Burt Reynolds Reveals How Many Pontiacs Were Used In Smokey And The Bandit

08/26/2015 02:27 pm EDT

Over the weekend, Burt Reynolds made a rare public appearance at Wizard World Chicago.

On Saturday, Reynolds took questions from the audience during his Q&A panel. One fan wanted to know just how many cars were used in the making of the original Smokey and the Bandit. "We went through 12," Reynolds said. "I'm afraid I was responsible for a good deal of those."

Reynolds went on. He told the audience of an offer from Pontiac where he would get a new car every year as a show of gratitude for boosting their stock 70 percent following Smokey and the Bandit's release. "For 3 years I got a new car," Reynolds said. "And then on the fourth year, I didn't get one!"

Of course, the movie star wanted to politely get to the bottom of this, so he called Pontiac directly. To his dismay, there was a new company President who told Reynolds, "I'm the new President and I don't like your movies."

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.