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THE LOBBY A gathering place. Introductions, sports, showin' off your ride, birthday-anniversary-milestone, achievements, family oriented humor. |
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#21
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My only street racing experience was against a 76 black TA, 455. He had about 30,000 miles on his car, mine about 4,000 miles....It was a dead heat!
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1977 Black Trans Am 180 HP Auto, essentially base model T/A. I'm the original owner, purchased May 7, 1977. Shut it off Shut it off Buddy, I just shut your Prius down... |
#22
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Most of the 'twisty' road scenes were shot in White County, GA where I was born and raised. I hung out at a local service station back then and I remember a car carrier headed south with a load ( 5 or 6) of the wrecked TA's from the movie. I don't remember what condition they were actually in, just that they were wrecked pretty bad. Wonder where those went? Any idea Mike Davis?
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LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET THE HE!! OUT OF THE WAY!!! HONEST JERRY'S SPEED AND EQUIPMENT
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#23
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From an HPP interview with Hal Needham:
HPP: How were the Pontiacs that you had gotten for the first movie modified to do the stunts? HN: They weren't modified, except the one for the bridge jump. We were using a dirt road and the stuntman only had a short distance to get up to speed. We tried running the car stock with an automatic and it wouldn't get it done; it wouldn't go fast enough. Well, I had a NASCAR race team, so I just called my shop and said, "Send me up a 750 hp engine and a stick trans." Those are the only modifications we did, aside from safety equipment. |
#24
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The only problem with this 2007 claim, according to NASCAR records, Needham’s race team formed in 1981 long after the movie was made.
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#25
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I talked to my dad today and he said after thinking about it the car used where he picks up Sally Fields was a 4 speed. So I did a little digging and looks like he was right. Seen here at about 22 seconds when he takes off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQarn6FLahM
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66 GTO Nostalgia Super Stock/Street Legal Car 421 CID, stock block, Wenzler Intake, 2- Carter 750 AFB's, 3.90 Gears, Full Factory Interior, Full Exhaust, Stock Suspension 3750LBS 9.77@136.99 Multiple NSCA/NMCA World Champion 66 GTO 389 3x2, 4 speed, 4.33 gear, Montero Red 33K original Miles 67 GTO 2dr Post, 428, Tri Power, 3.55 Gears 80 Trans Am Black SE Y84 W72 WS6 Last edited by Mike Davis; 07-06-2020 at 11:47 PM. |
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#26
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This one was sloppy..A honeycomb on the front, and the license plate was upside down.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#27
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Stunt man Alan Gibbs with one of the T/A's.. All Honeycombs on it.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#28
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Just steel wheels..
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#29
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These are great behind the scenes pics
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#30
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My 77 trans am was built the 3rd week of sept. 1976. It came with a 76 interior, door panels, seats, window switch.
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#31
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I have no reason, given most of the evidence that at the least, some 1976 cars were used. My question is why? If the 77 nose was available for swap why not just use a 77 car? Could PMD, knowing that the cars would in all likely hood be destroyed cut their losses and send them leftovers?
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#32
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Does it also have the 8K tach?
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#33
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The body’s are the same. Lol
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🧩 Burds Parts, Finding those Hard to Find PCs, no Fisher Price Toys Here Just Say No To 8” Flakes F ire B irds 🇮🇱 |
#34
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#35
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My understanding was that the '77 simply wasn't in production yet. The components were already in production. Not sure where the cars were converted or by who. But reportedly Needham had seen the ad for the not yet produced '77 and decided that would be the Bandit's car. The ad he saw was supposedly a '76 455 TA. PMD shipped the needed components and decals to their special projects engineer, John Callies, in California and his team converted it to the '77 appearance for the advertisement. It was reconverted to a '76 and PMD eventually sold it to a dealer. That car exists in the hands of a collector who discovered its history and connection to the movie and restored to look like the '77 as it did in the advertisement. I don't know if Callies had anything to do with converting the TAs given to Needham.
Mike Davis, if you are referring to the sound track sounding like a 4 spd car being shifted, the sounds of the cars in movies were often not the actual car seen on film. In the case of SATB, reportedly the sounds on the sound track were recorded from the famous '55 American Graffiti Chevy (also the Two Lane Blacktop). Another story goes that the Bandit TA used a rocket booster to propel it over the creek. At least a couple websites repeat that claim. Needham had done a promotional film for GM and used a hydrogen peroxide rocket to launch a pick-up truck over a 140 ft. wide canal for that dramatic jump. I do not know when that was done or whether it was the first time Needham had done it. Evel Knievel had used a steam rocket for his Snake Canyon jump around '74. So Needham surely had an idea about how it could be done. Needham did put a rocket booster in a TA for the movie Hooper done a year after SATB. That car made a record setting movie jump but that TA was launched without a driver as I understand it (see quote to follow). The Mulberry Creek jump was far shorter. I don't see any evidence that a rocket nozzle extends from the rear of the car. And the car only flies about 100 ft. With all his experience, I'm sure Needham and the stunt driver Alan Gibbs would have easily figured how fast the car needed to go to make that jump. Doubtful he needed a rocker booster to make it happen. Whether he needed a more powerful engine than the 400 in the TA coupled to the TH400, I sure don't know but personally I think it is unlikely. Gibbs died in '88 so he isn't around to ask. But this article in Variety magazine from '93 provides another Needham quote. Stunt meister Hal Needham directed both films. “The big one (jump) that I did in ‘Hooper’ flew about 430 feet… We put that car across there with a 25,000 -horsepower rocket engine. But we didn’t have anybody in the car. It was empty. “The one in ‘Smokey’ — the one Alan Gibbs did — he jumped about 60, 70 feet. But that was done with a souped-up engine, just with the power and speed of the car.” I have no idea what distance they had available to get the TA up to speed before it hit the ramp. I just can't imagine that a 4 spd 455 would have been any better at achieving the speed than the auto trans 400. Souped-up? The TA engine was "souped-up" relative to most any other '76 factory engine. Is that what Needham meant? Was Needham able to acquire a NASCAR engine? Was the jump impossible without such an engine? Interesting discussion. |
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#36
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It’s harder to get parts for a car that is t out yet.
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#37
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#38
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If you look a the video link I posted you can see it is truly a 4 speed car with the suspension movements and the 2nd gear black marks. I had heard the info about the sound track from 2 lane black top.
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66 GTO Nostalgia Super Stock/Street Legal Car 421 CID, stock block, Wenzler Intake, 2- Carter 750 AFB's, 3.90 Gears, Full Factory Interior, Full Exhaust, Stock Suspension 3750LBS 9.77@136.99 Multiple NSCA/NMCA World Champion 66 GTO 389 3x2, 4 speed, 4.33 gear, Montero Red 33K original Miles 67 GTO 2dr Post, 428, Tri Power, 3.55 Gears 80 Trans Am Black SE Y84 W72 WS6 Last edited by Mike Davis; 07-08-2020 at 11:47 AM. |
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#39
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#40
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Here are 2 pictures from 1976 of Plaza Pontiac Dealership where the cars where delivered. At the time this was a state of the art dealership with a huge service center, separate body and paint dept and large parts area.
I called my Mother this morning and she is trying to find the picture she took of the car carrier with the T/A's on it sitting at the dealership as well as others she took. She was also a stand in at the filming. Said she only went to see Jerry Reed because Burt Reynolds wasn't as well known to her.
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66 GTO Nostalgia Super Stock/Street Legal Car 421 CID, stock block, Wenzler Intake, 2- Carter 750 AFB's, 3.90 Gears, Full Factory Interior, Full Exhaust, Stock Suspension 3750LBS 9.77@136.99 Multiple NSCA/NMCA World Champion 66 GTO 389 3x2, 4 speed, 4.33 gear, Montero Red 33K original Miles 67 GTO 2dr Post, 428, Tri Power, 3.55 Gears 80 Trans Am Black SE Y84 W72 WS6 |
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