Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am Fetches $550,000 at Barrett-Jackson 45th Anniversary Auction

(image courtesy of Barrett-Jackson)

It was a record-setting year for the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ.

A total of 1,469 collector cars sold at the 45th annual auction — none more recognizable than a Pontiac Trans Am used to promote the 1977 hit movie Smokey and the Bandit. The original movie promo car sold for $550,000 — an all-time record for Trans Ams.

The car got a boost when Burt Reynolds himself drove it onto the auction block and later signed it. Unlike Reynolds’ personal Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am, which sold for $450,000 in late 2014, this particular car was titled to the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Theater. It came with a certificate of authenticity from Universal Studios, a plaque from General Motors, an original Smokey and the Bandit movie script, film location maps, and other memorabilia.

Other highlights from the 45th anniversary auction included a 1979 10th anniversary Trans Am with only 8 miles on the odometer that went for $187,000. A 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder earned $1.6 million, and rights to the first 2017 Acura fetched $1.2 million. Total sales for the auction surpassed the $105 million mark.