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Burt Reynolds' movie re-creations fetch $379,500 in Vegas

The recent death of Hollywood legend and automotive enthusiast Burt Reynolds helped drive up the value of four of his former cars from the 1970s and '80s, which sold last weekend at Barrett-Jackson's Las Vegas auction for a combined $379,500. Reynolds, who died Sept. 6 at age 82, had offered three Pontiac Trans Ams — two of them re-creations of the cars he drove in "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Hooper" and the third from 1984 used to promote his United States Football League team, the Tampa Bay Bandits. The fourth was a 1978 Chevrolet R30 pickup truck, styled like the one featured in "Cannonball Run." The "Bandit" re-creation, a 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that Reynolds ordered to be as "movie-correct" as possible but featuring a custom-built 200-4R automatic transmission, sold for $192,500. The car features a freshly built Pontiac 400 cubic-inch V8 mated to a four-speed automatic and featuring all-new Butler Performance parts and air-conditioning components. Reynolds reportedly said this was his favorite car from his films, and it even came with an authentic movie-correct CB radio and CB antenna. The red retro-rocket "Hooper" '78 Firebird, with a 403 cubic-inch V8 and a three-speed automatic, hammered for $88,000. By comparison, a gold 1978 Trans Am also offered at the Las Vegas auction but not connected to Reynolds fetched $27,500. The 1987 Chevy R30 pickup was a re-creation of the Indy Hauler pace truck seen jumping over a moving freight train in "Cannonball Run." It hammered for $49,500. The fourth car never appeared in any of Reynolds' films but is instead the only surviving example of two Trans Ams used to promote the Tampa Bay Bandits of the now-defunct USFL, having been driven out onto the field by Reynolds and his late friend and co-star, Jerry Reed, during opening day one season. It also sold for $49,500. At the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction in 2016, Reynolds accompanied a 1977 Trans Am used to promote "Bandit" onto the auction block. That car sold for $550,000. Related Video: Featured Gallery Burt Reynolds 2018 Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction Image Credit: Barrett-Jackson Celebrities Chevrolet Pontiac Truck Coupe Performance celebrity pontiac trans am pontiac firebird burt reynolds

Recharge Wrap-up: Chevy hits CO2 goal, eVgo and BMW build fast charging

Chevrolet has met its goal of preventing 8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions over the last five years. Through its community-based carbon reduction initiative, Chevy invested $40 million and took part in 38 different projects in 29 different states. The projects included supporting wind farms, powering a hospital with landfill gas, helping truckers reduce their idle time and helping create the ongoing #CleanEnergyU dialogue between students and clean energy leaders. In the end, Chevy retired all its carbon credits rather then spending them to offset its own emissions. Read more from Chevrolet. NRG eVgo and BMW are partnering to add DC Fast Combo charging to locations around the country. Over the next two years, the groups will bring hundreds of the 50-kW chargers to 25 cities, with 24 of those markets getting at least one installed by the end of 2015. "eVgo will add reliable DC Fast Combo capability to what is already America's largest DC Fast charging network," says eVgo President and CEO Arun Banskota. "This will be the fastest and most cost effective build out of a new network ever – thanks in large part to our existing infrastructure and committed retail host partners." Read more in the press release from eVgo. The EPA has settled with a Utah gasoline refiner over Clean Air Act violations. The HollyFrontier Corporation subsidiaries will pay $1.2 million for producing about 42 million gallons of gas that didn't adhere to Reid Vapor Pressure standards, resulting in 10 excess tons of volatile organic compound emissions. Its Salt Lake City refinery will also implement a program to offset past emissions. "This agreement will benefit public health by requiring retrofits of storage tanks at HollyFrontier facilities that will reduce volatile organic compound emissions and use next generation technology to verify these reductions," says Assistant Attorney General John Cruden. "This settlement shows that fuel refiners can and must meet the nation's standards for controlling the emissions that cause ground level ozone and serious health problems for Americans." Read more in the press release below. U.S. Settles with Gasoline Refiner to Reduce Emissions at Utah Facility WASHINGTON -- The U.S.

Tarantino's stolen Chevy Malibu from Pulp Fiction recovered after 19 years [w/video]

Quentin Tarantino fans will likely remember Vincent Vega's cherry 1964 Chevrolet Malibu Convertible in Pulp Fiction. In a movie drenched in automotive references, the Malibu is very nearly a character in and of itself, and it serves as the subject of Vega's soliloquy about the kind of man who vandalizes another's automobile. It also happened to be Tarantino's personal car when the film was shot, and was apparently stolen shortly after production wrapped. Now police have located the car some 19 years later.
As it turns out, the thieves cloned the vehicle identification number from another '64 Malibu and had the car registered under the new digits. It was then sold to an unsuspecting buyer. Police happened upon the duplicate VINs while investigating another potential theft. Right now, it's unclear whether Tarantino has taken possession of the Chevrolet, if it has remained in the possession of the fraud victim, or whether it's caught somewhere in the gears of justice. Either way, you can catch Vega's memorable thoughts on the car keying in the Pulp Fiction clip below. But consider yourself warned: the video contains explicit language as Not Safe For Work as it comes.