Over 40 years after its release, Smokey and the Bandit is still a spectacular fable of automotive fantasy. The portrayal of a smooth-talking southern trucker blasting across Dixieland on an escapade to deliver illegal booze is essential viewing for any connoisseur of car culture. The car, a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am LE, was such an integral part of the plot that the film’s director considered it a character.
It would be hard to fathom the Bandit behind the wheel of anything other than a black and gold Pontiac, but had it not been for a photograph in a brochure, the late Burt Reynolds may have been eastbound and down in a Chevrolet Corvette or a Dodge Charger.
It was this Pontiac Trans Am LE—or more specifically, a photo of it—that convinced Reynolds and director Hal Needham that this would be a good buddy for Bandit. After seeing the car in the brochure, Needham and Reynolds reached out to Pontiac and asked if they could have the car for the movie. Pontiac declined to lend them that specific car, but instead built five other examples for them to use… read more >
