By Bo Durban April 8, 2023

I was curious when/how Sheriff Justice was supposed to have gotten his busted headlight and grille. According to the July 30, 1976 screen play, there was a deleted scene (scenes 103-105) that explains the damage...

While conversing with Sheriff Branford of Arkansas over the 2-way radio, Sheriff Justice (aka Clayton) hits a rut in the road and drops his mike. When he reaches down to pick it up he slides off the road, loses control of his patrol car and runs through an abandoned fruit/vegetable stand.

This is likely one of the scenes that was removed because of last minute budget cuts to the movie. It was still included on the filming schedule before the budget cuts, but was omitted from the updated screenplay after the cuts.

The first time we see the damage is scene 157 where Sheriff Justice drives under the beam that knocks his roof off. But it is visible in several other future scenes of the Sheriff's car.