Reply #38: Yes, I was just coming of age when I bonded with "Smokey and the Bandit." I developed

[Mike 03]

an obsession with the 1977 black Trans am to the extreme that I actually had dreams about that car, and I always told my father that one day, if I ever had enough money, I would get one. All I wanted in the world when I was thirteen years old was to be The Bandit... Dumb, I know.

But all these years later, I have had an array of utilitary, functional and un-exciting cars: hand-me-down Pacer and Ford Grenada, Toyota Camera, Toyota Rav 4...

I can live without the Trans Am, but it's a symbolic defeat for me. At a time in my life when I could finally get one, the brand is squashed, and the price of oil is (not now, but ultimately) speeding skywards.

But I share your nostalgia for the brand, definitely!