Here’s what we found as stated at Americangraffiti.net:
1. THE ’32 DEUCE COUPE
In 1983, after the More American Graffiti movie, Steve Fitch acquired the Coupe in a sealed auction bid. He had previously acquired the movie’s black ‘55 Chevy. In 1985, Rick Figari purchased the Coupe. Rick then entrusted the Coupe to Roy Brizio’s shop in South San Francisco to make it road worthy again. Work included rewiring and rebuilding the T-10 four-speed, aluminizing the chrome headers, and making stronger front fender brackets. The 327 was also rebuilt. A funny note about the coupe: After the film was finished, they tried to sell it and couldn’t get the asking price of $1,500. Today, both the '32 Ford Coupe and a clone of the '55 Chevy are owned by San Francisco resident Rick Figari.
2. THE ’55 CHEVY
There were three black ‘55 Chevys used in the film, two of which were also used in the 1971 movie Two Lane Blacktop. The one used for exterior shots for both movies and driven by Harrison Ford in American Graffiti had a fiberglass shell that covered a 427 motor coupled to an M-22 Muncie transmission and 4.88 Olds rear-end.
After the movie, George Lucas gave both Chevys to Henry Travers as a thank you. (Henry was also in charge of selling the Deuce and Impala) The ’55 stunt double ended up in a wrecking yard and was crushed. Despite the fact that his father warned him to keep all of the cars, Henry parted out the stunt car and eventually sold the remaining ’55 to Sam Crawford who later sold it to Steve Fitch of Wichita, Kansas. Fitch ended up selling the Chevy to its current owner, Wayne Newsome in Maryland where it is today.
3. THE ’58 IMPALA
Owned by Mike & Sandra Famalette, Colville, WA
According to Mike: “I feel so fortunate to have chanced on that ad and have enough money to buy this now legendary car. Over the years, many friends have helped with repairs. Fixing the drive train was my daughter Ashley’s senior project. My son, Matt, and Ashley helped move the car from Northern California to Colville, Washington. Matt worked for days cleaning it and my wife Sandra has always helped, also. It’s still pretty much as it was in the movie.”
4. THE ‘56 T-BIRD
For many years Clay and May have been bringing their T-Bird to Petaluma each May to help celebrate Petaluma’s Salute to American Graffiti. When they finally said it was time to say goodbye to their baby, they entrusted their baby to a good friend who lives in Petaluma. They told Americangraffiti.net that it was their desire to have the car come back to Petaluma.
5. ‘61 FORD GALAXIE COP CAR - CLONE
Created & Owned by Cruisin’ The Boulevard, Inc.
A 1961 Ford Galaxie 4 door sedan sporting a 272 V8 motor that they found on Craigslist and purchased on July 26 from a private party in Sacramento. After trailering it back to Petaluma and with the help of many friends and local businesses, they spent the next seven months getting it running and transforming it into their American Graffiti Cop Car. And yet by the time they got it all together, it was just too pretty to destroy, so a second search was on to find what they call “a movie car”, one that looked good from 20 feet away. They found that one, a 1961 Fairlane (a model that is nearly identical to the Galaxie) at Gerdes Auto Wrecking in Cloverdale.
6. THE PHARAOHS' 1951 MERCURY
The car was returned to Universal Studios where it sat on a back lot until it was purchased by Dave Lee Roth of Van Halen fame who eventually sold it to rockabilly band Stray Cats leader Brian Setzer. Setzer is quoted as saying, “I had to sell that car for a really embarrassing price; it was a pile of junk.” If he only knew!
From here, the story gets a bit hazy, but from what Americangraffiti.net know it was purchased by a young man in New York state. He may have got it directly from Setzer or there may have been one or more other owners in between. It is reported that the New York owner, after being dumped by his girlfriend, killed himself while in the car! The owner’s father claim that is untrue, but apparently the blood stains are there. The father refuses to sell the car, opting to let it rot away in his storage/junk yard.
Check out these 13 Nostalgic Facts About 'American Graffiti' at Mentalfloss.com.