For work, I recently attended the local showing of the Comic Con festival, where my employer was a sponsor. I had never been to this show but heard and seen plenty; consider me surprised when I saw a cadre of interesting movie and TV car replicas on display! Although there were plenty of well-known vehicles on the show floor, I didn’t spot a KITT replica – so maybe I should buy this example here on eBay and take my spot on the Comic Con circuit.
OK – I’m not actually going do to that. But after speaking with the owners of a replica Herbie the Love Bug, a replica Back to the Future DeLorean and of course, the original Batmobile, it did show me there’s an entire other world of car enthusiasts that rally around their favorite vehicles from the big screen. This Pontiac Firebird is said to be a mixture of Knight Rider gadgets from a few seasons, so it’s not necessarily authentic – but it sure does look like fun!
If you grew up watching the show like I did, it was hard not to be mesmerized by the colorful buttons, sounds and shapes KITT was capable of performing. The seller of this low-mileage Firebird mentions that the car has some of the more desirable attributes of the TV car from multiple seasons, including the POD and fully-functional upper console. It also features the trick “black out” button which dims the dash with just one push. There are some tacky LED items the current owner has added, which I would quickly remove.
Perhaps the most recognizable feature is in the top photo, with the red LED beam that streaked across KITT’s hood. It also has the ability to make the unmistakable swooshing noise KITT would emit, or the sound of a jet engine firing up to create the illusion of speeds that the actual car likely couldn’t achieve. There’s just one catch: the seller barely mentions the fact that the ‘Bird needs a distributor, which I guess means it doesn’t run. How very un-KITT like!
Maybe I can go on the comic con circuit within an El Camino that looks like the one on “My Name is Earl.”
Let’s see a KITT in Super Pursuit mode.
Bandit Trans Am far cooler than Kitt
The one I’m surprised few people try to replicate is karr which would be a great compliment to kitt. And the other one would also be goliath… It would be a knight rider fan dream to see kitt and his major enemies all in one spot! Thing is, I don’t know if George barrios had a hand in karr and goliath.
Worked with a guy when this show was on that could have been the Hoff’s twin. When he wore his black leather jacket to the mall, kids would come up to him and call him Michael. Yes, he always had a date on Friday night.
Just another Kitt car?
Great job on the interior! I would have died and gone to heaven if I saw that car in person as a kid!
vegas vic I agree bandit far better
shows non bandit early model pic,lol
Where are the bowling ball wheel covers? C’mon man!
yup,bb covers,lol
Where is the blacked out tail panel?
928s had phone dials nick name,lol
Kitt in the show had a nall velure champaign colored interior , black seats are WRONG and a few other epic fails
The black out taillight panel on the TV car looked like a piece of smoked lexan. This one really needs the black button wheel covers but those may be hard to source. Also this car has the late model Pontiac lower skirting instead of the much smaller skirting of the TV car. At least it has lots and lots of buttons to push!
All those electronics and they can’t manage a distributor?