Ah, yes, the good ole black Trans-Am with a gold eagle on the hood. What child of the ‘80s didn’t fall in love with this car after watching Smokey and the Bandit? I, for one, thought this particular car was the bees-knees. I had several toy replicas of it. Smokey and the Bandit also caused me to fall in love with semi-trucks, but that’s another blog post.
There aren’t a lot of people I talk to that think the black Trans-Am is cool; in fact, most hate 'em. Why? It’s got a sporty design, a huge engine, it’s reminiscent of the Firebird that’s very popular already, it’s black, it’s got a T-top, it has a giant graphic on the hood, and a mini-spoiler. What’s not to like?
I suppose most of the new generation has never seen Burt Reynolds blasting around raising hell in his black Trans-Am, and that’s part of it, of course. But most of the people I know who hate them are around my age, which is baffling to me.
Just about everyone loves the Dukes’ Charger. I understand that it’s a MOPAR and MOPARs are vastly superior to anything GM puts out, but still, the cars are really quite similar. The General Lee has a large graphic on it, slides around corners, jumps, has a big V8 engine, and was constantly being pursued by police. So it had a funny-sounding horn and it was orange, big deal. How can one love the General Lee but hate the Bandit’s Trans-Am?
Then there’s the Fall Guy’s brown and tan Chevy truck. How cool was that in the ‘80s? I’m not even a Chevy fan and I love the hell out of that thing. It had most the components going for it, minus a spoiler and a funny horn; it even had a graphic on the hood. It was an eagle, if I remember correctly, just like the Bandit’s ride. So, what gives? Why errbody hatin’ on the Trans-Am?
What’s your opinion of this fine piece of automotive history?
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