Art Zelin/Getty Images The 1977 Hollywood blockbuster "Smokey and the Bandit" starred a magnificently mustachioed Burt Reynolds and his trusty steed, a black-and-gold 1978 Pontiac Trans Am, complete with the iconic screaming chicken adorning its long hood. Pontiac gained an extra 25,000 Firebird buyers the year after the movie debuted, so suffice it to say the starring role paid off for General Motors' sportiest division. The film's director Hal Needham told Hagerty UK, "sales soared after the film's release," and Reynolds himself claimed sales shot up 70%. Reynolds told Car and Driver that the president of Pontiac was a fan of the movie, and promised him a free Trans Am every year for life. And Reynolds became accustomed to having a brand spanking new V8 muscle car delivered to his doorstep each year, he gave the first free car to his sister, and the second to his stepbrother. Reynolds never recalled who he gave the third car to, but he decided to keep the fourth Trans Am. But one fateful year, the cars stopped arriving. I don't like your movies Gary Miller/Getty Images Company presidents only last for so long, and a few years after Reynolds was promised a new Trans Am every year for the rest of his life, Pontiac got a new president. One day, when Reynolds didn't hear anything about his annual vehicular gift, he decided to ring up Pontiac. He was told, "That was the old president. He liked your movies. I'm the new one. I don't like your movies!" If you're a true Burt Reynolds fan, a die-hard Smokey and the Bandit fan, or even a fan of movie cars, I implore you to read through Reynolds' interview with Car and Driver from 2016, which I can't believe is already a decade ago now — it has some really fun anecdotes from the actor's later years. 59caddyman/Bring A Trailer Reynolds passed away on September 6, 2018, at the age of 82. He outlived the Pontiac brand, which was a casualty of General Motors' corporate restructuring and bankruptcy in early 2010. The Firebird was a thing of the past by then, though, with its final year being way back in 2002.