Eastbound and Down: 'Smokey and the Bandit' car heads to auction this weekend

PALMETTO, Fla. - If you were around in 1977, you know about the iconic movie "Smokey and the Bandit."

Burt Reynolds and Sally Field led sheriff Buford T. Justice, played by Jackie Gleason, on a wild chase across the South.

People loved the characters and they loved The Bandit's car. It was a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am, and it became an instant classic for car lovers.

A few years before he died in 2018, Burt Reynolds bought a Trans Am and had it restored to look just like the one in the movie. His friend Gene Kennedy, owner of Bandit Movie Cars of Florida in Palmetto, restored the car.

"He wanted decal placement, radios, the Pace CB, all those kinds of things to be just like it was in the movie so that when somebody saw the car it was correct," says Kennedy.

In his later years, the car was with Reynolds for personal appearances. Kennedy's company took the Trans Am, along with Smokey's car, to car shows all over the country.

"There have been other cars owned by Burt, but this is truly his with his BAN ONE famous license plate from Florida that's on the car, so when this car changes hands, it will be the end of an era because this is the last tagged car that belonged to Mr. Reynolds," says Kennedy.

When Burt Reynolds passed away in 2018, the car went to Kennedy. Now he's decided to sell it at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Palm Beach this weekend. What will it bring? Kennedy won't say, only that a normal Trans Am is a prime collector car.

Kennedy believes there's added value because this car belonged to Burt, but the added value is... it belonged to Burt.

"It just adds that much flavor to the car. We're sure it’s going to do well, and we're anxious to see," he says.

The value of nostalgia might be measured in what a movie star's car sells for. Only the final bid will decide what it's worth to own a car that belonged to The Bandit.

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