| -When Terry the Toad first arrives at Mels drive-in he is riding a white Vespa 160 GS. The lack of glove box over the rear brake light assembly reveals that the scooter is a 1963 model, yet the film takes place in 1962. |
| What the hell year is it, anyway??? |
| A special thanx to for the Anachronisms. |
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| -Wolfman Jack's gravely voice announces, "XERB 10-90," and several differnt XERB jingles are played throughout the film. However, in 1962 Bob Smith aka Wolfman Jack was working for radio station KCIJ, located in Shreveport, Louisiana (1961-1963). Wolfman Jack did not begin to broadcast from the 50,000-watt border-radio station, XERB until 1966. |
| -At 10:14 into the movie then throughout the film, a gold-color 1967 Chevrolet Caprice can be seen parked at the curb. |
| In 1973 when American Graffiti was first released a person could see a movie in a theatre and be emotionally impacted by it. However, after a week or two the movie would be replaced by a new one and the moviegoer was left with only the memory. Nowadays, thanks to DVDs, a film fan can watch their favorites flicks whenever they want to. If you're a fanatic, like myself, after many, many viewings you begin to notice mistakes or anachronisms. Time spent spotting these goofs is not meant to diminsh or put down the director or movie in anyway. Perhaps looking for flaws is an attempt to demystify a film that has made such an exciting impression on our lives and in the process we hope to understand ourselves a little better. 'Nuff said. |
| In the scene that takes place in the Miniature Golf Arcade there are six pinball machines. Five of the six pinball machines were copy-written and manufactured after the year in which the movie takes place: Buckaroo (Gottleib) 1965, Royal Guard (Gottleib) 1968, Wild-Wild West (Gottleib) 1969, Skyrocket (Bally) 1970, and Vampire (Bally) 1971. Only one of the pinball machines, Ball Park (Bally), 1960 was copy-written and built before the 1962 storyline. |
| At 32:59 on the DVD, A blue 1955 Chevy 210, 4-door sedan, driving past has a black license plate with yellow letters. This style of plate was issued post-1962. Yellow with black letters and numbers was the typical license plate issued by the DMV in 1962. At 43:51 on the DVD, A black Jaguar 4-door sedan parking at the curb has a post-'62 license plate (black with yellow numbers and letters). |
| A 1963 California black-background license plate RLM 399, appears on the front of Steve's white 1958 Impala while parked on Paradise Road, right after Bob Falfa's fiery car crash. Throughout the rest of the film, the Chevy, Impala has a year-appropriate black on yellow license plate. |
| At 1:13:47 on the DVD, As John Milner and Bob Falfa exchanged insults, a light-blue 1972 Mustang fastback parks along the opposite curb. At 52:49, There is a white 1964 Studebaker Lark 2-door coupe hardtop in the junk yard. Despite what other mis-infromed viewers have claimed, the white Studebaker Lark is the only car in the graveyard that is newer than the September 1962 storyline. |
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| -At the beginning of the movie, a red first-edition Mustang coupe is parked across the street from Mels drive-in. Ford Motor Company didn't introduce Mustangs until April of 1964. -At 30:43, a white 1963 Studebaker Lark sedan is stopped behind Terry's car. |
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| -Curt enters Mels drive-in, driving a little blue Citroen 2CV that has a third side window located behind the rear door. The rearmost third side quarter-window on the Citroen 2CV was not introduced until the 1966 model |
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