Trans Spotting

Trans Ams were popular cars that were featured in many TV shows and movies. Did you notice?

KNIGHT RIDER

I was just a kid when this show (1982-1986) aired on local TV, so I can’t remember anything about it other than its name and that it featured a talking car. It starred sexyhaired beefsteak David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, above, a vigilante who fought crime with the aid of his highly-advanced, talking Trans Am named KITT, also above.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT

In this Oscar-nominated action comedy from the late '70s, Burt Reynolds, above, plays the role of the titular Bandit, driving around in a Trans Am to distract the authorities so his trucker pal can smuggle a shipment of illegal premium brewskies from Texas to Louisiana.

HOOPER

Burt Reynolds also plays the role of Sonny, a stunt driver who has taken one too many hard knocks in his career and is warned by his doctor that another dangerous stunt could paralyse him for good. However, he’s goaded into jumping a rocketpowered Trans Am over a gorge ...

THAT'S WHY I HATE PONTIACS

Not a movie or a TV show, but a song by country artist Rebecca Lynn Howard. The music video features her lying on the bonnet of a derelict Trans Am as she sings a whiny song about how her first love drove a Pontiac and broke her heart — typical country western fodder, the kind of song that makes me want to jump out a window.