So the TA's in Smokey and the Bandit were rebodied 76 TA'S???
 

If so, did they have 455 engines??? Never heard this discussed, engine wise anyhoo. Have heard they were 75 cars with 77 body upgrades...

They were 76 LEs with 77 noses and shakers. In a couple scenes you can catch a glimpse of a car with honeycombs instead of the flakes.

where ya been? thats a known source for decades...

although...i only learned about t las yearmyself..lol

I never heard that 'til now. Never bothered to look up any info on the movie.

If this is true, it brings up some questions.

WHY ? :confused:

Was it:

(1) because they needed to film some car scenes BEFORE any '77's were available ?

(2) because the older cars were more readily available & cheaper, even with needed mods ?

(3) because they thought the '76 had a performance advantage ?

https://www.hotcars.com/things-about...nd-the-bandit/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076729/trivia

https://www.streetmusclemag.com/news...e-bandit-1977/

There's so many lies online, sometimes you don't know what the truth is.

https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Ridi...dit-79437.html

I've read that they used up LOTS of Chargers, makin the Dukes of Hazard series.

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/...es-of-hazzard/

I seem to recall reading that *SOME* of the cars were '76 cars with '77 noses;
I have heard this was mostly about availability at the time of production.

This is from the "Echos of Norwood" book;
Pretty hard to refute stuff like this.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1593563589

I knew about the 76 switch overs, mostly wondering about the 455 engines...

'76 455 TA was man trans only and the movie cars were automatic, so no to the 455 question.

Filming started Aug 30, 1976. The pic with snow on the ground doesn't appear to connect with the 1st film, I'm wondering if maybe that is a later than '77 model used for a sequel.

A news report from mid Dec '76 stated that the filming had recently wrapped up in Atlanta.

It was a very, very low budget film and a surprise hit. Hal Needham the stunt driver turned director of the film reportedly had wanted more cars but PMD only obliged with 4 TAs. As the film was to be released in '77, PMD wanted them to look like '77s but supposedly had yet to produce the '77 model so they went with retrofitted '76 models.

Hobbyists with more knowledge of the TA than me have noted specific details that support the '76 vs. '77 contention.

Burt Reynolds was given a '77 TA to use for promotional work when the film was released. But it was not used in the movie.

The movie cars were all badly damaged and the one used for the bridge jump (driven by stuntman Needham) was pretty much destroyed.

I'm not familiar with the sequels.

My dad set all those cars up for the movie when he worked for Pontiac. There were 4 cars used. The cars were 76's with 77 noses/ shakers and 77 decals as mentioned.
At 78 years old his memory is not as good as it was but he said he thought they were all 400 autos
Hurst Hatch in Tucker Ga did the T-tops on a few of them.

My dad also set up the T/A's for Smokey and the Bandit 2. The cars couldn't do a burnout so they ran the windshield washer hoses in front of the rear tires to squirt water on them.

Around the late 80's, maybe '88, a wholesaler offered us a T/A that was one of the back-up movie cars. Now, because it was so long ago I don't remember a lot about the car but I do remember a few things about it that were strange back then but now, reading this thread, make a little sense. The car was your typical Bandit T/A. It had a CB, a CB antenna, a small plaque on the dash denoting the number of the car (I think it was #10), and a 455 with nitrous. Now I don't recall exactly what year the car was but I knew that year didn't come with a 455. So between the condition (a bit rough) the 455 and the $6500.00 wholesale price (ridiculous money at the time) I passed.

A few years ago I was thinking, I wish I had another shot at it.

The biggest giveaway is the 8 grand tach in the car. In 1977 they went to a 6 grand tach.

This is always cool to read about.

As far as the Dukes go I think the official number is over 300 and I think there were 12 left from the show- all sold as one lot.

I’ve met John Schneider a few times - once when he used my General Lee for a radio station appearance. He said there were so many, built so fast that almost anything can be considered ‘accurate’. He said in a lot of scenes the white trim on the flag was actually medical tape! He did say they never used a 70- too many modifications needed to make the grill look right. With a 68 they could use wire to hold the center of a 69 grill in a 68 car (I can’t imagine cutting up those grills today) and they would use rectangular reflective tape to cover the round turn signals and make them look like a 69. Most of the time they didn’t mess with the tail lights and just shot from the front of the car.

Honeycombs in this scene

I've been looking for a good 69 Charger to build a General Lee. It's amazing how little there is left of those cars. People ask the kings ransom too.

I paid 16k for mine - it was rust free, ran and drove. I needed to paint it, re-do interior and a lot of little things.

All in all I still think I am less than 30k in it.

I am trying to buy a 70 Charger now to build a F&F car.

My friend has a 69 for sale that is already painted like a GL and I think it was pretty reasonable if you want details.

What's funny in these pics is the ignition switch is off and the car is running 60+mph.

The door pull straps, the sheen of the seat material, and seat belt escutcheons on the seats are other clues to support the use of 1976 T/A's in this film.

I have replicated all of these details on my car, plus the correct CB antenna mounted to the roof.

Wasn't the jump car an SBC swap? NASCAR motor or something like that?

That has been the common consensus.

I have a Hot Rod magazine circa 1994 (or maybe 1993?) that suggested that was a one off 455HO/4spd swapped car.