Home » Why Did They Trash Brand New Pontiacs In The Awful ‘Smokey And The Bandit II’?

Why Did They Trash Brand New Pontiacs In The Awful ‘Smokey And The Bandit II’?

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One of The Autopian’s great strengths is the powerful hive-mind that is you, the readers. On more than a few occasions, we’ve tapped that vast, collective automotive intellect to solve mysteries, ID obscure cars and parts, and even nab bad guys. And now, I’m hoping you can help me with a couple of things I’ve been wondering about for a while.

The first query involves what is likely considered one of the worst movie sequels of all time, Smokey and the Bandit II from 1980. This stinker is bad even for a Burt Reynolds film, which is really saying something.

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Admittedly, the original Smokey wasn’t exactly Chaucer; much of the humor is cringe-inducing today even if you’re barely politically aware, let alone correct. Still, it was big dumb fun that Jerry Reid, Sally Field, and Burt-as-a-dufus made watchable.

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Universal Pictures (screenshot)

However, none of Burt’s self-deprecation or breaking the fourth wall was going to save the sequel. Everything was worse; a terrible story, lamer jokes, and a far worse hero car. Like the first movie itself, the 400 cubic inch V8 1977 Trans Am featured in the original wasn’t ultra-sophisticated, but still mighty amusing.

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Universal Pictures (screenshot)

The 1980 Trans Am Turbo in the sequel can be considered an analog for the letdown that was Smokey II. Like other malaise turbos (Ford Mustang 2.3, early Buick Regal), the Trans Am Turbo was a desperate attempt to get the power of a big motor with the gas mileage of a smaller one. As with those other early turbo cars, the force-fed 301 V8 in the 1980 Trans Am offered worse performance (over 1.5 seconds slower to sixty) and similar fuel lack-of-economy, while throwing in poor reliability from early engine management systems to prevent detonation. Brilliant. At least the hood featured a screaming chicken decal breathing fire and had funky, vague TURBO CHARGE lights on the back of the scoop.

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source: General Motors

Ah, but what about the mystery? I won’t get into what poses for a plot in this film but the ending involves a massive battle between police cars and trucks that results in carnage that was likely a lot funnier to the producers than the audience. In this wreck-fest, you quickly notice that a large number of the cars being destroyed are in fact brand new cars, namely 1980 Pontiac LeMans (LeManses?).

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Universal Pictures (screenshot)

There are a lot of older cars in the mix, too, but I count at least ten or a dozen of the new rides. Adjusted for inflation, these are around $45,000 apiece, and considering that you could buy almost anything to decorate as a cop cruiser, why would you waste a half million of the movie budget on anything other than old sleds (especially a film that, by Burt’s own admission, was a cash grab)?

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Universal Pictures (screenshot)

The commonly told explanation is shown on Wikipedia, with zero citations:

The roundup sequence in the desert shows many new Pontiac Le Mans sedans decorated as police cars being destroyed. The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency which refused to accept the delivery as they were not equipped with air conditioning. Pontiac took the cars back and eventually gave them to the producers to be used in the film.

I’ve read this on other sites as well, yet nobody has any confirmation. Does this make sense? Could they really “forget” to check the A/C box on the order sheet? I mean, these 1978-81 A-bodies (later called G-bodies) famously had fixed rear windows so they would have been unusable by the alleged rental agency in the southwest. But destroy the cars?

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Universal Pictures (screenshot)

Admittedly, a similar thing happened with similar A-bodies when Iraq refused to take delivery of the 12,500 of strangely-equipped Malibus they ordered. The “Iraqi taxis” or “Iraquibus” had a 3.8 liter V6 with a three-speed floor shift manual, dog-dish-car steelies, and cloth seats (but, in fact, air conditioning). They ended up being sold at a deep discount in Canada.

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CBC News (screenshots)

But what about the Smokey and the Bandit II LeMans carnage? Why didn’t these end up in the land of poutine and Moving Pictures where A/C could begrudgingly be lived without? You guys can identify a car from taillight fragments, right? Can anyone verify the story?

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Schrödinger's Catbox
Schrödinger's Catbox
26 minutes ago

I grew up in a family with one of these model cars (not the rejected rental, but a Grand LeMans). From day 1, it leaked every fluid except brakes while flexing its prowess in overheating and uncorrectable engine performance issues.

Build quality made a Renault Alliance seem well-assembled in comparison.

My stepdad traded that four-door critical mass of fail for a gently-used, first-year Pontiac J2000. Despite all the issues with that J car, our family still considered this to be a major step up in quality.

Crashing and destroying those turds was the right thing to do. Grand, my ass.

Sammy B
Sammy B
38 minutes ago

just a minor quibble: Jerry Reed not Reid.

Paul B
Paul B
53 minutes ago

Sounds like a great way to hide a recall from the authorities to me.

Bre Rud
Bre Rud
1 hour ago

In the 90’s I worked at a Ford Dealership and was in charge of ordering cars. By this time the “Equipment Packages” were becoming normal. This meant you couldn’t order a power sunroof on a Taurus wagon with a passenger power seat for a customer special order. I would get dos matrix printout from the factory confirming the car I ordered. Unfortunately for me there was one additional line on the back page which informed me that the sunroof could not be combined with a power passenger seat.
Needless to say the customer was pretty upset that he couldn’t get his custom ordered wagon the way he wanted, and refused to accept delivery.
I thought I was gonna be fired, but I think we dealer swapped it out for one of the Explorers which were going for crazy ADMs.
So. yeah, considering there probably wasn’t any computer system or a Group Package to order, I could see how someone could fail to check the AC box.

IIRC, Hal Needham went to Ford first to use the Mustang II King Cobra for free. Ford either gave him a flat out no or a we’ll get back to you. It’s in his biography, “Stuntman.!”

MegaVan
MegaVan
1 hour ago

Automakers put two kinds of cars in movies. Cars they want to sell (GM –> Transformers) and cars they can’t sell (see here).

Cars they want to sell generate revenue for very little cost.

Cars they can’t sell become a business loss (financial benefit compared to … scrapping them?)

In some rare instances you get both at the same time. Like 19 Acura ZDX getting blown up in Thor. They wanted to sell them, but also couldn’t.

Citrus
Citrus
1 hour ago
Reply to  MegaVan

It’s also the sad arc of the BMW i8 going from hero car in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol to random collateral bus fight damage in Shang-Chi.

Kevin B Rhodes
Kevin B Rhodes
18 minutes ago
Reply to  MegaVan

This – the actual cost to produce yet another car to a manufacturer is very, very little. You could write them off at full price (especially back in those days when the IRS rules were a lot more flexible).

Also – $45K inflation-adjusted for a base model Pontiac mid-sizer? I very, very much doubt that. A quick Google sez they at rather less than $6K new, which is ~$24K today. Probably could get a really optioned-up one to an inflation-adjusted $30K, but these evidently didn’t even have A/C.

Mike F.
Mike F.
1 hour ago

Perhaps, in a fit of social consciousness, the producers decided to use some of their Hollywood money for the forces of good and just remove these pieces of garbage from the system.

Sid Bridge
Sid Bridge
2 hours ago

Covered this on an episode of Reels & Wheels Podcast. I believe they were a bunch of fleet cars that were ordered and came without air conditioning so nobody wanted them.

https://reelsandwheels.libsyn.com/smokey-and-the-bandit-ii-reels-and-wheels

Crank Shaft
Crank Shaft
2 hours ago

As Edward said, it’s entirely because of Blues Brothers.

Hollywood’s motto: Why do something original when you can just remake?

Rollin Hand
Rollin Hand
2 hours ago

OK, S&TB II is not good. But think of how bad it could have been.

Apparently Hall Needham called up Brock Yates shortly before principal filming began and said “the script stinks. You’ve gotta help me.” What we got was the best they could do under the circumstances. And, car aside, it stunk, save for Sally Field’s heartfelt (and apparently real) speech to the Bandit.

I LOVE the original: Jackie Gleason’s Sherriff Buford T. Justice (an officer with over 30 years seniority) is nothing less than brilliant, and the rest of it is fun, even if it is very much of its time.

LTDScott
LTDScott
11 minutes ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Fun fact, Jackie Chan’s appearance in The Cannonball Run is what inspired him to have a blooper reel at the end of all of his movies.

Data
Data
1 hour ago
Reply to  Rollin Hand

Just going to throw this out here, Jackie Gleason showed up to a Burt Reynolds tribute in character as Buford T. Justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklRF1EFmtQ

Delta 88
Delta 88
2 hours ago

So, fun fact, the engine and shifting sounds you hear in the first movie are actually made by the 55 Chevy that Harrison Ford drove in American Graffiti. The sounds aren’t lifted from that movie or anything, but what you hear is the same car

Last edited 2 hours ago by Delta 88
Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
2 hours ago

This era of Pontiacs pretty much came from the factory pre-trashed, so it was probably the cheapest option available. Or maybe the producers had a focus group and one of the questions was “what type of car would you like to see demolished in Burt Reynolds’ new movie?” Believe it or not, this film isn’t even in the top ten movies for most cars destroyed in filming.

Last edited 2 hours ago by Canopysaurus
Mechanical Pig
Mechanical Pig
2 hours ago

1980 saw a lot of cars trashed in movies. Blues Brothers came out that year also.

It also got a crappy, now largely forgotten sequel like Smokey and the Bandit, and being they didn’t learn from S&BII, decided to shoehorn in a massive car pile up scene in a clear telling-the-same-joke-twice nod to the first, and to secure the Guinness world record for most cars wrecked in a movie, which I believe it still holds from 1998. That didn’t help the movie not suck eggs though.

Rollin Hand
Rollin Hand
2 hours ago
Reply to  Mechanical Pig

The whole movie reeks of studio “involvement” (we should add a kid!).

And I don’t care if the Crown Vic they used had cop tires, cop shocks and went good on regular gas. That thing wasn’t the Bluesmobile.

Gilbert Wham
Gilbert Wham
2 hours ago

If it happened, then there’s absolutely some Hollywood-grade tax write-off shenanigans involved and everyone made out like, well, bandits. W

Green_NGold
Green_NGold
2 hours ago

You thought part II was awful? Wait until you see part III. (But don’t waste your time.)

Data
Data
2 hours ago
Reply to  Green_NGold

Someday someone will unearth the original “Smokey is the Bandit” cut and it will all make sense.

Rollin Hand
Rollin Hand
2 hours ago
Reply to  Data

I am not sure even that would make sense.

But Jackie Gleason pretending to be Burt (maybe)? That might be fun.

Citrus
Citrus
1 hour ago
Reply to  Data

From what I’ve read it would make significantly less sense.

Shop-Teacher
Shop-Teacher
1 hour ago
Reply to  Green_NGold

I watched about 40 seconds of that on cable once about 25 years ago, and noped right the fuck out of that shit.

Edward
Edward
2 hours ago

the same reason (rentals allegedly ordered without air conditioning) has been given for all the 100+ dodge police cars wrecked in the Blues Brothers chase scene.

I wouldn’t believe either one without documentation.

LTDScott
LTDScott
12 minutes ago
Reply to  Edward

The cop cars wrecked in the Blues Brothers were mostly retired California Highway Patrol cars. It’s very clear watching the movie that all of the cars that were wrecked were 5+ years old at the time of filming, and I’ve even seen a photo of a car transporter full of retired CHP Monacos on their way to filming.

10001010
10001010
2 hours ago

In the very early 90s we had a foreign exchange student from Germany named Fabien. He bought one of these for $100. That thing couldn’t get out of its own way, handled like it was gonna derail, and got terrible mileage but it also seemed to be indestructible. We used that car as a skateboard ramp, bicycle ramp, and seemlingly spent more time on the roof and hood than we did inside the car but it never showed a sign of it. When he went back to Germany he left the car painted from bumper to bumper with all sorts of random stuff but no dents.

Musicman27
Musicman27
2 hours ago

AC is a must to a lot of people renting cars, maybe they thought it was worth more to just scrap the “old” stuff and actually get AC?

AssMatt
AssMatt
2 hours ago
Reply to  The Bishop

You’d be surprised how dumb companies can be (actually I’m sure you wouldn’t). If that IS what happened, there’s probably everybody/anybody/nobody to blame. We had a similar situation with my fleet (before I got here, natch), and while it’s regrettable and stupid and we all have to live with it, it wasn’t really a single person’s fault, per se. But if there WERE a person who screwed the pooch 40+ years ago resulting in a bunch of Smokey Pontiacs, and they didn’t take it to the grave, I hope the truth comes out here via a surviving family member!

Citrus
Citrus
2 hours ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Don’t discount that some people are very dumb.

Musicman27
Musicman27
1 hour ago
Reply to  The Bishop

Like you just said, “Anything is possible”. And I’ve been known to forget to mark things on important papers.

Last edited 1 hour ago by Musicman27
Col Lingus
Col Lingus
2 hours ago

The truth is that Oprah used a converted Jewish Space Laser to go back in time.
And she, (knowing the future of Pontiac) gifted them to the movie producers.

Some sort of tax write off or something…

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
2 hours ago
Reply to  Col Lingus

I KNEW IT!!!

RataTejas
RataTejas
1 hour ago
Reply to  Col Lingus

Col Lingus is MTG? It’s making sense now.

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