Like all of you reading this, I’m been reading the countless post this past week on here, and on the Dukes of Hazzard and CB Radio groups about the passing of Burt Reynolds. There’s a amazing but not surprising crossover in these groups. And to see how close the Trans Am is linked to Burt Reynolds, and him to it. Perhaps more then any other celebrity car, maybe because it was a car to was available to all and not something custom built like most movie and TV cars. I think it made them more part of us, normal but special at the same time. 41 years after the movie we can’t see a Trans Am with out thinking of Smokey and the Bandit and all that goes with it, and I doubt that will ever change.
I envy those lucky people that are able to own one of these awesome cars, to connect with Bandit in a way the rest of us can’t. As close I I ever got is a couple model kits and some video games. Also, as a kid seeing the movie changed my own CB handle to Bandit, even though I had a few people give my grief over it, I kept using that handle. In fact, to this very day when I talk to myself, I still call myself Bandit in my head and probably always will. I still own CB radios, but not active on them any more. But I think it made the loss of a man I never met hit harder then with other actors that were also important to me have passed.
I’ll probably never own, let alone even drive a real Trans Am. I’ll have to be happy with virtual ones in games and scale models. It’s still a connection to a better time in this world and a team we all know and love called Bandit and Snowman.
Atari Hotel 