The Knight Industries Two Thousand – K.I.T.T.- Behind the scanner

8 years ago, on CarLustBlog.com, I not only wrote about Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T., but also about how he was made real through the magic of 1980s television. It’s been edited and expanded upon slightly, but essentially the same. In the years since this was first published, hardcore fans like the likes of the Knight Rider Historians have upgraded and expanded from their previous online efforts, becoming ambassadors of the franchise. They’ve delved deeper in the behind-the-scenes action of the show, so this post might be a little dated as I’ve yet to cross-reference with a lot of their material. Feel free to comment below.

I liked Knight Rider so much that I wrote not one but two posts about its star, the Knight Industries Two Thousand- K.I.T.T. for short. The first one had to do with K.I.T.T. the character; this one is how that character came to be. Just like the first post, websites and blogs have been made and books have been written about the making of K.I.T.T., the stunts and how they were made, so I’ll try to keep those details to a minimum, too. Which was easier said than done.

For a show whose co-star was a car, not just any car would fill the role about a near-indestructible talking super-computer on wheels. I’ve stated that before the 3^rd-gen Firebirds came along, K.I.T.T. was destined to be a Datsun 280ZX Turbo. A quote from my post on such a candidate:

[…] “Knight Rider was supposed to feature a modified 280ZX (yes, you read right. I did not make that up. When you first heard about this, how did it make you feel? Personally, I was blown away!). Of course, this was before the 3rd-gen Firebird came along. I wonder, if the show gave the go-ahead with Datsuns, would they change to 300ZXs when they became available (if so, I can just picture the episode in which the previous gen gets spectacularly written off and replaced with the new model with the old car’s CPU that miraculously survived)? Would the voice be that of a woman, like the one found on factory voice warning system on 1982-83 ZXs? Would Knight Rider special editions be made, unlike Pontiac? By the way, don’t bother looking for pics on said 280ZX (or else I’d have used them!), you’ll only find the japanesenostalgiccar.com article and a ZX dolled up as KITT.”

Allow me to update this. Despite of the information given above, according to Glen A. Larson, there really wasn’t any particular car in mind. It seems that the 280ZX was not supposed to be K.I.T.T., but rather a very likely candidate. One could speculate what other candidates could be: Isuzu Impulse? Ford Mustang GT? Toyota Celica or Supra? Volkswagen Scirocco? Mitsubishi Starion (like in Cannonball Run II)? Something more expensive, perhaps, like a Lotus Elise Esprit, Porsche 928 or a DeLorean DMC-12? Or something completely custom, like the Hardcastle & McCormick Coyote? How about borrowing the 1981 Dodge M4S Turbo Interceptor? But as soon as pre-production 3^rd-gen Firebirds came into public view –with a little help from product-placement firm Vista Group’s Eric Dahlquist, Larson took a liking to them. With the 3^rd-gen Firebird chosen, this could have been reason enough to why K.I.T.T. was almost named Trans Am Two Thousand- T.A.T.T. Talk about dodging a bullet!!

If you’re a fan of Glen A. Larson’s work like Battle Star Galactica or Knight Rider, then you may be well aware that K.I.T.T.’s scanner was inspired by the Cylons’ scanner. Larson liked it a lot, and so did many of the fans, so in it went.

Like many that heard the “talking car” part of Knight Rider (*coughs* My Mother the Car *coughs*), Pontiac was reluctant. Dahlquist’s persuasion skills paid off, with the help of John Schinella (designer of the “Screaming Chicken” himself), who not only loved the whole idea, he even made a quick sketch of what the car would look like per Harker Wade’s description during a meeting (Wade was Production Executive of Glen Larson productions, so he knew what his boss Glen wanted). Then Michael Scheffe came on board, since he knew a thing or two about shadowy sci-fi vehicles, having worked on Automan and would later give a hand with the Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine throughout the trilogy’s filming.  Scheffe’s interior design not only was it far-out, it was also practical, too. Not sci-fi crazy. After even more persuasion, four of the first Trans Ams to roll out were secured for the studio, rather than the dealers they were originally meant for.

K.I.T.T. had his share of nose jobs (Let me get this out of the way: the six exposed-headlight look is not TV accurate unless mounted behind grille pieces, a la Season 1 K.I.T.T.), but many forget his ‘season-zero’/Pilot episode nose. The only details I’ve found were that it was fabricated by Jon Ward. Many, myself included, thought it was a stock Firebird nose, when in reality it was also custom work. This was the car shown to the network to get the green light for the Pilot episode, and was used extensively in the Pilot episode itself, along with the season 1 K.I.T.T. and his Michael Scheffe-designed nose, done after he finished with the interior design. It’s said that there were many design sketches that were shot down before we got K.I.T.T. as we know him. I wonder if some have been found…

About Darth Vader’s bathroom K.I.T.T.’s interior, he had two main dash designs, the first one being more elaborate, the second one more modern-looking, but simpler -which Scheffe was a design consultant, even if he felt it went more sci-fi than the original. K.I.T.T.’s iconic voice modulator changed from a single red light square, to the more recognizable pattern we all know for the remainder of season 1 and for season 2, to a subtle redesign for seasons 3 and 4. Being that there was more than one K.I.T.T., Universal Studios (aside from making top dashes and noses for non-hero-cars) had to make more full interiors, so there are subtle differences within each generation of dashboard than only the true Knight Rider die-hards might spot.

That molecular bonded shell ain’t gonna shine itself, ya know.

Many K.I.T.T.s were made for various purposes. You got your:

• Hero cars (complete with touch-up crew and with visible tow brace that for years I thought was a poorly concealed support brace). In the beginning, this one was the one that ate up a chunk of the budget –allegedly over $100,000. Michael Scheffe and his co-workers Leslie Ekker, Robin Riley, Bob Wilcox and Dick Chronister built the car, inside and out and most of it from scratch, in record time, about 15 to 18 days!
• Camera cars of various designs and purposes. As the opening pic shows, even a regular car would be carefully fitted with cameras and be towed with camera and lights-equipped chase vehicles at front, among others, complete with police escort.
• Cars with fully functioning interior instrumentation. Probably made to have further flexibility in filming schedules, rather than depend solely on the one ‘hero car’.

• Stunt cars –not all of them got a custom K.I.T.T. nose- (including specially prepped Firebirds and even a custom dune buggy-like machine with a K.I.T.T. shell dedicated for jumping, to avoid depleting their Firebird stash and because it’s easier on the stuntmen).
• The pyrotechnics car/shell, the tough protective polyurethane layer sometimes used when the script called for crashes and hopeless thug bashing. After removal, the car might still use a little bit of bodywork, but nothing compared to what it would have been without the shell! Said shell (or a version of) could’ve been used for the aforementioned dune buggy. By the way, those pyrotechnics pebbles were used with or without the shell.
• Air-ram equipped cars for the ejection seats -that’s right, they worked.
• Last but not least, the detailed modeling that was often-times reluctantly used, particularly from the second season forward.

The crew hard at work building SPM K.I.T.T. and Convertible K.I.T.T.

Pics belonged to the late Dennis Braid, who helped build these cars. He would later become a pretty big deal in fishing, hence the watermark from a now-renamed webpage. It’d be great if not only these pics reappear in a much bigger size and quality, but also pics of whatever Mr. Braid had his hands on.

Where does George Barris fit in all this? He, Jay Ohrberg and their crews –and about $250,000 of NBC’s money- were commissioned to make SPM and convertible K.I.T.T. (2 prop cars, 2 full drivers) as well as a number of show cars. According to witnesses, the SPM driver wasn’t the best driver, and stuff fell apart at speed, at least initially. All the special f/x –SPM bits, the EBS- were built in the car and functioned accordingly so, though a source said the car was an engineless prop. The Convertibles had their steel roofs chopped, with the camera/prop car featuring the top-up/top-down action. “Build thread” pics for both and more here.

There were cars with “onion-skin” plastic coatings that you peeled off when the car got scratched or dirty and there was no time to get it properly touched up. That bit of information came from an old list of Knight Rider trivia. Sorry, no pics.

All engines were said to be carbureted Chevy small-blocks with aftermarket air filters, with a couple of fuel-injected models mixed in.

“We got different kinds of cars to do different things,” stunt coordinator Jack Gill explains in a ‘Knight Rider: Season One’ bonus feature. “One would do 160 miles per hour and one was zero to 60 in 3 seconds. I had a car that would jump long distances and a car that would jump small distances and cars that were set up for dirt and cars that would do burnouts really well. We had a car with a big engine and a nitrous system in it so I could take off just like that.”   

Depending on the season (read: budget), the crew had more or less cars to work with. Starting out, there were only the original (read: expensive) hero car and 2 stunt cars. Later on, they had upwards of 12+. Not all of them were T-top’d, power-window’d, Trans Am Recaro Special Interior -equipped, rear hatch defrost-delete, automatic trans cars, so there was that task to convince people that they were. It did help that Larson lucked out and secured a number of brand-new but decommissioned 3^rd-gens off a train wreck -or derailment according to a source (considered write-off by law even if absolutely nothing happened to the cargo, though a source says that two Trans Am-filled train cars landed on their side). One half went to Larson’s other show, The Fall Guy, and the other half went to Knight Rider to accompany some of the first couple of 3^rd-gen Firebirds to roll off the assembly line to be put to use in the show. Pontiac kept supplying the cars at the cost of $1, but then again a source says that it was those decommissioned Trans Ams that made it through the four seasons (highly unlikely if you ask me… then again, shows like CHiPs managed to keep their crashed background cars rolling season after season). Gill tells that they received more cars from Pontiac that were either damaged or due to be crushed. Not sure if he meant the original train-load.

David’s stuntman was Jack Gill, as evidenced by the same shirt and jacket.

Stuntmen like Jack Gill, his brother Andy Gill, Jim Winburn and Buzz Bundy among others did a lot of the hairy stuff. Gill went a step further because not only did he do his share of stunts, he coordinated them! David Hasselhoff for the most part wasn’t allowed to do big stunts, no matter how badly he wanted to. He did learn to whip the car around, though. He said that he once did a jump, only to almost ruin his back because of the landing (an occupational hazard when jumping vehicles).

There’s stories of Michael occasionally hot-dogging K.I.T.T. cars on set while on break (he’s a pretty good driver), sometimes accompanied by a close acquaintance (not sure if any special guests accompanied him). If filming was in the studio, he would come by the Universal Studios tour and give them a show. There are also stories of some special guests not only just sitting behind the wheel, but also taking K.I.T.T. out for a spin themselves.

K.I.T.T.s weren’t only relegated to TV or amusement park attractions. Apart from promotional show appearances, some took part of charitable organizations. With a K.I.T.T. car being blind-driven by stuntman Jack Gill and David Hasselhoff in character, the duo gave some Make-a-Wish children a show and a ride to remember! 

There’s another person that needs to be mentioned that made K.I.T.T. more memorable: William Daniels. He not only gave his voice to K.I.T.T., he gave Wilton Knight’s “miracle car” personality. For some reason, the casting director wanted the voice of K.I.T.T. to be more robotic. Mr. Daniels refused to do so, feeling that it needed human expression. Among the couple of reasons that Daniels decided to not be credited onscreen, one of them was to give the car a life of its own (mission accomplished IMO!). It must be mentioned that Mr. Daniels recorded his lines in a studio apart from the main cast and crew, only meeting at Christmas parties and such events. Crazy but it worked!

‘Let me tell you something about that car. That car is the focal point of our show. It’s given heart and soul and comedy and it’s voiced by a very talented actor, William Daniels. I don’t consider it playing second fiddle to a fine actor like William Daniels.’

–Allen Payne, Knight Rider’s Hairstylist Department Head and friend of David Hasselhoff, quoting David’s witty answer to playing second fiddle to a “car”. Found in Knight Rider: 30 Years Of A Lone Crusader & His Talking Car 

If it wasn’t for the men and women that worked behind the scenes, the legend of K.I.T.T. would’ve never be as solid as it is today.

As to why GM didn’t capitalize on special edition ‘K.I.T.T. cars’, there are a couple of reasons that I know of: Reluctant GM was so overwhelmed –and annoyed- with requests for K.I.T.T.s, complete with scanner and gimmickry that they ordered producers to stop referring K.I.T.T. as a Pontiac or Trans Am onscreen (that’s why after earlier episodes, K.I.T.T. was referred to as a black T-Top instead). Another source made a little more sense: If GM made cars based on a TV car known to jump across the air and through concrete walls, a potential owner (or owners, but it only takes one) might jump their newly-purchased car, lawyers would have a field day. So GM played it safe. So much for Pontiac building excitement. Well, at least there were regular Trans Ams -if you could afford and drive one- and videogames. And kids had their toy K.I.T.T. cars, playsets and pedal cars. Bigger kids could build their own K.I.T.T. clones, too.

I know that looking behind the scenes may take away what little magic there’s left, but looking at the pics and reading the stories of all the effort taken to make K.I.T.T. come alive made me appreciate the series, and 1980s television, even more.

–Tigerstrypes

References:

K.I.T.T.-Cylon cartoon comes from this amusing thread:  http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2301639

K.I.T.T. interior screenshot from: http://elcochefantastico.esforos.com

The differing dash layouts: www.aintitcool.com

Season-Zero K.I.T.T.: www.knightrideronline.com

K.I.T.T. nose 3: http://www.mpjonline.net/Kitt/pictures/out/nose.jpg

The crew at work: Defunct webpage.

David and Jack: Twitter

David and William: Pinterest

Vintage Universal Studios K.I.T.T. from our very own Chuck Lynch

Camera car K.I.T.T. and pyrotechnics K.I.T.T. and came from the Polish fansite www.knight-rider.pl (Dziękuję!) Sources come from Nick Nugent’s The Knight Rider Companion; Joe Huth & David Bronstein’s Knight Rider: 30 Years of a Lone Crusader & His Talking Car; David Newhardt’s book Firebird Trans Am, Giles Chapman’s TV Cars: Star Cars From the World of Television; and Knight Rider sites like knight-rider.wikia.com, knightriderhistorians.blogspot.com and knightrideronline.com