All language subtitles for Jeff.Dunhams.The.Cars.That.Drove.Us.S01E03.Trans.Am.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

Hey, folks, how y'all doing
this fine afternoon?

Why are you talking like that?

I am fine, Jeff Dunham of
Dunham Family Motars.

Will you get a great
deal or else?

- Or else what, Bubba J?
- You're really talking weird.

When people see the car we're
featuring in this episode,

I think you can narrow it down
to two responses.

Some folks see this...

and go, "Why would anyone need
that much bird on a car?"

And then there's the rest of
us, who understand that

sometimes too much...
exactly right.

We're not talking
about subtlety.

It's not about quiet refinement
or European handling.

It's about the last muscle car
that didn't just survive

the 70s, it owned them.
If you know, you know.

If you don't, I think you're
gonna love this.

Get ready, Smokey fans.
This is the Bandit.

Our 1977 Pontiac Trans Am just
like the one

Burt Reynolds drove.

Does it smell like
Sally Field?

I don't know.

Throughout time, humanity has
been obsessed with getting

places using anything but their
own two feet.

We've tried all kinds
of things.

Until finally,
the greatest invention of all

time, the automobile.

Moron!

These are the Cars That
Drove Us.

Flex.
Ripped.

Buff.
Jacked.

This is the story of Pontiac's
ultimate flex.

The Pontiac Firebird
Trans Am.

Trans Am, what's
your pleasures?

But before we can tell
the tale of this fiery bird of

prey of the highway, we need to
reverse that big old V8

powertrain out of the garage
and back to the times of yore.

Well, I'm going to take
you back from 1926 until 1956.

Where General Motors and its
multiple subsidiary companies

had a big old problem.

As white-knuckled blue hairs
puttered in Pontiacs,

there was a new generation

of post-war fun lovers,
with blue-jean pockets bulging

with American dollars,
and they were ready to live

life in the fast lane.

First time, younger people had
disposable incomes that

they could use on
a fancier car.

They wanted something exciting.

Younger people really just
wanted something cool.

These kids just wanted to
drive fast.

i.e., not one of those
old American cars.

Clearly, for General Motors,
there was a gap in the market.

For Pontiac to find
the strength to truly create

the muscle car, they'd first
need to deal with a competitor

who set off a stampede.

Since 1964, over 600,000
former GM customers

bought Mustangs.
- GM was caught flat-footed.

Unless we change our ways
drastically, customers are

going to do business elsewhere.

And so in the early 60s,
General Motors put their foot

to the floor,
rebranding Pontiac as

its performance division.

In 1964, when John DeLorean
was chief engineer...

Which is incidentally,

Wait a minute, DeLorean?

this John DeLorean.

But that, of course, is
in the future.

John DeLorean and a bunch of
guys got together and wondered

how they could take
an intermediate body car

and turn it into
a real go-getter.

So they dropped a bigger
displacement motor,

the 389, into
a Pontiac Tempest.

This has paid off.

- And called it the GTO.
- A purring tiger address.

The muscle car was born.

And Pontiac's muscular
realignment was complete.

Basically turned the division
around from an old ladies

division to
a performance division.

Around that same time,
another GM division,

Pontiac's sister company,
Chevrolet,

was also trying to keep up.

The minute that General
Motors saw the Mustang,

they gave us carte blanche, go.

And that's when we did
the 67 Camaro.

A new car that's
something else.

An iconic car in its own
right, Chevrolet's Camaro,

forged in the volcanic depths
of Detroit,

indirectly spewed
forth an opportunity

for John DeLorean back
at Pontiac.

Pete Estes, the head vice
president of General Motors,

he said, "Tell you what,
I'll give you the components of

a Chevrolet Camaro,
you make a Pontiac."

And soon the Camaro
became something else entirely.

Once he got the base car,
he started feeding it

the bigger engines, bigger sway
bars to give it the handling,

different tires,

all about performance
for Pontiac.

Six months later came
the Pontiac Firebird in 1967.

And all of a sudden you had
a performance pony car.

The Pontiac version was always
more aggressive than

the Chevrolet version.

And so with the Firebird,
Pontiac was racing to capture

the attention of the younger
hard-charging car enthusiasts.

And when I say race,
I mean a race.

In what was called the Trans
American Sedan Series.

Trans American Sedan Racing.

A battle of the Detroit giants
for road racing supremacy.

{Jeff] This competition...

healthy competition,

...was a battle between
modified sedans and coupes

from car manufacturers.

Trans Am Championship.
Trans Am Racing.

Which was an absolute...

...dogfight.

The drivers are running
their cars flat out

in Trans Am races.

And winning this was
about more than just the race.

Anybody who knew anything
about branding and image knew

the name Trans Am was
a bona fide winner.

Now you might be
wondering how the Firebird

came to be known as
Firebird Trans Am.

They paid for it.

Yep.

They cut a deal with the Sports
Car Club of America

to use that revered name,
Trans Am,

for just $5 per car sold.

The amount of money that
they were going to pay

the Sports Car Club of America
was just

a fraction of what that was
really worth.

The Trans Am was the fanciest
Firebird you could get.

And, boy, was it
fancy, but hot.

They took the basic Firebird
body, dropped in a bigger

motor, painted some stripes on
them, put in a nice handling

package, and Pontiac

brought out the first generation
Trans Am.

Man, the car was

just...

It was a beast.

That $5 would prove to be
a marketing masterstroke.

Because that first
Firebird Trans Am,

despite its limited run...

Built a few hundred
of them in '69,

...is still turning heads

and opening wallets today.

Kind of wish I had one
of those.

In the early '70s,
Pontiac was trying to fan

the Firebird flames.

But just as success was on
the horizon,

smoke signals appeared.
Or maybe it was smog.

Emissions regulations
came about.

Safety regulations came about.

That kind of watered down
the muscle car.

Cleaner cars rather than
faster cars.

And so GM told Pontiac,
don't make

any more of those engines.

We'll put smaller engines in
those cars.

But Pontiac's Trans Am
was having none of it.

Pontiac kind of went against
that order.

And what really made the Trans
Am take off was when

they finally stuffed the 455
Super Duty into it in 1973.

Beautiful engine.
Has a shaker hood.

When you rev the car,
the shaker would move.

And you got the feeling
the power of the engine was

right out there in front
of you.

Basically stuffing that
455 engine into the Trans Am

at that time was basically
giving the

federal regulators the bird.

Now, if you're going to
give the federal regulators

the bird, you'd want it to be
a good one.

And thus far,
the Firebird badge was falling

a little short
of its potential.

The chief designer for
Pontiac, he always thought it

looked like a dead bird.

Well, young, novice graphic
designer Norm Inouye...

My first job out of school was
General Motors.

At the same time,
they were developing

the Trans Am.

The chief designer wanted
something on the hood.

I remember being on
the drafting table trying to

figure out what I was doing.

Nothing was done by computer
back then.

But he had his vision.

A soaring, majestic bird of
prey for the new Trans Am logo.

And that's when somebody
came up and said,

"You working on
the screaming chicken?"

The screaming chicken.

- Ah, the screaming chicken.
- It was an in-house joke.

It sort of got stuck.

Because the bird looks like
it is

screaming because there's flame

coming out of the mouth
and all that.

Perhaps Norman's chicken
was the perfect new

Firebird emblem.

They were painting it on
the hood of the car at

the paint shop at
Bill Mitchell.

Bill Mitchell was the
head of General Motors in 1970,

the big boss.

He saw it being painted,
and he hated it.

He just hated it.

Well, now it was
definitely a dead bird.

And I left GM in '70, late '70.

By that time, I thought that
whole project had been killed.

Until John Schinella became...

Chief designer.

...in 1971.

Like being a doctor, you know?

Your name's on the door,
and Dr. Schinella, almost.

Dr. Schinella began
probing, discovering

Norm's flaming chicken design,

collecting dust
in the paint shop.

I said, "Well,
you know, the bird is kind of

the American eagle."

We have a bird as an emblem.

I said, "Why don't we do a big
one on the hood?"

So he wanted to bring it back
to life.

And I said, "Let's make
a decal and put it on my car,

and I'll drive it up and down
Woodward to test it."

The reaction, I couldn't
believe it.

People were...

saying, "Where'd you get that?
Where do I get mine?"

"I want one for my car."

And I said, "OK. I think
we got something."

And we had a meeting
with Pontiac.

Now let's become more specific.

The vice president at the time
said, "How many of you like

what's going on?" So

they talked to sales,
hand went up.

They talked to marketing,
hand went up.

They talked to engineering,

down.
They talked to the plant, down.

They wanted no part of it.

John and the screaming
chicken were plucked.

2
Pontiac's new head of
design, John Schinella,

was waging a one-man campaign

to get a giant flaming bird
plastered across

the hood of an upcoming
brand new Pontiac

Firebird Trans Am.

And I knew that they were
trying to convince me

they shouldn't do that bird.

But if anyone needed to
be convinced,

it was John Schinella's boss.

Because when it came to
that bird...

He just hated it.

...Bill Mitchell
was in a flap.

- But John had a plan.
- Yes.

He knew Bill liked a black car
with gold trim.

John slapped a gold
Firebird on the hood of

his boss's dream car.

A black Trans Am with
gold stripes.

And parked it outside of
Mitchell's office.

The trap was set.

Mitchell, when he liked
something, he licked his lips.

Like that.

He said, "Bill, I got something
to show you." He said,

"What do you got, kid?"
Something special.

Hopefully some lip balm.

- The eagle...
- Screaming chicken.

...had landed

on the hood of
second-generation Trans Ams.

Turned out that virtually
everybody who wanted a Trans Am

wanted the bird.

Could it be that the
first Trans Am had been

out Trans-Amed?

You know, having stripes on
the car was one thing,

but the screaming chicken,
bold and brash,

and we started taking notice.

Oh, don't worry.
Everyone was taking notice.

Some people made fun of it,
thought it was ridiculous.

Even Norm had doubts.

I never told anybody that I
did that screaming chicken.

I was half him embarrassed that
I did it.

But the people who bought

those cars thought it
was wonderful.

Only in the 1970s would
a giant flaming chicken on

the hood of your car fly.

Well, fly it did, out of
the Pontiac dealerships.

It seemed nothing could stop
the Trans Am rise to

supercardom, except for maybe
this little issue.

Gasoline stations ran dry.

The Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries imposed

its boycott and raised prices
more than 300 percent.

This industry wide issue
had meant that muscle cars

had been muscled out.

And the pony cars weren't
faring much better.

But as for Pontiac,
the bird was proudly raised

aloft once again.

The 1976 Special Edition
further cements Trans Am's

legacy as one of the most
iconic muscle cars ever.

If you drove a black and gold
Trans Am, you were a badass.

Consider Bill Mitchell's
lips licked.

But the Trans Am that actually
turned the most heads

in '77 was actually a '76.
- Yeah.

Let's go back a year.

Hal Needham, who was out
in Hollywood.

He was casting cars for
his next big movie.

He spots the black,
and he says, "That's it,

I want that car."
Now, the car was already

in production as
a limited edition.

Well, it just so happened
that Hal Needham had

a movie in production as well.

Smokey and the Bandit.

And so a '76 Special
Edition fitted with

a front end from the
yet-to-be-released

'77 model was ready
for its close-up.

When that car drove off
the back of that truck...

Almighty, would you look
at that?

...we got goosebumps.

We said, "That's us."
That's our car.

There.

And who better to drive
the coolest car in America than

- the coolest man in America,
- Burt Reynolds,

who was the number one
box-office hit at the time.

And who wouldn't want to be
like Burt Reynolds?

Sorry, I don't want to
get married.

- Does this thing move?
- Oh, yeah.

Burt said publicly,
"The car was the real hero."

It did performance things
you can't do.

Sales of the Trans Am soared.

And it just took it
to the top.

To the top of the box office
in 1977.

Holy [horn honks]!

Just behind that space
opera about the bratty farm boy

from Tatooine.

But I was going into
Tosche Station to pick up some

power converters.
- All right, shut up.

By that time, I was real proud
of the fact that I designed it.

Big impact culturally,
big impact on sales over

at Pontiac.
- That's a win-win.

But if you can believe it,

the Trans Am still
wasn't done winning.

1979 Pontiacs.

In 1979, Pontiac sold
over 100,000 Trans Ams,

the highest total in any
Firebird model year.

Nothing even comes close.

Having masterfully navigated the
regulation-heavy '70s,

largely by, well,
ignoring them.

As the '80s approached,
the question was...

would it all still be
worth the hassle Hoff?

2
The Trans Am of the '70s
was bold, gold, and...

Had the loud, crazy,
screaming chicken.

And then as we move into
the 1980s, there is a new focus

on technology.

People have computers
in their house.

They're playing video games
at home.

Space invaders to cause
that roar.

Trans Am of the '80s
reflected that.

In 1982,
Pontiac launched

its futuristic third generation.

Firebird Trans Am.

The strategy was to go a more
sophisticated route.

You can feel the anticipation
in the pit of your stomach.

We wanted the car to be
the most aerodynamic,

sleek-looking Firebird ever.

Create a car to
conquer the wind.

A bullet.

The older cars suddenly seemed
kind of bloated in comparison.

Eh, it's probably the beers.

But if the muscular,
handsome shape of Bert Reynolds

and the iconic black and gold
Trans Am of the '70s

wasn't your style,
then perhaps

David Hasselhoff would
take your fancy.

Come on, girl.

NBC wanted Pontiac's third
generation Trans Am to be

the model for
their new series...

- The Knight Rider.
- But...

they didn't know what the car
looked like, because it was

before the car came out.

They want to know what it
looks like.

And I said, "Hey, that's giving
away secrets." I can't do that.

You know, I can't tell that,

because we didn't have any
pictures then.

And he said, "Can you kind of
draw up what a Knight Rider

car would have liked with
the shapes?"

so I took a napkin and drew it.

Knight Rider, a
shadowy flight into

the dangerous world of
a man who does not exist.

From that sketch,
Schinella worked with

Knight Rider producers to create
the show's iconic

Knight Industries 2000 Kit,
a Trans Am...

You're approaching
a dangerous curve.

that talked back.
- Kit.

- Yes?
- Shut up.

Anybody from Generator
and remembers watching that

show when they were a kid?

Good grief.

People from around the world,
that show had a huge impact.

From 1982 to 1986,
Knight Rider was a ratings

winner for NBC.

But what about the third
generation Trans Am that

inspired Kit?
- A lot of it sold on styling.

It looked very fast.

I feel like there's a
butt in here somewhere.

- But...
- There it is.

The image that was being
portrayed by Kit did not match

what the car could deliver.

You've probably begun to form

a psychological attachment
to me.

And by now,
the federal regulators had

finally caught up to Trans Am.

That 455 Super Duty was
nowhere to be seen or heard.

Pontiac had dropped her own
5-liter engine.

They had to use a small block
Chevrolet, which by that time

was choked with both fuel
economy

and emissions equipment.

So you had a look-fast,
go-slow car.

But there was another problem.

It was more thanks
to the design.

The car had several
quality problems.

It squeaked.
It rattled.

- What is this?
- It had electrical problems.

Unfortunately, quality
and performance of the Trans Am

took a back seat for GM.

They sort of forgot about it.

Schinella didn't, okay?
He kept on trying.

Me, I was disappointed in
the Gen 3.

But not all was lost.
In 1987...

Good night, Irene.
What is that?

The Pontiac Firebird
Trans Am GTA.

Here comes excitement!

With its V8 engine,
the Firebird Trans Am flew in

the face of its fancy
European competitors.

And then, as the '90s rolled
around, a brand new fourth

generation Trans Am rolled off
the assembly line.

This is the new Trans Am.

- This is the LT1.
- But...

Come on, you knew the but
was coming.

The sporty car market itself
was declining.

Fuel economy was everything.

And everybody was going MPG.

Pontiac was going
the other way.

Their slogan used to be,
"We build excitement."

Well, they hadn't built a lot
of excitement in a long time.

And the world was no
longer interested in the mighty,

powerful icons of the past.

All of us who grew up with
muscle cars and sporty cars had

unfortunately moved on to
minivans by that point.

The last Trans Am rolled
off the assembly line in 2002,

but its legacy remains.

The Trans Am made
an impression on those of us

who grew up and came of age
in the 1970s.

And it was the wheels that
you had that defined you.

This thing is just raw power.
There's nothing nanny on it.

You can spin out if
you want to.

That's what Burt Reynolds did.

I would have never believed
that we were still talking

about that bird.

I'm pretty proud of
that, actually.

Sometimes I get very,
I'm going to get emotional,

I get emotional about that car
not being around anymore.

Sorry.

I feel good that these people
love what my team and I

did together.
It's a big accomplishment.

It's something that won't go
away in my time.

Because while some cars
get older, the Trans Am just

becomes more legendary.

Long live
the Screaming Chicken!