If you’re a car enthusiast, there is little chance that you have not seen or at least heard of the movie Smokey And The Bandit. Bert Reynolds took the lead roll in this movie that was released in 1977 playing the Bandit. While Reynolds had a long career in the movie business, Smokey And The Bandit was his professional pinnacle. This iconic movie is why many people got into cars and is now a cult classic.

In the movie, the Bandit drove a black 1977 Pontiac Trans-Am, which he used to evade the police countless times. This was the only year that the Trans-Am ever outsold GM’s counterpart, the Chevrolet Camaro, due to the popularity of the movie.

The Trans Am’s last debut was in 2002, and then GM pulled the plug on Pontiac all together in 2009 before the release of the new Camaro. In 2016, a Florida-based automobile customization company called the Trans Am Depot announced that it would build 77 Trans Ams modeled after Reynolds’ car he drove in the Smokey And The Bandit. With permission from GM, these new cars were constructed off the Camaro platform, including the Pontiac arrowhead, flaming bird, Bandit logos, instrument panels, center consoles, and hood scoop. Burt Reynolds even signed each car and the certificate of origin.

While these new “Trans Ams” share some design similarities with there older counterparts, its performance is off the charts compared to the 1977 model. The second-gen T/A was available with a 6.6-liter 330-horsepower V8. The Trans Am Depot car features a much stouter supercharged 7.4-liter Chevrolet LSX 454 engine that cranks out an impressive 840 horsepower. When mated with a 6-speed gearbox, the power plant has enough power to push the vehicle to a 0-60 time of 3-seconds and a 200 mph top speed.

While styling and performance are a significant difference between the two cars, so is the price tag. The 1977 base model Firebird started at $5456.00. The Trans Am Depot’s unit #74 is available for a staggering $198,000. With Reynolds’ death in 2018, we expect that this car will continue to go up in price as time goes on.

You can visit Transamflorida.com for more information on this car and others.