the trucker may not like 'em but ralph nader sure would!
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Syn84 — 10 years ago(January 29, 2016 04:05 PM)
My dad was a truck driver all of his life and I went to many trips with him. Trucks may go over 80 mph if they're going downhill, but there is no way that a 1955 Peterbilt 281 could hit 90-95 mph (which is what was shown in the movie) - at least not without some heavy (and I really mean heavy) modifications.
When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.
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urgeking — 10 years ago(January 29, 2016 05:59 PM)
there is no way that a 1955 Peterbilt 281 could hit 90-95 mph (which is what was shown in the movie) - at least not without some heavy (and I really mean heavy) modifications.
With such a modest horsepower rating, I believe it. But if there were only one person who'd have good motivation to
make
such heavy heavy modifications, it would probably be our mystery psychopath up there in that cab, wouldn't it? -
Syn84 — 10 years ago(January 29, 2016 08:41 PM)
Probably.
And I wouldn't say that the horsepower was modest. 270 hp out of a diesel engine in 1955 was pretty good. I mean, even a 1955 Corvette had 195 hp and it was considered a performance car.When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.
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!!!deleted!!! (1688273) — 10 years ago(January 30, 2016 06:20 PM)
Remember that the Valiant was an economy car. In an era when the average new car was $3,000, You could buy a new, no-options Valiant for $2000 out the door Volkswagen Beetle money, and you sure couldn't get an old generation Beetle to go over 90. Mann was also a mild driver that was uncomfortable going too fast. The fact that the truck normally could never do the things it was doing was what added a thrilling touch of the supernatural to the proceedings. Mann rationalized it by surmising that the truck had been modified, but its startling performance was unnerving.
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Syn84 — 10 years ago(January 30, 2016 09:46 PM)
I own a 1971 Zastava 101 for nostalgic reasons (Zastava was the same company that used to build Yugo). Its my weekend toy. I got it as fast as 140 km/h, which is almost 90 mph and we're talking about 1.3L 55 hp engine.
I'm sure that Peterbilt was modified and like you said Mann was also a pretty crappy driver. The mix of these two made the movie pretty good.When I die, I want to be buried face down. That way whoever doesn't like me can kiss my ass.
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urgeking — 10 years ago(January 30, 2016 09:47 PM)
And I wouldn't say that the horsepower was modest. 270 hp out of a diesel engine in 1955 was pretty good.
Sure, but I meant 'modest' by
today's
standards. It's indeed remarkable to see how little horsepower many large, heavy 1950s cars had when compared with 1970, or today. Many full-size models, far bigger than any sedan available now, had six-cylinder units as their base engines. Of course, they had no pollution controls reducing engine efficiency, but the cars sure weighed a lot. Zero-to-60 mph times were generally much slower then.
Speaking of weight, I can't imagine 270 hp giving a cab unit very quick acceleration, or much speed going uphill, when a loaded trailer was attached. As a kid about 50 years ago I had a metal toy version (Buddy L?) of a Texaco tanker truck much like the rig in this movie. Printed on the back of the trailer as on the real-life trucks, I presume were the words "SOUND THE HORN THE ROAD IS YOURS." Apparently, large trucks tended to plod along pretty slowly in those days, hence the invitation to ask the driver to move over to the shoulder. And it still happens. My town has a four-lane local highway that ascends a steep grade for a couple of miles, and often in the slow lane there's some 18-wheeler doing no more than 20 mph. It's hard for me to make sense of that, given those high-speed semitruck misadventures recounted in my other post. Must have something to do with gearing requirements. -
Paul-308 — 10 years ago(November 04, 2015 01:10 PM)
I believe more than one Valiant was used for Duel,and one very much had a "V Eight" emblem on the front fender.Its plainly visible when the bumper guards are locked under the bus bumper.Of course this scene was added in later to pad the film out to 90+ minutes.In one scene where the car stops in the road and the trucker waves him on,the throttle is floored and there is some serious leaf spring wrap going on there due to the torque.This would be 318 style,not slant-6.This car also appears to have airshocks,but in some scenes the car rear is sagging badly.
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urgeking — 10 years ago(November 15, 2015 12:40 PM)
In one scene where the car stops in the road and the trucker waves him on,the throttle is floored and there is some serious leaf spring wrap going on there due to the torque.This would be 318 style,not slant-6.
Mmmm, maybe, maybe not. Even a slant-6 would have SOME torque. The first time I ever chirped tires actually, it was long enough to be a squeal was in my parents' '73 Dart (Dodge's version of the Valiant), with the 225 six and the auto trans (3-speed?). Yes, the pavement was hot on that summer day, and yes, I was starting up a hill when I turned a corner and hit the gas pedal hard, trying to make up time but it definitely laid a patch for a second or two. Not that any of this really
matters
so much, but, whatever.
It did look like the rear of the Valiant in that scene, and perhaps in others, was jacked-up higher than one would normally see in those Chrysler compacts. -
urgeking — 10 years ago(January 06, 2016 10:17 PM)
I'm just wondering why Weaver didn't haul ass as soon as he figured out that truck driver was cat-and-mousing him, kept the pedal to the metal until he could find a different route to take. A busier one, at least.
So why
was
he taking that road? I've always assumed there was no Interstate highway that would've gotten him to his meeting more quickly and/or more directly. But has anyone ever determined his exact (theoretical) route? (I suppose I should check the rest of this board to find out.) From the opening credits sequence it looks like he was heading north from the suburbs (maybe on the southeast end of LA), then through the city itself, up I-5 to state route 14, toward Lancaster, Palmdale hey, he was getting near Frank Zappa's childhood environs!
He told his wife he'd probably be home in time for dinner, so he couldn't have been going
really
far. On the AAA map it appears that there weren't any major alternate roads out that way.
I was watching (in vain) for route signs once he encountered the truck, and what struck me was the very small number of road signs and reflectors along the roadside back then, as was also the case in the 1940s and '50s far fewer than today or even 20-25 years ago.
As for his 45-50 mph driving early on, I figure they wanted to portray him as a very sedate, middle-of-the-road (so to speak) driver, so we can see he's no hotshot trying to push the trucker to unreasonable speeds. However, in the diner at one point we hear him thinking, "As soon as I stopped concentrating, I'd go back to 60 or 70 [mph] like I always do it's a habit, I can't help it" -
urgeking — 10 years ago(January 11, 2016 06:05 PM)
the trucker may not like 'em but ralph nader sure would!
Ralph Nader is the reason Mann has these things to protect him:
A) the three-point lap/shoulder belt
B) the padded dashboard (rather than the metal one in earlier Mopar compacts)
C) the headrest (except that, for some reason, they have him boosted up too high on the seat to make use of it)
D) probably the collapsible steering column, too. -
urgeking — 9 years ago(June 08, 2016 09:06 PM)
My 64 Corvair had seatbelts and padded dash.
Good on them. If those seatbelts were standard equipment on '64 Corvairs, that would have been one of the first years they
were
standard if not THE first year. As recently as the mid-'60s, companies like Borg-Warner had displays in auto-parts stores to sell aftermarket seatbelts that a car owner could get installed. Car books in my collection have photos of American luxury-car interiors even in 1966 that have no belts or belt latches visible.
And, yes, the '49 Tucker had a padded dash as did the '56 Ford if you ordered the special dash as a "Lifeguard" option. But Ford dropped its "Lifeguard" features after just one year. Much like the major record companies from the mid-1970s onward quickly dropping artists who failed to immediately score hits, rather than giving them a chance to build a following Ford didn't give safer interiors enough time to catch on with the public. Which shows that a shortsighted corporate fixation on short-term profit margins did not begin just recently (it's just gotten worse since the '80s, that's all).
My family's '64 Dart and my friend's '65 Valiant both had metal dashboards (and, sadly, no rear-seat belts), and there's no telling how many years (decades?) it would have taken for padded dashes to became universal if that decision had been left entirely to 'the market'. Or how many years they would have STAYED universal before the car companies decided they were too costly. The Federal safety legislation inspired by Nader's 'Unsafe At Any Speed' and his 1965 Congressional testimony is what
ensured
all cars sold here would have such features on a permanent basis. -
ronaldt49 — 9 years ago(June 09, 2016 06:43 AM)
I have an owner's manual for the 1963 Ford Galaxy which shows lap belts as an option.
It also shows AM-FM Radio option. There was no FM locally in 1963, so what good was that?
Note the tv shows of "Duel" time frame, even the cop shows. Mod Squad, Adam 12, Dragnet, The Rookies all featured cars with lap belts, even shoulder straps but even the cops weren't using them.
Regarding Madden's criticism of his Valiant: I owned in 1971 a Plymouth Duster, which was just a sportier version of his Valiant. 318 c.i. with 2 barrel carb., auto, air-condition. It got 21 mpg with ac running. I had it to 115 mph and that wasn't its top end. Had I been in same situation I would have handled situation differently. Topping off at truck stop with gas was an option. He wasn't going to be bothered around witnesses.
After leaving truck stop with full tank truck would never see me again.
Regarding belt problem: I check out my vehicles regularly and belt would have been repaired before leaving on the trip UNDER WARRANTY since car was very low mileage.
Power, even with slant 6 engine, should not have been a problem!