All of the moonrunner cars in the film had been used by moonshiners in the Asheville, NC area, where the film was shot. The moonshiners sold the cars to the film company in order to buy newer and faster cars.
Film debut of Christopher Mitchum. He was 13 years old and was paid $10.00. He was at the country store dance as the kid in the back playing the washboard.
The locations heard in the song "Thunder Road" (sung by Robert Mitchum) describe real places in east Tennessee and Kentucky. The "Thunder Road" route runs south from Harlan, KY through The Cumberland Gap to Maynardville, TN, just north of Knoxville. The moonshine runner then goes through downtown Knoxville and onto Kingston Pike where he crashes on Bearden Hill (Bearden is a Knoxville suburb). The route is easily followed on a map.
Robert Mitchum recorded "The Ballad of Thunder Road," which entered the Billboard Hot 100 twice, in 1958 and 1962, and while it never peaked higher than number 62, it racked up 21 total weeks in the chart.