Milner Coupe Mirrors (or It's November Already And We Haven't Done Squat)

It's getting cold again. Usually that means that it's time to put away the rods and bikes for the season and sit back and go over the past summer's improvements. Not this year. July saw the progress on the Coupe come to a limping halt.

New projects at work put an end to any plans to go to the shop. And we're at the point with the coupe that I want to be there for every decision. The wiring was taking forever and we were finding all kinds of little modifications that have to be done to get everything to fit. In making sure the engine breaths right, we managed to turn a 15.00 dollar part into a few C-notes because the the damn block is so tight to the firewall. And it turns out there's a reason that Figari doesn't have everything functional in and on the Coupe. In order to do it, he would have to move parts or fabricate modifications. To accomplish the changes without being noticable is hard (expensive). And to get things to look like they do on the real car and also function correctly is a trick. As difficult and spendy as it was during the major construction of the chassis and body, making this deuce actually run right and stay true to the movie car is worse. I'll get into detail sometime after we finish, but suffice it to say that I haven't had the time to do it this summer.

So I offer these little close up photos as a lame post offering. Both the rear view and the side mount mirrors are vintage after market items. I have found the same exact model mirrors for our car, although I'm not sure if we'll mount the side view as to mimic the film. Oh, and we'll lose the rust.

Before the Next Tear Drop Falls - Sammy Eubanks

Difference # 347 sub-section D

Thought I would step back a bit. In 2006 as we were finishing the doors, an issue came up. The door lock. A stock 1932 Ford 5W Coupe has one door lock located on the passenger side only. Never understood that. It was a practice Ford carried on for decades. We have a 1956 F-100 pick-up with the same set up. I'm not sure when they added the drivers lock to all vehicles.

The Graffiti Coupe in the film had no lock cylinder in the door, just a hole. Don't really know why it was missing. Some say the film crew used the hole to pass wires into the car, but I tend to think it had been gone awhile. The door handle itself had problems during the filming. Fact was, it was gone. Stayed like that until a few years ago when the owner of the Coupe put a lock back on the door. When I first saw the car in 2005, it had a lock.

This presented one of many mini-dilemmas during the build. Follow the car or use common sense? At first we decided that we would of course want to lock the car, so lock in. After a great deal of wishy-washy back and forth, the dice landed on no lock. In our questionable Coupe wisdom, we decided that the hole was one of those distinguishable identifications of the movie Coupe. It seems that whenever the Coupe is discussed among the enthusiasts, it always comes up, so lock out.

But how we gonna wash the sumbitch? We don't want water gettin' in the doors, sittin' there rusting. So the decision was made to have A & M seal the door but don't fill the hole. Huh? Well...having no hole is not the same as having no lock (this makes sense to an addled mind). We left the small, stock reveal around the opening, then went inside the door and welded a small plate over, but not in the hole. We will use artistic license when we paint. It'll look like the hole is there, but it won't be. Movie magic, baby.

The Smallest Detail

Milnerization of a Stock 5W

There are a lot of crazy modifications to the American Graffiti Coupe. Individually, half would be thrown out. But together these changes equal, for me, the personification of the American Hot Rod.

Details

Details. The Milner Coupe has a lot of details. There is certainly much we don't know yet, and maybe never will. But most of those facts have to do with the origins and history of the car. But as the Graffiti Coupe stands today, we have figured most of what holds this vehicle together.

• The body is a 1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe. The top has been chopped 3 inches. The hood has been removed and the grill shell chopped 4 inches. The radiator fill hole has been filled on the shell. The cowl vent is intact. The top retains the stock soft insert. The front fenders and running boards have been removed. The rear fenders have been fully modified including having been bobbed. It has a trunk, not a rumble seat.
• The frame is a 1932 Ford passenger car frame, It retains the stock 1932 front crossmember. Although still a stock '32, the center K-member is severely modified to accept a modern transmission. The entire upper trans loop has been removed. The k-member also hosts a welded plate from side to side evidently installed as an effort to re-strengthen the cut center. A piece of channel spans the frame as a transmission mount. The rear cross member is from a 1937 Ford passenger car. The frame retains the front horns but is bobbed in the rear directly behind the rear crossmember.