Restomods At The Movies: Top 10 Badass Modded Cars In TV And Film

June 26, 2018

#5: Smokey and the Bandit’s Trans Am

Smokey and the Bandit is a ridiculous movie. Burt Reynolds bootlegging Coors from Texas to Georgia? Sure, okay. While the premise is silly, the film is superb, and has gone down in history as a quintessential road movie. The starring car in question is a black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, with the film introducing the car to its audience in superb style, and giving an extra 25,000 sales to Pontiac.

The famous bridge jump. [Via Atlanta Time Machine.]

Several Trans Ams were delivered, with most being totalled during filming. For different scenes, a variety of modifications had to be made. For scenes requiring burnouts, a 455 four-speed Trans Am was used, while most of the cars were automatic. The largest modification came into play during the iconic bridge jump. The bridge only had a short run up, with the stock engine being too slow to make the jump. To solve this problem, the team sourced a small-block Chevy engine from a local NASCAR team, which was rapid enough to allow the jump to be made. A cool car from a movie that’s doubtlessly inspired many road trips, this movie helped make Firebirds cool.

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