My cousin Mark, and I grew up on a steady diet of American car/truck movies. For us, movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, Hooper were more than just entertainment; they were part of the landscape of our childhood, dreaming of how cool the trucks and cars were in the USA for two young boys in the UK. America for us may as well been another planet.

A couple of years ago, for his 50th birthday, Mark decided to take a pilgrimage. He drove Route 66 and tracked down some of the actual filming locations used in Sam Peckinpah’s Convoy.

When I met him in Vegas, he was vibrating with the kind of excitement I only remember seeing in his ten-year-old self. He had seen the infamous Rubber Duck Mack in person! A literal childhood dream to touch the very truck. Mark, is a UK long-haul truck driver himself, driven all over Europe, been a trucking transport manager, and the stories he tells, has me howling. So for him, seeing the Mack meant a lot more than most.

On our last visit, he was excited to tell me about a book he had just read detailing the whole movie. That book is Convoy: The Comprehensive Yet Untold Story, written by Dan Bruno (and photos from Mike Siegel). He thrust it into my hands and demanded I read it, but I had to bring it back! I am pleased to say, this week, the last page was turned.

If you grew up in that era, you likely remember the two distinct flavors of trucker movies. There was the whimsical, lighthearted energy of the Burt Reynolds era in Smokey and the Bandit. Then there was Convoy. While the former felt like a romp, Convoy always felt like the serious movie. It had a grit and a weight that set it apart.

This book does an incredible job of explaining why. It doesn’t just treat the film as a piece of pop culture. Instead, it places the story within the actual political turmoil of the early to mid-1970s in the United States. The author provides a deep dive into the history of the highways and the implementation of the 55mph speed limit. Seeing how the movie captured that specific sense of American friction was extremely well done.

Beyond the politics, the book pulls back the curtain on the absolute madness of the production itself. It details the overrun shoot and the continual, exhausting arguments between Sam Peckinpah and the studio. You get a look at the storylines that never made it to the screen and the logistical chaos that defined the set.

The book is beautifully illustrated with photos from the production. The author is clearly a massive fan of the film, much like Mark and myself, and his passion is evident on every page. He even owns the Rubber Duck himself.

The music is what we all think of as soon as we hear the word “Convoy” and true enough, the movie was inspired by “a pop song” as an EMI (who made the movie) executive once uttered. The movie was pre-financed by advanced sales from Japan, and it was that market it opened to first. They got a special edited version.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is learning about the afterlife of the trucks used in the film. It turns out some of them actually went back into service after the shoot was over. It is a wild thought. If you can imagine the Back to the Future DeLorean being used as a normal car after filming, it is just as surreal to think about these legendary rigs heading back out onto the highway to do real work.

If you want to understand the soul of that era, or if you simply want to know what happened behind the scenes of one of Peckinpah’s most intense works, this book is essential. Mark was right to demand I read it.

You can see the original Mack at the National Museum of Transportation in St Louis.

But go and read Dan’s book; it’s good.