10 Killer Facts About The Trucker's '55 Peterbilt 281 - DUEL

foreign folks and welcome to star cars 10 killer facts about the truckers 55 Peterbilt 281 and Steven Spielberg's first full-length 1971 film dual fact number one the primary truck used in the film was a 1955 Peterbilt 281 and it was the only truck used for the original 74 minute long TV version of the movie however since Spielberg wanted the film to be transitioned into a full-length movie for international theater release the film needed to be lengthened by at least 16 minutes since the original 1955 truck was already destroyed previously they purchased a couple of 1960 Peterbilt 351 trucks in 1974 to create a few more scenes to extend the movie with they only ended up using one of the 1960 trucks however with the other left as a backup fact number two the empty gasoline tanker trailer that the trucks were hauling along were actually even older than the trucks themselves as it was a 1947 model fruhaus 903 tanker trailer Richard Matheson's original script described the tanker as being full of gasoline as they wanted there to be a big explosion for the final crash but Spielberg refused that idea back number three probably the most noticeable visual difference between the two different trucks was the air cleaner intake designs as the 1955 truck had a Caterpillar engine whereas the 1960 Model Truck had a Cummins When comparing the two side by side is quite an obvious difference as you can see here in this descriptive comparison screenshot fact number four the most dominantly used 55 Peterbilt 281 most powered by a caterpillar 1674 turbocharged engine with a 13 speed transmission the Lesser used 1960 Peterbilt 351 was powered by a Cummins NTC 350 with a more complicated twin stick 15 speed transmission effect number five the Peterbilt 281 truck was chosen by Spielberg because he thought that the elongated front end nicknamed By Truckers as the needle nose coupled with the split windshield design look like a menacing face fact number six every day before shooting the film crew would apply fake bugs smear grease and splashed oil on the front of the truck to make it appear more ghastly they referred to this daily routine as applying the truck's makeup for the day because they usually did this at the same time the Dennis Weaver was having his makeup applied for the day shoot fact number seven since the 55 Peterbilt is the truck they use most throughout the film The 1960 model was only used for three added on scenes therefore the only Shots featuring The 1960 351 where the shot of the truck honking is horn at the first gas station stop scene the encounter with the broken down School Bus scene and the confrontation of the railroad crossing scene fact number eight the dinosaur-like sound effect that Spielberg created for the death of a truck crash scene was later reused for the death of Jaws scene in the original 1975 jazz film fact number nine and one of the original Dual trucks still exists today which is the 1960 Peterbilt 351 backup truck currently owned by Brad wike of Lincolnton North Carolina fact number 10. finally who exactly was the mysterious driver of this murderous weapon on Wheels why it was legendary Stunt Driver Carrie Lofton of course interestingly in the original script the truck driver character was actually given a name which was Keller to make it sound like killer well there you have it folks thanks for watching and make sure to hit that subscribe button if you like what you saw here you guys are all great see you next time

Channel: CarStarz

Views: 98,899

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Id: jQrHDzzIRnI

Length: 3min 34sec (214 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 01 2023