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Download the latest version of the BANDIT RUN APP, available in your APP/PLAY Store! Must be a registered runner. If you are a passenger, please send us your name, your drivers name and email you would like to use to info@restoreamusclecar.com! APPLE USERS:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bandit-run/id982961486?ls=1&mt=8 ANDROID USERS: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.agilx.banditrun  ...

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Still on The Run: It’s Smokey and the Bandits — a bunch of them By Larry Printz Imagine a day at the beach, followed by a night on the town. You’re tired and ready for a peaceful night’s sleep. You pull into the parking lot of your hotel only to find that most parking spaces have been taken by black 1977-78 Pontiac Trans Ams. Another handful are consumed by Snowman’s tractor-trailer. Have you stepped onto a movie set? Did you imbibe too much? No. You’ve stumbled onto The Bandit Run. “It’s fun because we take over hotels, restaurants, and gas stations,” said Dave Hall, creator of the event and owner of Restore A Muscle Car, a car restoration business in Lincoln, Nebraska. Hall and shop customer David Hersey created The Bandit Run in 2006 as a way to commemorate the following year the 30th anniversary of the film “Smokey and the Bandit.” Hall had the group traverse the same route as the movie, driving from Texarkana, Texas, to Atlanta. That that initial run attracted more than 100 car owners speaks to the film’s enduring appeal. A similar number joined the run this year. And while the film’s stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Reed brought charisma to the big screen, there’s no denying that the picture’s greatest star didn’t receive any billing at all: the black 1977 Pontiac Trans Am accented in gold pinstripes with a screaming chicken decal on its hood and driven by Reynolds. For a generation of adolescent boys with Farah Fawcett posters on their bedroom walls, the Pontiac’s brash nature was the height of high school cool. Every boy wanted one. Now, those who have them pay a $90 entry fee to run them in the annual event. For that amount, the drivers get hotel discounts, vehicle decals, a grab bag of goodies and a support truck, not to mention a week of driving through the United States. But you don’t have to be a disco-decade aficionado to participate; any make or model of car can partake in the event. “We do not discriminate by any means,” said Hall. “Perhaps over 90 percent of the cars are going to be Trans Ams, but we have some Corvettes, some Camaros, we’ve had GTOS, Chargers, a little bit of everything. We even have a couple pickups.” This year’s run started at the GM Nationals in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and finished in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We checked in with the group as it arrived in Portsmouth, Virginia. Hall already is working on next year’s route. Unlike the film that it commemorates, the Run’s speeds are...

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July 3, 2014 at 1:00 am ‘Smokey’ fans keep Bandit Run alive 1977 Trans Ams make same trek from Texas to Atlanta as in movie by Larry Printz The ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ film’s star was the black 1977 Pontiac Trans Am with gold stripes and a thunder chicken decal on its hood. (MCT) Virginia Beach, Va.— To a generation of adolescent boys with Farrah Fawcett posters on their bedroom walls, the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am nature was every bit as sexy as the iconic blonde, an image burnished by the 1977 film “Smokey and the Bandit.” For those of you who haven’t seen it — and there may be some — the movie concerns a truck driver named Snowman and his efforts to haul an illegal load of Coors beer from Texarkana, Texas, to Atlanta. At the time, Coors couldn’t legally be sold east of the Mississippi River. Snowman’s advance man, Bandit, plays the decoy for police to allow Snowman to slip by undetected. And while actors Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Reed add much to the proceedings, the picture’s greatest star didn’t receive any billing: the black 1977 Pontiac Trans Am decorated in gold stripes with a thunder chicken decal on its hood, and driven by Reynolds. “It came out the same week that ‘Star Wars’ was released,” remembers Dave Hall of Lincoln, Neb. “If I wasn’t seeing ‘Star Wars,’ I was seeing ‘Smokey and the Bandit.’ It is definitely one of my favorite movies for sure.” So much so that in 2006, Hall, the owner of Restore A Muscle Car restoration shop hatched a plan over dinner with one of his customers, David Hershey. They would recreate the movie’s chase from Texas to Georgia in commemoration of the film’s 30th anniversary. And so was launched The Bandit Run in 2007. Now in its eighth year, the event still attracts more than 100 cars and their owners on an annual trek somewhere in the United States. This year, the Run finished Thursday in Myrtle Beach, S.C., having started at the GM Nationals in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on June 20. The tour stopped in Virginia Beach for two days earlier this week. “You know, it’s all about having fun and being on the road,” said Hall, standing near a recreation of Snowman’s tractor-trailer. “I have people here from Florida and Texas who took several days just to get up to our starting point up in Carlisle. And they drove them the whole way.” For some, such passion is hard to imagine for a movie that was unanimously panned by critics upon its release. So it’s worth considering...

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Shop for your Bandit Run 2014 shirts at: http://goo.gl/YT97Nu   They may run a little bit on the Smaller side. So if you are in between sizes, go with the larger size. 65% polyester 35% cotton GILDAN SoftStyle Pre-Shrunk...

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RAMC helped with the filming of the Fast N’ Loud, Gas Monkey Garage Bandit Show that aired on Dec. 2nd and Dec. 9th 2013   See photos at:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/restoreamusclecar/sets/72157638592278413/#

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