1999 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Coupe 2-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

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Burt Reynolds' old Pontiac Trans Am replica sold for $317,500

Following Burt Reynolds' passing last September, Julien's Auctions held an estate sale of the late actor's property on June 15-16 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Hundreds of items were included in the auction, but none more valuable than the Pontiac Trans Am Bandit replica previously owned by Reynolds. It easily surpassed expectations when it sold for $317,500. Julien's, the self-proclaimed experts in contemporary and pop culture, listed 876 pieces in the sale, from cowboy boots to a driver's license to scripts. The online preview said it estimated a range of prices from $25 to $200,000. They were way off. Item No. 716 was a replica of a Pontiac Trans Am Bandit that was seen in the original "Smokey and the Bandit." Not the real car, just a re-creation. But its value comes more from who owned the ride rather than what the car was. The replica was owned by Reynolds for some years, and now that he's passed, it's coveted even more. It's not the only Trans Am item that sold at auction. Three Reynolds Trans Am model cars sold for $640, $576 and $512. A Reynolds-signed "Bandit" poster sold for $3,200. A Reynolds-signed poster from the Trans Am plant sold for $1,562.50, a Reynolds custom-built Trans Am office desk sold for $4,375, and a "Smokey and the Bandit" decorative etched glass panel sold for $896. This isn't the first time a Bandit replica has sold for big money. In 2016, a promotional Trans Am sold at a Barrett-Jackson auction for $550,000. We also believe the exact car sold in this Julien's auction was previously bought at a Barrett-Jackson auction in 2018 for $192,500. If that's the case, somebody just made an extremely easy profit.

Watch this garbage truck consume a Pontiac Grand Am

When an old car or truck offers its dying breath in your driveway and you just don't have the financial or mechanical wherewithal to resuscitate it yet again, you traditionally have to go to the trouble of calling a flatbed or a tow truck to come haul it away. That usually helps to put a few bucks in your wallet and helps recycle some of the vehicle's parts, but the transaction doesn't seem as final or perversely satisfying as the dispatch service that this New Way Cobra Magnum garbage truck offers.
Okay, okay, so this refuse hauler isn't actually designed for this sort of thing, but it's oddly comforting to know that a sanitation truck can compact a hapless Pontiac Grand Am into oblivion. Next time, we won't feel so guilty about slipping that rusty charcoal grille onto the curb next to the cans on garbage day. Watch the carnage by scrolling below.

1939 Pontiac Ghost Car commands $308,000 at auction

For the 1939 World's Fair, Pontiac built a Deluxe Six bodied in Plexiglass. Part of the Previews of Progress pavilion in which General Motors' Futurama showed off what was to come in the world of autos, the 'invisible' Pontiac is credited as the first transparent car in America. And there were no shortcuts taken with its body: the Plexiglass form was fabricated by the company that brought the material to market in 1933, Rohm & Haas.
The see-through sedan was sold at RM Auctions' St. John's auction in Michigan on July 30, fetching $308,000. Not bad appreciation for a domestic oddity that cost $25,000 to build when new. You can check out the high-res gallery of its innards, including copper and chrome metalwork and white moldings and wheels, and get the exhaustive details on it after the jump.