In the scene where they are going to jump the bridge to get away. There is a very quick shot of the car interior. Watch carefully as the Bandit pushes the gear shift into PARK to jump the bridge.

Also, listen to the car throughout the movie. You hear a four speed and sometimes five speed manual transmission. How do you get those sounds out of a three speed automatic?

Finally, when the Bandit passes the Snowman on the right side and takes out about 10 mailboxes, there isn't one scratch on the car when he is done.