‘Dazed and Confused’ was a classic Generation X coming-of-age movie set in 1976 Texas and filmed in 1993–so did they get the car era right?
I’m an expert in 70s culture because I lived it, so here are five examples of how they got the cars right in ‘Dazed and Confused’.
Jerry Sutherland
The biggest thing to remember is this—1976 was almost 50 years ago so you can’t use a 2024 lens to examine what the characters drove in the movie.
The first example is the ’72 Chevy C-10 pickup driven by a guy named Benny O’Donnell played by a guy named Cole Hauser.
I grew up in Alberta. It’s the northern version of Texas because Alberta is cattle and oil country, so back in the 70s a high school kid would definitely drive a ’72 C-10, so the truck absolutely fit the era. Benny’s truck is perfect for a small-town kid in ’76.
The second example is a 1973 340 Duster called the ‘Gray Ghost’ driven by Fred O’Bannion—played by Ben Affleck .
A three-year-old Duster makes sense for a high school kid in 1976–if the kid had a decent part-time job or generous parents. The Gray Ghost was in primer—that didn’t make as much sense because a paint job was fairly cheap back in ’76 so a 1974 Duster was something a high school kid would keep looking good.
I’ll give him a bro pass because a car with a nickname like ‘Gray Ghost’ would sound a lot cooler to his buddies than a factory-painted ‘Lucerne Blue Ghost’ Duster. Regardless of the paint, Fred’s Duster looked like it was a beast and he drove it like a beast.
The third example of realistic iron in ‘Dazed and Confused’ was a 1970 Chevelle SS454.
I don’t have to explain to MyStar readers how popular these legendary cars are—but I can tell you they were also legends when they were new. This SS454 was driven by Dave Wooderson—played by Matthew McConaughey. He called it ‘Melba Toast’ for some reason—I can only attribute that nickname to the amount of dope he smoked.
Dave knew his car. He unleashed a list of options in his SS454 that separated it from most other cars, and he was proud of it. This car was less likely to be seen in a high school parking lot back in the 70s because an SS 454 was still an expensive used car. Dave skated past that problem by being three years out of high school so he had a job that could help swing the payments on a car with big insurance premiums and big gas bills. He was basically a 70s version of John Milner from American Graffiti.
The fourth example is another 70s muscle car legend. It’s a 1970 GTO painted in Orbit Orange, and it’s driven by Kevin Pickford—played by Shawn Andrews.
This GTO is another car that doesn’t stretch reality because a used Goat was a realistic option for a high school kid back in 1976. They made a lot of GTOs so Kevin could buy one—he’d just need to put in lots of hours packing bags at Safeway.
The final example is another legendary Pontiac. It’s a 1974 Pontiac Trans Am SD 455 driven by Clint Bruno and played by Nicky Katt.
Clint called his Firebird ‘White Lightning’—a fitting name for the fastest muscle car built in ’74.
This car was definitely a possibility for a high school kid back in 1976 because I worked with an 18-year-old who bought a brand-new ’74 T/A by trading in his grandfather’s ’64 Impala and signing up for a lengthy term of giant payments. That was a big deal–I thought he’d signed up for a prison term behind a shovel to pay for it.
Honorable mention goes to a female owner of a ’55 Chevy 3100 pickup.
Her name was Darla Mark, and she was played by Parker Posey. I included her because she was great-looking, and she drove an old truck. That might happen in Hollywood, but the odds were against it in real-world 1976—but if it was true, the 1976 version of me would have been highly motivated to go after her.
I have to end this with my thoughts on ‘Dazed and Confused’.
They got 1976 right—from the keg-filled bush parties, to the jocks, to the freaks, to the cars, to the fights, to the music—they definitely got it right.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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