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Another Burt Reynolds Trans Am is up for auction

Fans of Smokey and the Bandit, your car has arrived. This Saturday, January 21, Barrett-Jackson will auction a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am clone that, while not originally in the movie, was owned and signed by the Bandit himself, Burt Reynolds. Not only that, but it packs many modifications that should make this Pontiac drive the way we all imagined it did. This is a Trans Am clone, not an original. The car was built by Nebraska company Restore A Muscle Car, and started life as a lowly Firebird Formula. However, the company brought it up to Trans Am grade and beyond. Under the hood is a fuel-injected 8.2-liter V8 from Butler Performance that Restore A Muscle Car says produces 600 horsepower. Coupled to the big V8 is a Tremec five-speed manual transmission. There's even Hurst line-lock on-board, so this Trans Am should be perfect for on-demand burnouts. The car also comes with QA1 coil-over suspension, so it should corner better than the original, too. The outside looks roughly like a stock Trans Am, but it now has 18-inch wheels styled after those from the movie car, and the shaker scoop says "8.2" on each side. View 5 Photos In 2014, a 1977 Trans Am owned by Reynolds sold for a whopping $450,000. That car wasn't an actual movie car either, and lacked the modifications of this one. However, it was used as a promotional car and was given to Reynolds, so it did have some history with the film. This upgraded car is listed in the Barrett-Jackson catalog as "no reserve," so it's going home with a new owner on Saturday, regardless of price. Related Video:

GM recalling 1.4 million older vehicles for oil leak fire risk

General Motors is recalling 1,411,332 older vehicles with its 3.8-liter V6 yet again due to a fire risk. Specifically, there are 1,283,340 of them in the US, and the affected models are the: 1997-2004 Pontiac Grand Prix 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue 1997- 2004 Buick Regal The fault with these vehicles is that oil can drip onto the hot exhaust manifold during hard braking, which can potentially cause of fire. In the last six years, there have 19 reported minor injuries from this problem but no crashes or fatalities, according to the company. Spokesperson Alan Adler also told Autoblog: "GM has reports of 1,345 fires in vehicles that were repaired under two previous recalls for this issue." At this time, GM is still developing a remedy for the problem. According to Adler, the company advised owners to park these vehicles outside for the previous recalls. "The cars can be safely driven. In cases where a customer reported an engine fire while driving, smoke was reported, which would be an indication of a malfunction," he said. This is GM's fourth recall for this problem since 2008, according to The Detroit News. At one point it was believed that aging valve cover gaskets allowed the oil to leak out and drip onto the manifold. A campaign in 2009 covered nearly 1.5 million of these models through the 2003 model year for the same issue. At the time, dealers installed new spark plug wire retainers as a fix. Related Video: GM Statement: General Motors is recalling 1,283,340 older sedans and coupes in the U.S. from the 1997 to 2004 model years because drops of oil may be deposited on the hot exhaust manifold through hard braking, which can cause engine compartment fires. GM is working on a remedy. The company is aware of post-repair fires in some vehicles but no crashes or fatalities. There have been 19 reported minor injuries over the last six years. These vehicles with 3.8-liter V6 3800 engines are affected: 1997-2004 Pontiac Grand Prix, 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala, 1998-1999 Chevrolet Lumina and 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue and 1997-2004 Buick Regal. Including Canada, Mexico and exports, the total population is 1,411,332.

Question of the Day: Most degraded car name?

When Ford came up with a not-so-sporty version of the Pinto and slapped Mustang badges on it in 1974, that was a low point for the Mustang name. When Chrysler applied the venerable Town & Country name on perfectly functional but unglamorous minivans, it saddened many of us. But perhaps the biggest demotion for a once-proud model came when, in 1988, General Motors imported a misery-enhancing Daewoo from Korea and called it the Pontiac LeMans. The original Pontiac LeMans was a great-looking midsize car with fairly advanced (for the time) suspension design and engine options including potent V8s and a screaming overhead-cam straight-six. The Daewoo-based Pontiac LeMans was a cramped, shoddy hooptie that served only to ruin the LeMans name forever, while stealing sales from the Suzuki-based Chevrolet Sprint. Sure, using the once-respected Monterey name on the Mercurized Ford Freestar was bad, but Mercury didn't have long to live at that point. I say the downward spiral of the LeMans name was the most agonizing in automotive history. What do you think? Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Auto News Ford Mercury Pontiac Automotive History Classics questions ford pinto names