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 away from the truck and its illegal cargo. They arrive in Texarkana an hour ahead of schedule, load the truck and head back toward Atlanta. Immediately upon starting the second leg of the run, Bandit is stopped by a runaway bride named Carrie who hitches a ride with him, but in so doing Bandit becomes a target of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a career Texas lawman whose son Junior was to have been Carrie's bridegroom. Ignoring his own jurisdiction, Sheriff Justice, with dimwitted Junior in tow, pursues Bandit all the way to Georgia to get Carrie back, even as various