Hanging with Dennis Hopper

I wish I could say Dennis Hopper and I were good buddies. The fact is, when I snapped this picture of him in May of 2004, he wasn’t very happy with me. We were gathered at the premiere screening of a made for TV movie called The Last Ride. Hopper was in the movie which featured a number of then-new Pontiac GTO’s. I was sent to the premiere by High Performance Pontiac magazine to get the story. I was granted a few minutes with Hopper to interview him and have him pose with one of the movie cars (a single exhaust ’04 GTO with a fake dual exhaust outlet – to emulate the look of the 2005 treatment). Somehow I sensed he was tired and suggested “you don’t have to kneel with the car if your knees hurt”. I guess I was being presumptive about his health, he was offended and became silent. We skipped the interview.

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About Steve Magnante

You can call me Steve Mags, it’s easiest that way. You’ve watched me on the Barrett-Jackson auction block for the past eight years on SPEED TV. You’ve read my technical and feature stories in HOT ROD, CAR CRAFT and MUSCLE CAR REVIEW magazines (and many others). You’ve seen my books; “How-To Build Altered Wheelbase Cars”, “Rusted Muscle; A Collection of Derelict Dream Machines” and “Steve Magnante’s 1,001 Muscle Car Trivia Facts” (which comes out in June, 2013). I am an automotive journalist, automotive historian, drag racer, car builder and TV host with over 20 years in the business.

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