Story: Patrick Conway and Carter Bell Photos: Preston Bolyard
We talked about it for 10 seconds and then made an offer. Could we get our dream car that easily? Seven days later she arrived at her new home.” After a long search, Patrick Conaway uncovered this beautiful example of a 1978 Pontiac “Bandit” Trans Am. Low miles, stunning originality, and not one but TWO autographs from Burt Reynolds made Conaway and wife certain this was the one.
Bought sight unseen, there were some issues to be sorted once Conaway took delivery of the Bandit. The car was rewired, got new gauges with modern functionality, and a full suspension refresh. Other than these few things, this Bandit is completely original with under 55,000 miles. “I reached out to the previous owner through Facebook and he brought me up to speed on the history of the car,” Conaway explained. “It was a movie premier giveaway car for Smokey and the Bandit II. He told me about Burt signing the car at The Bandit Run in 2017 and even overnighted the certificates of authenticity.” “Now knowing what we know about this car, we will never sell it. It means too much to us. We enjoy our time cruising around Denver and going to shows with her, Conaway said.”Contrary to what the movie showed, the car is NOT fast. In a perfect world I would keep the original engine and have it rebuilt to make more horsepower.
But, for this vehicle we need to maintain most of the originality to preserve it’s value. I don’t want to risk blowing the engine and needing to replace it,” he said. “It is such a pleasure to drive for both my wife and I. There’s no A/ C but just pop out the T-tops and hit the road! I love to grab my cowboy hat, hop in the car and DRIVE it. We get a lot of looks from people remembering the movie or an old friend who had one and that’s what it’s all about; taking yourself back to a time when you had the best memories.”