If you were ever to ask the majority of Pontiac Trans Am owners what their inspiration was for purchasing one, it would most likely be the 1977 film classic, Smokey and the Bandit. It’s been 33 years since the summer that release hit theaters and the impact that movie has left on the automotive landscape will never be forgotten.

With a filming location set in the South and a script based around a speeding car, a hundred pursuing law enforcement officers, endless amounts of CB radio talk, and 400 cases of smuggled Coors, the script had all of the makings for a simple but entertaining film show-goers of all ages could enjoy.

The film’s writer and director, former stunt man Hal Needham, wrote the script based off of an allegedly true story about a cleaning lady who would steal Coors beer out of his fridge while he was out of the house. When confronted and asked why she was stealing his beer, she went on to tell him that she was stealing the beer for her husband, who was quite a fan of Coors, but was unable to purchase it due to the fact that they lived east of the Mississippi. At the time, Coors beer was unavailable to consumers in that part of the country. Thus, the Smokey and the Bandit franchise was born.

Hal Needham initially had country singer Jerry Reed selected for the role as the Bandit. But since Hal was going through an ugly divorce and staying in Burt Reynolds’ guest house at the time, he managed to show Burt the script. Burt thought it was terrible, but was interested in taking over the role as Bo Darville, aka “The Bandit,” as long as the script was rewritten to where the story would appeal to mass audiences. Burt was in as leading man, and Jerry was out. So as not to leave Reed hanging, Hal had him take over the role as Cledus Snow, aka “The Snowman,” and let him create the theme song, “Eastbound and Down”, which Reed wrote in a matter of minutes. Burt suggested Sally Field to play Carrie, aka “Frog,” for his love interest, while Needham suggested actor Jackie Gleason for his comedic style to play Sheriff Buford T. Justice, aka “Smokey Bear.”

Using a lot of “improv” and stuck with a limited budget, no one had high hopes for the film, including the writer/director himself, as he was only expecting to “make a cheapie movie and maybe make a million dollars.” But once the flick hit the theaters, all bets were off and the boys had a hit on their hands! Initially only released in the South, the movie spread like a wildfire across the country and it was even a huge hit in cities like Los Angeles and New York. The movie grossed millions and went on to become the second highest-grossing movie of 1977, second only to Star Wars.

The movie would go on to make millions in merchandising as well, as t-shirts, hats, lunch boxes and of course, collectible die-cast Trans Ams were flying off the shelves. Let’s not forget about the full-scale Trans Ams either, as sales of the car had improved 600% over the previous year. Everyone wanted to have a Burt Reynolds Trans Am. The popularity in the screamin’ hood bird Pontiacs soared over the next two years, marking 1979 as the highest selling year of Trans Ams, and even Chevrolet dealerships were reaping the benefits of the popularity of the movie, as Camaros were flying off of the lots as well. Pontiac couldn’t build enough T/A’s, and a lot of guys and gals wanted something similar, but yet different from the countless T/A’s they saw everywhere.

The movie would go on to make two (awful) sequels, and after 1979, F-body sales dwindled. They would see a slight increase in sales again in the mid ‘80s, with the popularity of the television show Knight Rider, but were never to again reach the high sales numbers they achieved in the late ‘70s.

Now here we are 33 years later, and what’s old seems to be new again. Though Pontiac is no longer with us, independent companies are taking it upon themselves to build their own version of a Trans Am. Restoration and performance experts Year One, started building updated, pro-touring style ’77 and ’78 Trans Ams a few years ago to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie, with the help of Burt Reynolds himself. Available in three stages, “Ban I, II, and III”, customers can choose which performance and suspension levels they want from their “new” Trans Am.

The guys over at TransAm Depot started building cars based off of the new for 2010 Camaro from renderings that Kevin Morgan designed, also with different performance levels. These cars are styled to resemble the ’77-’78 Trans Ams.

Even Lingenfelter Performance has joined in on the action, with what they call an “LTA” which is another new Camaro, this one with early ‘70s Trans Am styling cues.

So hypothetically, if movie makers were to ever decide to produce a fourth installment of Smokey and the Bandit, or create a remake of it, which version of Trans Am would you like to see used for the film? The Year One “Ban III”, one of the new Camaro-based versions, or simply a black ’02 WS6? Some die-hard fans of the film would simply say the filmmakers got it right the first time, and to let sleeping dogs lie. In recent interviews of Hal Needham, he is not even slightly interested in doing another “Smokey” film, as he claims, “… we did it right the first time; why mess with perfection?” What do you guys think? Which actors would you cast and what cars should they use? What about the Sheriff’s car? Since the original movie featured a ’77 Pontiac LeMans as the pursuit vehicle, who would like to see a G8 done in pursuit trim, or how about an upcoming Chevy Caprice PPV?