Smokey and the Bandit episodes of the series. Needham saw an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and knew right away that would be the Bandit's car, or, as Needham referred to it, a character in the movie. He contacted Pontiac and an agreement was made that four 1977 Trans Ams and two Pontiac LeMans 4-door sedans would be provided for the movie. The Trans Ams were actually 1976-model cars with 1977 front ends. (From 1970 to 1976, both the Firebird/Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro had two round headlights, and in 1977, the Firebird/Trans Am was changed to four rectangular headlights, while
Smokey and the Bandit Am each year. Owing to his financial difficulties, in 2014 Reynolds put his vast collection of artwork and memorabilia up for auction, including the Trans Am. High estimates for the car were up to $80,000, but that was dwarfed by the actual sale price of $450,000. Also up for auction was a go-kart replica of the car, which sold for nearly $14,000. In 2016, Trans Am Depot, a Florida-based automobile customization company, announced that it would build 77 Trans Ams that would be modeled after the car that Reynolds drove in the 1977 original. Pontiac was discontinued by GM in