general purpose stunt car KITT

[michelle]

I made this using another original mpc 82 firebird kit that was partly built and painted I popped it apart and redid it as one of the three general purpose hardtop stunt car KITTs they used during all 4 seasons of the show the car I made I replica of here had a pretty much factory stock nose except for the fog lights in the lower front end the the scanner light that this car also had a skid plate under the car to protect the easily damaged parts like the transmission and suspension and oil pan it was also one of the 3 cars that had high traction drop downs on the front and rear suspension that when engaged would raise either the back of body or front of the body or both front and back of the body of the car up so it would sit higher off the ground and give the stock tires more traction in sand or dirt  This car was in the several episodes across all 4 seasons but only a total of 77 seconds of footage of it in total across all those episodes most of this footage is from season 3 two part season opener knight of the drones 

i have a actual piece of music from the actual show playing in the background of the video 

[karbuildr]

Excellent, another well done KITT/Knight Rider vehicle. I never watched the show but I do know it was very popular and I always thought the car was cool.

[michelle]

5 minutes ago, karbuildr said:

Excellent, another well done KITT/Knight Rider vehicle. I never watched the show but I do know it was very popular and I always thought the car was cool.

Thank you it is a very fun series and holds up very very well today since they used more practical effects and they also filmed the actors in the  car while driving on the actual roads unlike most other shows of the time which those scenes were filmed in front of blue screen on a sound stage knight rider was one of the most expensive series nbc made it also was part of reason it was canceled after season 4 also George barris built 4 cars for the show the full time convertible roadster from his personal 82 firebird hardtop the full time drivable super pursuit mode KITT ,the convertible buck insert trailer car with working convertible roof and the hydraulic transforming super pursuit mode car and he redesigned and made the custom noses for KITT for season 4 also only 5 screen used knight rider cars exist the full time convertible KITT is in the dezer museum in orlando a hero car is in the cars of the stars museum in England and one of the stunt cars is on loan from the knight rider historians at  the Peterson museum in California one is in a personal collection and another stunt car is owned by the knight rider historians they also own the screen used semi that KITT would drive up into in the show which they are currently restoring 

[Yeah Nah]

I admire your dedication to producing in model form the cars from the Knight Rider series Michelle. The show was very popular here in Australia.

[michelle]

17 minutes ago, Yeah Nah said:

I admire your dedication to producing in model form the cars from the Knight Rider series Michelle. The show was very popular here in Australia.

Thank you I am starting to work on the Jon ward hero car KITT from the series pilot which had a different front end I still need to find another mpc knight rider kitt to do the season 1/2 version hero car KITT and then find a couple aoshima season 3 and season 4 KITT model kits and a couple amt/ertl knight rider 2000 knight 4000 model kits 

[karbuildr]

33 minutes ago, michelle said:

Thank you it is a very fun series and holds up very very well today since they used more practical effects and they also filmed the actors in the  car while driving on the actual roads unlike most other shows of the time which those scenes were filmed in front of blue screen on a sound stage knight rider was one of the most expensive series nbc made it also was part of reason it was canceled after season 4 also George barris built 4 cars for the show the full time convertible roadster from his personal 82 firebird hardtop the full time drivable super pursuit mode KITT ,the convertible buck insert trailer car with working convertible roof and the hydraulic transforming super pursuit mode car and he redesigned and made the custom noses for KITT for season 4 also only 5 screen used knight rider cars exist the full time convertible KITT is in the dezer museum in orlando a hero car is in the cars of the stars museum in England and one of the stunt cars is on loan from the knight rider historians at  the Peterson museum in California one is in a personal collection and another stunt car is owned by the knight rider historians they also own the screen used semi that KITT would drive up into in the show which they are currently restoring 

Thank you for that incredible history regarding the show. Fascinating stuff, seriously. I had no idea Barris built the cars. Learn something new every day.

[michelle]

12 minutes ago, karbuildr said:

Thank you for that incredible history regarding the show. Fascinating stuff, seriously. I had no idea Barris built the cars. Learn something new every day.

He only built them for the final season a vfx and production designer named Michael Schaffe designed the interior dash and over head console and the custom nose for season 1 and was brought back in to redesign those for season 3