KITT
Famous Cars
The talking 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Knight Rider, with a red scanner light borrowed from Battlestar Galactica's Cylons.
KITT is the talking car from Knight Rider, which premiered on NBC on September 26, 1982, and ran for 84 episodes over four seasons. Underneath, it was a black 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. A few changes turned the Trans Am into a character: a red scanner light sweeping across the nose, a custom dashboard packed with buttons and screens, and the car's calm voice. Accounts of how many cars were built differ, but the Petersen Automotive Museum says the production started with 20.
The Pontiac deal
Pontiac originally turned the show down, according to Hagerty. The production then ordered three loaded black 1982 Trans Ams, built that April. Pontiac designer John Schinella sketched the car's look on a cocktail napkin, Hagerty and Car and Driver both reported.
The scanner and the dashboard
The red scanner light in the nose was modeled after the Cylon warriors from Battlestar Galactica, another show from Knight Rider creator Glen Larson. Studio designer Michael Scheffe designed KITT's interior and its computerized dashboard. The dashboards were made of fiberglass and fitted over the stock ones.
Credit for the nose is disputed. Scheffe has claimed the pointed shape, while Hagerty's reporting credits Schinella's sketch. David Hasselhoff's autobiography says George Barris's company streamlined the bodywork, and one person involved with the cars told Hagerty that Barris had nothing to do with it.
How many cars there were
The Petersen says the production initially acquired 20 cars. More were added over the run of the show, some of them from a train derailment, though accounts of that story differ. After the show ended, all but five of the cars were destroyed, Newsweek reported.
Where the cars are now
In 2021, one of the four KITT cars used in the Knight Rider pilot joined the Vault at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. A stunt car from the third and fourth seasons, built on a 1984 Firebird, was displayed at Universal Studios Hollywood from 1988 to 1993.
KITTs rarely sell. In 2020, Julien's Auctions sold one of six original studio promotional cars for $192,000. In 2021, Hasselhoff's own KITT, which was never used in filming, sold for $300,000.
NBC brought KITT back in 2008 for a new Knight Rider TV movie. That car was a Ford Mustang styled after the Shelby GT500KR.
Sources
The show, the Pontiac deal, Schinella's sketch, the Cylon scanner, Scheffe's interior, and the Barris denial: Hagerty. The napkin sketch and the Hasselhoff sale: Car and Driver. Scheffe on the nose and the five survivors: Newsweek. The 20 production cars and the pilot car in the Vault: NBC Los Angeles. Hasselhoff's autobiography on Barris: TV Insider. The Universal Studios stunt car: TribLive. The promotional car sale: Hagerty. The 2008 car: Barrett-Jackson.
