Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. Once upon a time, seeing a black 3rd generation Trans Am, even one with a nose job like this one, would have brought me back to ye olde cathode tube epoch, where my brother and I watched David Hasselhoff and his hair play second fiddle to the automotive equivalent of a superhero. Flat screens have taken over for a while now, though. And this time, it took me quite a while to think of KITT.
It’s like seeing a red Ford Torino, an orange Charger, a Peugeot 403 cabriolet or a ’59 Cadillac ambulance. Or any DeLorean, even without the flux capacitor. Movies and TV shows from a certain era always leave a strong imprint on a young mind. In my case, that era was the ‘80s, because we got certain American shows some years later on the other side of the pond.
Truth be told, I never really took to Knight Rider (which was known in France as K-2000) quite as much as I did Starsky & Hutch, The Fall Guy or, nimbly leaping from the small to the big screen, Ghostbusters – the first movie I ever saw in a theater. Which is strange, as that show was one of the most car-centered ones on TV. But I was never big on superheroes, and KITT was just a bit too competent and unrealistic for my liking. Suspension of disbelief couldn’t work with that kind of …er… suspension.
Ok, the winter morning sun made taking interior photos a bit more challenging than I would have liked, but still, I was a bit puzzled by that shag carpeting they put between the seats. Gotta say, the interior they made for KITT looked quite a bit better than this. That was one of my favourite features on that car. Ah, the magic of television…
The other great thing with TV show cars is how invulnerable they are. No matter how mistreated they get in one episode, they will have magically recovered by next week. The one exception was Columbo’s 403, which got noticeably worse from one season to the next. Luckily, the show went on hiatus; they fixed it back up and it was right as rain, good for another ten years.
Well, our feature KITT car here is not the traditional minty-fresh showroom-condition unit we’ve gotten used to from our Japanese friends. The fiberglass rear spoiler either had an encounter with something that disagreed with it, or this is just the normal biodegradation of GM plastics of that era. Aside from that small imperfection though, this old Pontiac still looks the part. Just stick a bar of red LEDs on that nose and a curly clown wig on the driver, and Knight will ride again.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA – Generating Teenage Appreciation; Now, Getting Transglobal Attention, by Jason Shafer
Curbside Classic: 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA – Generating Teenage Appreciation; Now, Getting Transglobal Attention, by Ed Stembridge
Curbside Classic: 1991 Pontiac Firebird Convertible – Welcome Back, After A Long Time Gone, by Eric703
That interior is harsh. So many replacement parts do not make for a happy union.
A while back I watched an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. The featured car was one of the original Pontiacs used on Knight Rider. That particular Firebird had been used for close-ups, I believe, so it was never jumped, j-turned, on two wheels, etc. And it had like only 500 miles on it.
It had been used as a static display somewhere around Los Angeles. However, people were encouraged to get inside and enjoy the Knight Rider ambiance. The new owner discovered holes had been drilled in the floor. Inquiring further, those holes were made for drainage due to the number of little kids who would get in the car and then wet themselves in their excitement.
No the holes were to let out rain water that would come in via the T-top!. Just kidding. Nice story though. Yep the local Aftermarket interior parts don’t do it justice but how many are rotting in Japanese junk yards to pull parts from?.
K-2000?? That sounds like a TV show featuring an overachieving Chrysler K-car.
Well, I admit, I didn’t think of KITT immediately either when I saw this car, even though my own kids love Knight Rider episodes, perhaps even more than I did, so the show actually plays in our house with some regularity.
My brother-in-law owned a ’95 Firebird, which he owned until last year, and I occasionally got to drive it. Having done so, I can see the rationale for the shag carpeting on the console. Drivers sat so low, that I bet after a while, your right elbow would drill a hole through the console cover, since there was nowhere else for elbow to go. It might as well be soft & comfy on shag carpeting.
“…K-2000?? That sounds like a TV show featuring an overachieving Chrysler K-car…”
Or a Japanese digital SLR camera.
Or?
Incidentally, I wrote above that my kids like Knight Rider episodes — well, they’re watching it right now. KITT is still popular in our household.
Now that I think about it, Knight Rider wasn’t my absolute favorite, either, though I did enjoy watching it. No problems with either the Trans Am or Hasselhoff’s acting. I just liked other shows better, I suppose.
Great find. I did really like the final restyle of the third-generation Firebirds, and it made the transition to the ’93 models a little less jarring than would have been the case, otherwise.
I loved Knight Rider as a little kid, it was being rerun on a few of the main networks for a few years right when I got home from school and then just disappeared one day (this was before cable nostalgia networks picked it up) so I was left quite a few years between viewings when I realized how cheesy it was and how much of a Mary Sue KITT and Michael Knight indeed were. The Simpsons summed it up best with Knight Boat – Michael: “they’re headed for land, we’ll never catch them now!” KITT boat: “look Michael, a canal” Bart: “aww, there’s always a canal!”
Interestingly despite Kitt’s obvious Trans Am roots, even as a kid who loved the show at a time when third gen Firebirds were still thick on the ground, I never really thought “Knight rider, omg!” in the way I would if I saw any Delorean or any old Cadillac ambulance hearse, probably because of their ubiquity in comparison. Maybe I was just as much an obsessive dork with cars then as I am now, but I remember going to a local car show when I was probably 10 and seeing a black Firebird with the KITT strobe fitted, and immediately looking into the interior and being instantly disappointed to see a standard Pontiac dashboard “that’s not KITT!”.
Around 2008, a KITT drove up to our Dairy Queen. Even had the turbine sound pumped out somehow. We talked to the owner and it was in fact a documented Knight Rider car from the show. Picture of him with Glen A Larson and the car, and a whole bunch of paperwork from Universal. It was damaged from stunt duty. Not wrecked, just driven hard for scenes and had a restoration. Had all the bells and whistles. KITT talked, and he played music and video through the monitors. In fact, we came to look at It while he was out of the car ordering at the window, and KITT started talking to us. The kids and I were blown away by this. Turns out he had a remote control in his pocket to make KITT perform as he was used to the attention it got. He said it had a souped-up 350 in it and was actually quite a fast car. It did sound and look like a pretty hot motor. When I asked him how it was to steer with the KITT steering “wheel” he admitted it was terrible and sometimes he’d fit a standard wheel for long drives. This was one of my favorite car moments and I am still appreciative of that guy and how fun he made it for me and the kids.
Germans love David Hasselhoff.
Bavarians love him.
A few years ago at the Chicago Auto Show, I discovered the 1960’s TV show “Batman” bat mobile. I was thrilled like I never before was thrilled by an auto celebrity. I was mesmerized. There were so many things on it that I had completely forgotten that came flooding back to my memory. The silly labels, the silly design. The humorous pretension behind it all. It was riveting and I loved it. I don’t get emotional over celebrity cars, but I was shocked at how deeply I was effected by seeing this Batmobile.
I don’t get that ways over the Starsky/Hutch wheels, or the KITT Rider car. The General Lee, yes – because reasons – but I am not moved by any Trans Am or Torino. I guess it has to be a combination of incredible car and incredible stardom.