Free Wheelin'
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| Free Wheelin’ | |
|---|---|
.png) Title frame | |
| Directed by | Bill Buckley |
| Produced by | Mel Horace |
| Written by | Brock Yates |
| Music by | JTS Band |
Production company | Cinecraft Productions, Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio) |
| Distributed by | B. F. Goodrich Company (BFG) |
Release date |
|
Running time | various lengths |
| Country | United States |
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Free Wheelin' is a 1976 short documentary film about vanning, the practice of customizing vans. Directed by Bill Buckley and sponsored by B.F. Goodrich, the film was shot at the July 1976 “4th Annual National Truck-In” get-together in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The film's full length was 21 minutes and the documentary was edited to other lengths to play as a short or trailer to run in movie theaters.[1] The film is currently held in the archives of the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware.[2]
The film has been called “the greatest visual representation out there showing what the van scene was like at its peak.”[3][unreliable source?]
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Synopsis
Footage in the film was shot during the July 1976 “4th Annual National Truck-In” get-together in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where people came from throughout the United States to show off and race their customized vehicles, as well as share stories with other people in the vanning community. The film includes interviews with participants, as well as plugs for B.F. Goodrich tires and a B.F. Goodrich "project van," an automobile outfitted with the latest van technology.
Production
Free Wheelin' was sponsored by B.F. Goodrich, which hoped to use the video as a promotional tool to push its involvement in the ever-growing van scene.[3] The movie was also produced by Griswold-Eshelman Co., a Cleveland, Ohio-based advertising agency, and made by Cinecraft Productions, Inc., a sponsored film studio.[1]
The documentary's script was written by motorsports journalist Brock Yates and was directed by Bill Buckley.[4] Music featured in the documentary was performed by the JTS Band, which played “Complications,” “Golden Highway,” and “Free Wheelin.”[2]
Release
Free Wheelin' was screened as a short documentary in some theaters throughout the United States in locations such as Torrance, California.[5]
In 2023, the Hagley Museum and Library received a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation to preserve Free Wheelin’. The film is currently held in the museum's archives.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Some Fridays are for Freewheelin', nothing you can do about it". Hagley Museum and Library. Retrieved 2026-01-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A 21-minute long version of the film is posted on the Hagley Library digital website https://digital.hagley.org/FILM_2019227_FC229
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Matt Grayson, “5 Custom Van Films that’ll Make you Wanna Boogie,” Haggerty Media, December 30, 2020. Accessed =June 4, 2025. https://www.hagerty.com/media/entertainment/5-custom-van-films-thatll-make-you-wanna-boogie/
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Hagley awarded grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation". Hagley Museum and Library. Retrieved 2026-01-24.
- ↑ "Theatrical listings for November 17, 1976". The Los Angeles Times (Newspapers.com). November 17, 1976.
External links
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