If KITT Were a Bus, What Would He Say?
posted by Christopher Swope
I've got Knight Rider on the brain. Really, I can't stop thinking about it. I didn't even watch the show much growing up. And I don't own any David Hasselhoff records -- a punishable offense, as I understand it, in Switzerland.
The reason for my new obsession is because our buses here in Washington are getting equipped with these zippy yellow safety lights. The lights flicker back and forth, much the way the red light on KITT's hood did.
I don't think the bus lights posess any infrared vision capabilities, as KITT's did. Instead, they're intended to make buses more visible, in order to prevent collisions with pedestrians. Seriously, you can see these things coming from half a mile away.
It's the public transit version of this.
I don't get it. Seriously! Just seems like a huge waste of money to me.
Posted by: Jim Zavist | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 07:44 AM
I had to run the video twice before i realized the light was above the big brightly lit NOT IN SERVICE message.
Posted by: Dan | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 12:50 PM
Yeah, OK, my video stinks. But take my word for it, the light is bright and hard to miss on the street.
Posted by: Christopher Swope | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 01:05 PM
For some reason I can never get your videos to play - probably some issue at this end, not yours. But what this brought to mind is that I could swear that in the last couple of days I saw some blurb on the internet that the Knight Rider Trans Am is being auctioned off. I didn't actually read the article so I don't know the details - but go looking for it and maybe you can have your very own KITT!
Posted by: Deborah Johnson | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 01:13 PM
Videos: make sure you double click on the play icon.
KITT for sale: Bingo.
'Knight Rider' car is up for sale
By Associated Press
April 5, 2007
DUBLIN, Calif. — KITT, the flame-throwing, river-jumping, talking muscle car from the '80s TV show ''Knight Rider,'' is up for sale.
Restored to its debut-season glory, the modified black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am is offered at $149,995 at a Dublin auto dealership. Johnny ''Vette'' Verhoek of Kassabian Motors has had the car, officially called Knight Industries Two Thousand, on display for about a month.
It is one of four documented ''camera cars'' used for close-up shots and scenes where David Hasselhoff, who played Michael Knight in the series, was behind the wheel.
Although it cannot achieve the 300 mph speeds that KITT reached, soar 50 feet in the air or throw smoke bombs, key features of the star car are intact. Perhaps most important, the red scanner light on the nose glows and makes a humming noise.
The car has two working video screens on the dashboard, and the cockpit features buttons that light up in green, yellow and red: ski mode, rocket boost, micro jam, silent mode, oil slick and eject.
Most of the buttons don't do anything, Verhoek said. Nor can the car hold a conversation or drive itself.
KITT isn't even street legal because of missing smog equipment and other modifications. Whoever buys the car will probably keep it in a private collection, or it may be purchased by a museum, Verhoek said.
The car belongs to Tim Russo of Livermore, a Kassabian customer who figured now was a good time to test the market, with the 25th anniversary of the show's debut coming up.
Russo purchased the car 10 years ago at an auction in San Diego, and has spent the last decade finding parts to restore it.
Posted by: Christopher Swope | Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 01:23 PM