A new Route 66 documentary, “Old-Fashioned Fun on Route 66,” contains familiar sights and sounds of the current Mother Road. But what’s remarkable about it is it also contains rare film footage from the road’s golden era.

In the 1940s and ’50s, Patricia and Judy Larry’s family had an 8mm motion-picture camera and used it. In the early part of the film, you see fairly typical family movies of the two young Larry sisters playing.

But it’s the footage — most of it in color — shot during road trips from their Illinois farm to Southern California that proves to be a mother lode for Mother Road aficionados. You see a two-lane Route 66 as it winds through the deserts and mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. You briefly see the back of a 7-Up truck with its “Freshen Up” logo. You see a white-coated waiter delivering food outside of what appears to be a restaurant that says “El Rancho Vegas” on its side. You see the exterior of a motel called the Palm Grove Inn. You see the Larry family cavorting on Southern California beaches uncluttered by development.

Patricia said her father started driving about 4 a.m. each day. He reasoned that if the taverns closed at 2 a.m., this would provide two hours for the drunks to “get home and get off the road.”

The Larrys typically made it from Illinois to the Pacific Ocean in 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 days. This is remarkable, especially since this was before the interstate and that cars were more likely to break down. Patricia says it wasn’t unusual for their car to have two flat tires during their cross-country trek. You even see Patricia’s father, in a three-piece suit, changing a whitewall by the side of the road.

Patricia also said that when the family entered Los Angeles, they could smell blossoms from the orange groves. Regrettably, this also is a bygone era, as virtually all of the orange groves in Los Angeles County have been supplanted by residential and commercial development.

Inspired by the vintage footage unearthed a few years ago, the two sisters decide to take a new trip on Route 66 with a documentary crew in tow. They see a cruise and the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino. They see haunts that are familiar to Mother Road enthusiasts, including the Blue Whale, Teepee Curios, the Blue Swallow Motel and others. Route 66ers like Angel Delgadillo, Bob Waldmire and David Clark are briefly interviewed.

The new Route 66 footage is shown in a leisurely manner and isn’t as fascinating as the old stuff. That isn’t a criticism of the filmmakers. It’s just that the 8-mm footage is such a rare look at a bygone era that I found myself using the slow-motion and pause features on my DVD player to see the details. It make you wish you were in the car with the sisters’ dad.

It’s also worth checking out the DVD’s slideshow. It contains choice images of current-day Route 66.

You can buy the 60-minute DVD from this Web site for $19.95, plus shipping. “Old Fashioned Fun on Route 66″ director Tom Caudle of Permagrin also tells me the DVD will be sold in selected spots along the Mother Road.