Hal Needham

The owner of the Countach (left) with Tom Nash (center) and Guy Anderson (right).

Story by Guy Anderson
Photos copyright Guy Anderson
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In 1980 I received a call from my good friend Jeff Glasserow, who worked in the film industry. Jeff worked for Ted Turner at the ‘Super Station WTBS and the all-new CNN center here in Atlanta.

Jeff called to inform me there was a new Burt Reynolds movie that was going to begin shooting in Atlanta in a few weeks. The subject of the movie was racing a Lamborghini in a coast to coast race called the “Cannonball Run.” The race invented by Brock Yates was officially called: “The Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.” Brock Yates had written the script for the movie to be called The Cannonball Run and directed by famed stunt man and a participant in the original Cannonball run, Hal Needham.

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The shooting location for the movie was located on the perimeter of I-285 close to the entrance of I-20 on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia. The Inn that was commandeered for filming was called the Old English Inn for obvious reasons. The movie execs, including the actors and extras, took over the property for quite some time.

The movie making at the Inn was almost non- stop. The action began in the morning and was still going into the night, depending on what sequence were being filmed. Outside of the film area, behind the barriers, is where the starlets could be found that wanted nothing more than to be “DISCOVERED”. These women were lined up behind the barricades in bunches. They wore full makeup and were dressed to the hilt including heels. Some of the ladies were so gorgeous that it was impossible to concentrate on what we needed to do.

My part was to supply some cars for the production and it was a toss-up on what cars would be most fitting for this movie. One of the cars we were going to include was a 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 that was recently restored. Others that we used were a 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta, a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera GTS and a 1974 Dino Ferrari GTS that a close friend owned at that time.