Twin Peaks Film Location – The Mechanic in Part 8

In Twin Peaks Part 8 on Showtime, there is a brief scene of a mechanic who passes out after hearing the Woodsman speak on KPJK radio. The scene may be short but it’s part of my never-ending quest to identify all of the film locations from this series. Thanks to fellow Bookhouse Boys, I learned this spot is actually found in North Bend, Washington inside a familiar place.

SHARING THE LOCATION

I recently discussed the film location of Big Ed’s Gas Farm from Season 3. It’s found at 1130 East North Bend Way in North Bend, Washington.  The approximate coordinates are 47°29′ 15.6′ N 121°46′ 15.9′ W, and it’s near several additional sites from Season 3 and Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me.

In “Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier,” the Mechanic’s garage is supposedly located near Los Alamos, New Mexico. The KPJK Radio station is located about 15-minutes from the city, so one assumes the Mechanic’s garage is also nearby.

After seeing the tweet about that location, long-time Twin Peaks fan @BeanoRojo replied with the tweet above. Wow! I never made the connection. And yes, I’m still kicking myself for not visiting Snoqualmie Valley in September 2015 when they were shooting the newest season.

Here’s a better look at the interior photo that Beano shared.

Bing Maps had images from the shop circa 2014 when both garage doors were opened.

You can faintly see a vehicle parked inside the garage on the left in the first establishing shot of Big Ed’s Gas Farm in Part 13. I’m assuming this shot was made during the night of September 10, 2015 after a day-long shoot at the garage.

In Part 15, we see Big Ed’s during the day as Nadine marches toward the place. One garage door is open but it’s difficult to see the vehicle parked behind the closed door. This was shot during the afternoon of September 10, 2015.

THE RADIO

The brief scene opens with a shot of a table radio inside the mechanic’s garage. “My Prayer” by the Platters plays as the camera slows moves in. This is one of many vintage radios seen throughout Twin Peaks, so I knew I had to identify it.

I began by cropping the image and trying Google’s Image search. The results returned “monochromatic” images. No help.

I then tried searching the following terms for most of my Saturday: vintage radio with white grill front, vintage 1940s radio black with white grill front, vintage bakelite black radio, vintage 1940s Philco radio black, ebony and ivory bakelite radio, and vintage 1950s bakelite radio.

After taking a close up screen image from the 4K release, I searched a variety of brands including Philco, Philco Transitone, RCA, RCA Victor, Silvertone, Fransworth and Admiral. Still nothing.

At the point of giving up, my wife Katie suggested I try searching “AM / FM dial bakelite radio.” I should listen to her more often. Boom! Found it. A 1948 Motorola 77-X M21 table radio. It’s similar to the 67-X released in late 1947 but the 77-X seems wider.

Raise your hand if you thought Motorola only made mobile phones? Who knew they had been around for so long.

RetroRadioFarm.com sold a similar one a few years ago for $499. They listed the colors of this Art Deco beauty as “Cappaccino [sic] and Cream Bakelite.”

Katie noticed the front grill didn’t exactly match despite the description stating: “Front painted grill vanes is factory original not repainted, touched or over sprayed. Couple pin pricks of paint loss on the front grill.” The catalog image from RadioFarm.org shows radio that matches the on-screen version. Now I must find one of these!

THE MECHANIC’S CAR

The scene cuts to the Mechanic working on a car in the shop, which naturally, I also had to identify.

I soon realized this behind-the-scenes image shared on The Mauve Zone was from this scene being shot. Notice the car with hood raised in the shot.

When the music stops, the mechanic turns his attention to the radio. We can see details along the hood that says “Super Deluxe.”

The car appears to be a 1941 Chevrolet DeLuxe Special 2-door Beige Coupe.

The car in the behind-the-scenes image looks to have whitewall tires similar to the image above.

Here’s a comparison of the engines for the beige and gray vehicles shown above. We can barely see under the hood in the episode.

A similar car also appeared in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive as @PineyRealm points out:

“Part 8’s ’41 Chevy DeLuxe Coupe has a kissing cousin in Mulholland Dr. Only this time it’s a ’41 DeLuxe Convertible Coupe. Back in the DavidLynch.com chatroom days, I remember Lynch chatting about this particular make and model.”

I wish I could find that transcript of Lynch’s chat as I’d love to know what he said about this car. It’s probably no mistake that a similar model was included in Part 8.

DROP THE WRENCH

The Woodsman’s hypnotic poem places the mechanic in a trance.

He eventually drops the wrench he is holding.

According to another long-time fan and Bookhouse Boy, @PineyRealm, the crew shot multiple takes of this scene.

This could be the shot @PineyRealm mentioned where several fans were watching the crew across the street.

One more shot of the Motorola radio.

The scene ends with the Mechanic on the ground. His dropped wrench lays nearby.

I still wish I knew who the uncredited Mechanic was in this scene. If you have a tip or if that person is you, please comment below.

Thank you again to Beano and Piney for their assistance with this article.