenagers build around their cars – and in particular, around the weekend cruise up and down the town's Main Street, posing in their cars, looking for friends, eyeing up girls and boys.

American Graffiti celebrates our love affair with cars, and the film features a number of absolutely beautiful 1950s American vehicles. Indeed, the movie contributed to – perhaps even kickstarted – a nostalgic love affair with 50s and early 60s US culture in general, and with the era's wonderful automobiles in particular.

After the turbulent 1960s, the America of 1973 wanted to be reminded of a simpler time, and American Graffiti rode a nostalgia wave. And the film's huge, elegant, shark-tailed and strikingly customised cars are central to its lasting appeal.

If you’re a fan of the cars of that era, protecting them with some specialist classic car insurance is a must. Here are our favourite motors from the film.

1932 Ford Coupe ('Deuce Coupe')

Played by Paul Le Mat, John Milner is the drag-racing king of Modesto, the small Californian town where the film is set (and where director Lucas grew up). Milner rules Modesto's roads in his 1932 Ford 5-window Coupe, an early hot rod icon.

This was the car with which Ford made V8 performance affordable for young, working-class Americans. The great thing about the 1932 Ford was that it was very customisable – or, in the parlance of the times, could be 'hopped up' (tuned) easily.

For the film, Lucas – always a man with an eye for detail – wanted a 1932 coupe with a chopped top. This was very much a thing back in the 50s and early 60s: hot rodders would literally slice off the top part of their cars, remove a vertical section of the roof and door pillars, and weld the roof back on at its new, lower height. Cue a meaner-looking and, just as crucially, a faster and more aerodynamic car, with decreased wind resistance for racing.

In fact, by 1962, Milner's style of owner-modified hot rod was waning in popularity: America's car makers had jumped on the hot rod bandwagon and were turning out high-performance cars straight from the factory, ready to race with no aftermarket modifications necessary. This would find its climax with the muscle-car movement, which kicked off in 1964. But, in a nice coda to the hot rod tale, the leading role played by John Milner’s Deuce Coupe in American Graffiti helped kick off a renewed love affair with traditional hot rods, bringing things full circle.

1958 Chevrolet Impala

Foretelling somewhat the straight-laced role he would soon play in the wholesome 50s/60s-set sitcom Happy Days, Ron Howard's character Steve Bolander is a former high-school class president – very much part of the establishment. And he has a car that befits his status: a 1958 Chevrolet Impala. After going through several generations, the last Impala left Chevrolet's production line in 2020 – but Bolander's is the very first generation. And what a car it was: one of those models that symbolise that golden age of American motoring, all long shark-fin tails, pastel colours, and chrome galore.

It was also a popular car with customisers. With its low roofline and striking body, it already looked as though it had been given the custom treatment, and had those assertive looks so prized by 50s and 60s cruisers.

The Mk1 Impala was in fact a top-of-the-range Chevrolet Bel Air, differing from other models by virtue of its longer wheelbase, trio taillights and convertible option. Even today, the car says 'American classic' like few others.

A few Mk1 Impalas made it to these shores, and you might be able to pick up a good example for around £40,000. If your budget runs to this, plus the classic vehicle insurance that a vehicle like this absolutely demands, you can experience for yourself one of the most beautiful cars from America's motoring heyday.

1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty

The One-Fifty was actually the economy model of the Chevrolet range in the late 1950s – but that fact doesn't bother Harrison Ford's character Bob Falfa one little bit when he rolls into town in his One-Fifty, looking to topple Milner from his king-of-the-road perch.

Chevy's small saloon became a hugely popular car with customisers and hot rodders. For one thing, it was cheap, leaving you with a little left over for aftermarket alterations. Another trump card was its featherlight weight, perfect for racing. It was more spartan inside than the Impala: but when you're young, stretched for cash and feeling the need for speed, who cares about creature comforts?

The One-Fifty also marked the moment when Chevrolet started competing with Ford in the performance stakes. Previously, Ford's flathead V8 engine (as found in the Coupe above) had swept all before it, but the One-Fifty gave a debut to Chevy's own overhead-valve V8 engine. A lightweight engine, it delivered decent power (162bhp for manual models, 180bhp for automatics), and even more so if you were prepared to give it a little hot rodding. It also had a nice, low-slung, up-to-the-minute mid-1950s shape. Interestingly, two of the One-Fiftys used in American Graffiti had previously appeared in a great American road movie, 1971's Two-Lane Blacktop.

The One-Fifty had the kind of relatively short life typical of American cars of the era, when new fashions in car design would come along every couple of years. The first generation was made in 1953 and 1954, and the second (like Falfa's car) from 1955 to 1957, at which point the car was phased out. As a result the car is harder to track down, particularly here in the UK, although we did find a beautiful pistachio-coloured version going for just £16,500.

1951 Mercury Eight

From 1938 to 2001, Mercury was the mid-priced brand within the Ford hierarchy, sitting between the luxury Lincoln marque and the affordable Ford cars – just as Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile bridged the gap between Cadillac and Chevrolet for General Motors.

One of the line's earliest cars, the third-generation Mercury Eight of 1949-51 makes an appearance in American Graffiti. Richard Dreyfuss’s Curt Henderson gets a ride in a customised Mercury coupe with the Pharaohs, a gang of 'greasers' (rebellious working-class kids, named for the abundant amounts of hair oil they liked to slather on).

If the 1932 Ford that we mentioned above is the hot rod par excellence, the 1949-51 Mercurys are kings of the custom car world. Customisers would lower them, remove unnecessary trim and, once again, chop the top to make them lower, meaner and more aerodynamic. Customised '49-'51 Mercury models even got their own nickname: 'lead sleds'. Google 'lead sled car' and you will see a flood of variants, each lower and more aggressive than the last.

1958 Edsel Corsair

This is the car driven by Laurie Henderson – Steve’s girlfriend, Curt’s sister and a pivotal character in American Graffiti's storyline. The Corsair was second in the Edsel pecking order, just beneath the top-of-the-range saloon, the Citation. Sharing a chassis with the Mercury car above, the Corsair also got a V8 engine, good for 345hp.

Incidentally, Laurie is played by Cindy Williams, who went on to play Shirley Feeney in Happy Days and to become co-star of the hugely successful Happy Days spinoff, Laverne & Shirley.

The Edsel story is a slightly sad one, albeit merely a footnote in the far bigger and more successful Ford story. Although it already had a mid-market brand (Mercury), Ford launched the brand in 1956 to compete against GM's Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac brands, as well as Chrysler's Dodge and DeSoto marques.

Ford put together a huge advertising campaign, pushing its new Edsel line as the cars of the future and, indeed, the 1958 Edsels like Laurie's did have some advanced features for their market segment. However, the brand lasted just three years, and became an unfortunate emblem of commercial failure.

Why did the Edsel bomb? Partly because the cars were introduced during a recession that badly hit sales of mid-priced cars, but also because they acquired a popular perception of being overhyped, poor quality and (with that vertical grille) not that great-looking.

1956 Ford Thunderbird

Throughout the film, an alluring, mystery blonde girl, played by Suzanne Somers, plays an enigmatic love interest for Curt. Right at the start of the film, she mouths the words 'I love you' to him from behind the wheel of her white '56 Thunderbird: Curt spends much of the rest of the film trying to track her down, culminating in her haunting final appearance in the film's last scene.

The legendary Thunderbird (T-Bird) went up against the Chevrolet Corvette in the lairy sports car stakes, but it was a rather different car – more comfortable and more generously equipped, and less of an out-and-out speed car. The perfect cruising vehicle, in short, for a beautiful, elusive siren like Somers' character.

We found no fewer than three Mk1 Thunderbirds for sale on the Car & Classic website at the time of writing, priced from £18,000 to £57,000 depending on spec and condition. We'd take any one of them like a shot, supply them with some good classic car cover, and then start to enjoy this classic slice of mid-century Americana.

American car clubs in the UK

If you're the proud owner of a vintage American car, have you considered joining an owners' club? Clubs are such a great way to meet like-minded enthusiasts, and to learn more about the care and restoration of your vehicle by others with years of experience behind them. Even better, owners' clubs can often help you to get good deals on your classic car insurance.

Relevant clubs include the American Auto Club UK and the Classic American Auto Club, as well as marque- or even model-specific clubs such as the Classic Corvette Club UK or the Pontiac Owners Club UK.

Insure your classic with Lancaster

Whether your passion is for long, low, snarling American classics or something a little more compact from these shores, here at Lancaster we will be able to find classic car insurance to suit you.

Benefits of insuring with Lancaster can include:

• Car Club member discounts up to 25%
• Static show cover
• Historic rally cover
• Two year agreed valuation
• Laid-up cover
• 24-hour claims helpline
• UK-based call centre

Get in touch with us to see what classic car insurance deals we can find for you.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.