This issue’s featured car is the ‘79 Trans Am Bandit of Ken and Darlene Szymczak from Dunkirk, New York. Here is their story:

From Featured Car in the August 2018 Eagle, Ken and Darlene Szymczak’s 1979 Trans Am is now featured in a movie.

Of all lows experienced in 2020, one high is from Ken and Darlene Szymczak of Dunkirk, New York. Their 1979 black S.E. Trans Am is starring in a short movie being made in Buffalo, New York.

The movie is a short musical comedy that takes place in a well known Canadian amusement park called Crystal Beach and its famous wooden roller coaster and our ‘79 Trans Am.

The small time Buffalo produce contacted me about using our car in the movie. After going over the details of how the shooting would be done inside a television studio that has a large area with a green screen for shooting scenes. This way the filming would not be done outside in traffic and nobody would be driving the car.

It was a fun day as I got to studio early in the morning. It was great to see how they switched out our special New York license plates for Ontario, Canada “TA Jane” license plates. They also placed the four car wheels on rollers so as to move the car around. I met the actors and saw the cameras and all others involved in making the movie and hearing a song that is in the movie. The story is about how Trans Am Jane gets caught in the rain, t-tops off. The car has Honeycomb wheels and twin tip dual exhausts. How exciting it all was and I got to take a few photos without interfering with filming. We are hoping the movie will be done in a year or two.

Little did we know that when we ordered our Trans Am in November of 1978 that we would have such fond memories. From both of our children learning how to drive in it to winning trophies at car shows, to being featured in the Eagle and now being featured in a movie. Wow, what a great time it has been and who knows what is next. Hollywood – we are waiting.

Ken and Darlene Szymczak
Dunkirk, New York