Smokey And The Bandit: The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am's Timeless Appeal (2024)

When it comes to old movies, that particular allure of muscle cars can make or break a feature when it comes to enthusiasts, especially when real-life stunt work is involved. Those grizzled, Hollywood stuntmen of decades past, taking the helms of V8-powered behemoths and launching them over rivers, onto barges, across ravines, and every which way the production company's restrictions would permit…which, honestly, was pretty lenient back then. Some of the absolute wildest automotive stunts in history emerged throughout the 1970s, making the entirety of this decade exist as a golden era of car chases in cinema.

Smokey and the Bandit is among the coveted greats of this era, with virtually the entire film showing raw, flat-out automotive mayhem, with a certain Pontiac putting in the dirty work. That car in particular was a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am, one of several used during filming, as well as a wide range of other vehicles that would all find their purpose within the carefully choreographed stunt sequences, although a few things did go wrong, some of which actually ended up in the finished film. This is the story of the Smokey and the Bandit Pontiac Trans Am, and its impact on culture, both inside and outside the automotive realm.

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Origins Of Smokey And The Bandit

The entire concept of Smokey and the Bandit might have stemmed from Hollywood, but probably not in the way you’d think. Legendary stuntman Hal Needham conceived the entire project on his own, writing initial drafts on legal pads and pitching his ideas to several executives in a mad-dash effort to score a green light. Although most haven’t heard of Hal Needham, his influence is a bit stronger than you might think. For those of you that have seen Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the character of stuntman Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, is actually based on partly on Needham.

Although Needham managed to get country musician Jerry Reed onboard for the project, it wasn’t until Burt Reynolds agreed to star that Smokey and the Bandit finally became a reality, as Reynolds was one of the major players in Hollywood and also one of the main actors whom Needham had served as a stunt double in various films. In fact, Reynolds himself was actually a stuntman prior to his acting career taking off, which further solidified the bond between the pair. Previously, Needham and Reynolds had worked on a similar car-chase film together, 1973’s White Lightning, which depicted Reynolds as Gator McKlusky; a moonshine runner waging a one-man war against the corrupt sheriff who’d murdered his brother. With Hal Needham performing a strong bit of the driving sequences, White Lightning proved to be a hit with audiences for its dangerous and groundbreaking stunt work. One scene in particular featured Needham, doubling for Reynolds’ character, launching a massive Ford Custom 500 sedan off a ramp and onto a barge floating in the middle of a river, a feat so dangerous it nearly it cost him his life. Nonetheless, White Lightning still couldn’t match the oncoming success that Smokey and the Bandit would ultimately receive.

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The Bandit's Pontiac Trans Am

For production, General Motors provided the Smokey and the Bandit crew with a total of four Pontiac Trans Ams, three of which were designated for filming and the fourth being utilized for promotional purposes. However, the cars in question weren’t really the 1977 variants portrayed in the film. In actuality, the cars for the 1977 model year weren’t quite ready, so Pontiac simply fixed the front ends for the 1977 version onto four 1976 models. Out of all the cars used during the production, only the promotional car survives today, with the rest having been destroyed while filming the multitude of chase scenes. During those chase scenes, Bandit’s Trans Am can be heard roaring far more aggressively than its production counterparts. That’s because the engine sounds you’re hearing aren’t from a Pontiac at all, but actually stem from a heavily modified 1955 Chevy 150, equipped with a massive 454-cid engine that had previously been used for filming in both Two Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti, two additional automotive features from the 1970s that also achieved iconic status.

The sole surviving Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit was given to Burt Reynolds after its run of promo duty, while the actor kept it in his possession for several decades. Reynolds initiated a full restoration of this legendary Pontiac back in 2015, reviving the car’s former glory for his personal use. In early 2023, the lone Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am sold at Barrett-Jackson for a staggering $495,000, which consequently set overall sales records for the Pontiac Trans Am as a whole. Interestingly, despite the 1977 model's massive popularity, it likely would have never merited anywhere near the praise it received after its starring role.

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How Smokey And The Bandit Made Its Mark On Pop Culture

Providing cars for Smokey and the Bandit proved to be a wise venture for Pontiac, as sales of the Trans Am doubled within the first two years following the film’s release in 1977. In fact, the movie helped sales so well that Pontiac actually delayed the release of the third-generation platform for the Firebird/Trans Am, which was originally set to debut in 1980 before being put on the back burner until 1982. This actually proved to be a smart choice, as sales for the third-gen version ultimately took a dip compared to its preceding version.

Altogether, Smokey and the Bandit did wonders, not just for Pontiac, but for the entire entity of muscle cars. When the film was first debuted back in 1977, the country was still deep within the throes of the dreaded Malaise Era, a period that saw widespread deprivation of horsepower due to strict government regulations for smog control. Not that the movie did anything for the car's power outputs, as the 1977 Pontiac Trans Ams still only dished out roughly 200 horses. Still, the same could be said for virtually any American “performance” car issued during this same period. As a result, manufacturers opted to use flamboyant graphics, flashy wheels, and a plethora of options to sell these types of cars during the late 1970s, advertising the illusion of speed during a time when the real deal couldn’t be obtained, at least from the showroom floor. In a way, Pontiac’s decision to provide the cars for Smokey and the Bandit proved to be one of the smartest marketing decisions made during this period. On top of which, the 1978 models, released only a year after the film, saw the highest production figures for the Pontiac Trans Am since its inception in 1969.

Following the success of Smokey and the Bandit, both Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham would again collaborate on 1981's The Cannonball Run, which featured an all-star cast, surrounding the world of Brock Yates' Cannonball Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, a real-life illegal race from New York to California that took place repeatedly during the 1980s. Despite the source material, the film took a much more humorous approach to things, and it was well received by the public and later generated two sequels, although Reynolds would only star in the first movie. Much of the same could be said of Smokey and the Bandit, as two sequels followed, with Burt Reynolds only starring in the first one. For Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, Reynolds resigned himself to a mere cameo feature. The Bandit character, however, would be resurrected for a series of TV movies during the 1990s, with different directors producing each. Sadly, no Pontiac Trans Ams were used. Instead, a Dodge Stealth served as Bandit's main ride for this mediocre series, which ultimately seems like it served as an advertising gimmick for the then-new model. Then again, you could probably say the same about the original, but at least it's worth watching.

Sources: General Motors, Universal Pictures, IMDB, Hemmings, Hagerty