Muscle car is a description according to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2022 that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The online Britannica Dictionary described these in 2022 as "an American-made two-door sports car with a powerful engine."
The Pontiac Firebird is an American automobile built and produced by Pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model years. Designed as a pony car to compete with the Ford Mustang, it was introduced on February 23, 1967, five months after GM's Chevrolet division's platform-sharing Camaro. This also coincided with the release of the 1967 Mercury Cougar, Ford's upscale, platform-sharing version of the Mustang. The name "Firebird" was also previously used by GM for the General Motors Firebird series of concept cars in the 1950s.
Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short decklid, a wide range of options to individualize each car and use of mass-produced parts shared with other models. The popularity of pony cars is largely due to the launch of the Ford Mustang in 1964.
Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry. The film marks the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham.
The Pontiac V8 engine is a family of overhead valve 90° V8 engines manufactured by the Pontiac Division of General Motors Corporation between 1955 and 1981. The engines feature a cast-iron block and head and two valves per cylinder. Engine block and cylinder heads were cast at Saginaw Metal Casting Operations then assembled at Tonawanda Engine before delivery to Pontiac Assembly for installation.
Hal Brett Needham was an American stuntman, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981) and Stroker Ace (1983).
Smokey and the Bandit II is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham, and starring Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Dom DeLuise, Sally Field, Mike Henry, Paul Williams and Pat McCormick. The film is the second installment of the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise and a sequel to Smokey and the Bandit (1977).
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 is a 1983 American action comedy film and a spinoff/legacy sequel to Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). The film is the third and final installment of the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise, starring Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Paul Williams, Pat McCormick, Mike Henry and Colleen Camp. The film also includes a cameo near the end by the original Bandit, Burt Reynolds.
Henry "Smokey" Yunick was an American professional stock car racing crew chief, owner, driver, engineer, engine builder, and car designer as well as being a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II. Yunick was deeply involved in the early years of NASCAR and is probably most associated with that racing genre. He participated in nearly every facet of the sport as a driver, designer, and held other jobs related to the sport, but was best known as a mechanic, engine builder, and crew chief.
Turbo Teen is an American animated television series about a teenager with the ability to transform into a sports car. It aired on Saturday morning on the ABC Network for thirteen episodes in 1984.
The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 American docudrama horror film about the "Fouke Monster," a Bigfoot-type creature that reportedly has been seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas since the 1940s. The film mixes staged interviews with some local residents who claim to have encountered the creature, along with reenactments of encounters. The film's director and producer, Charles B. Pierce, was an advertising salesman who convinced a local trucking company to invest in the film and hired locals to help complete it. The film was made on a $160,000 budget and was released theatrically on August 8, 1972.
Conservation and restoration of road vehicles is the process of restoring a vehicle back to its original working condition. Vehicles, whether partially scrapped or completely totaled, are typically restored to maintain their roadworthiness or to preserve those with antique status for use as showpieces.
The Pontiac Can Am is a midsize muscle car built by Pontiac and based on the Pontiac LeMans and the Pontiac Grand Am. The Can Am was a special edition option package and was only available in 1977. It was named for the Can Am racing series, continuing the race theme used for the Pontiac Grand Prix, LeMans and Trans Am.
The third generation Pontiac Firebird was introduced in late 1981 by Pontiac alongside its corporate cousin, the Chevrolet Camaro for the 1982 model year. These were also the first Firebirds with factory fuel injection, four-speed automatic transmissions, five-speed manual transmissions, four-cylinder engines, 16-inch wheels, and hatchback bodies.
"East Bound and Down" is a song written by Jerry Reed and Deena Kaye Rose, and recorded by Reed for the soundtrack for the film Smokey and the Bandit. The song features Reed on the lead vocal, and vocalist Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires on the harmony vocal. It was released in August 1977 as a single on RCA Records. The song's lyrics tell the basic plot line of the movie of making a 28-hour round-trip run from Atlanta, Georgia, to Texarkana, Texas, and back to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer for an after-race celebration.
The second generation Pontiac Firebird was introduced in early 1970 by Pontiac for the 1970 model year.
Motor Trend Group, LLC, formerly known as Source Interlink Media and TEN: The Enthusiast Network, is a media company that specializes in enthusiast brands, such as Motor Trend, Hot Rod, and Roadkill. Headquartered in El Segundo, California, it is a subsidiary of the TNT Sports division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
Jeff Schwartz is an American protouring car builder/designer and former professional road racer who brought to market the first Bolt-in Muscle Car Chassis for GM A-body cars. In his modified and equipped cars, Schwartz is a six-time winner of the Car Craft Magazine's Real Street Eliminator competition with his fifth and sixth win at the ProAm Invitational in Milwaukee, WI in 2015. In 2013, Schwartz won "Popular Hot Rodding Magazine's Muscle Car of the Year" with his 1981 Twin Turbo TransAm and was voted Car Craft Magazine's "Pro-Builder of the Year" with Jake Wallace's Twin Turbo 1967 Chevy Malibu. In 2017, Schwartz and his crew won his second Car Craft Pro-Builder Award with a right hand drive 1970 Cuda. He is the owner of Schwartz Performance in Harvard, IL, the founder of the Schwartz Motocross History Museum in McHenry County, IL and the father of two children.
Bandit is a 1994 American television miniseries based on the Smokey and the Bandit franchise. All four episodes – Bandit Goes Country, Bandit Bandit, Beauty and the Bandit and Bandit's Silver Angel – were produced for Universal Television's Action Pack programming block from original Smokey and the Bandit director/writer Hal Needham.
Smokey and the Bandit is an action comedy franchise following the exploits of bootleggers Bo "Bandit" Darville, Cledus "Snowman" Snow, and Texas county sheriff Buford T. Justice. The series consists of three theatrical films and four made-for-TV spinoff films.
