Mac Diesel’s KITT
June 30, 2019
One Fan Can Make A Difference
July 7, 2019
Robert Alvarado's KITT by Knight Industries of Kentucky
As a longtime fan of the original series, Knight Rider, the first thing that caught my eye, and I’m sure yours too, was the sleek look of KITT and all its gadgets, buttons and tricks. I was around six years old when the show originally aired but wasn’t aware of it until the age of 8. I was hooked from the first viewing. I watched the show with my mother, who plunked down at the end of the couch with me while I watched with awe and wonder. I admired the character of Michael Knight, played by pop icon David Hasselhoff. He was sort of a male role model for me during a time when I had none. In retrospect, I’m certain that his mission of one man making a difference helped lead me into law enforcement. Michael looked cool beating up bad guys while showing compassion to the victims (which more often than not was a damsel in distress) but the main moral was that he was all about justice, not vengeance like we see so often in movies and television, but really righting a wrong. He just happened to do so with the ultimate vehicle before its time.
The show had such an influence on me that I can remember recreating the dash out of a cardboard box pretending I was Michael driving KITT. I would ‘turbo-boost’ with my step sisters on the stairs of my father’s basement on weekends when visiting. Having grown up in a low-income household, I was somehow fortunate to own a KITT toy car playing with it hours on end. The show now makes me chuckle at some of its cheesiness (I later binge watched episodes on Blu-ray) however, there was one thing that remained, the look of that third generation Trans-am with its long, sleek, smooth aerodynamic lines and the all too familiar pointed front nose with its red strobing front scanner checking for evil doers and nefarious activities. But it wasn’t until recently, while watching clips on YouTube, that I realized I wanted my own KITT. Let’s rewind back 15 to 20 years, I thought, ‘hey, why not just buy a black trans am and see about building my own KITT? Unfortunately, this was pre-internet as well as the explosion of pop culture cosplay in which anyone who wanted anything from movies, TV shows, video games, sci-fi, horror, could make it happen so long as you had the money, drive and ingenuity. This same culture has allowed me to bravely seek making my KITT a reality. Now the issue was, how does a grown man (and no I wasn’t suffering a mid-life crises) look like owning a replica 80’s TV car to the common person, much less my own family, friends and coworkers? So, I did what anyone else in my position would do, I researched the internet.
I googled, numerous terms related to Knight Rider and Illinois but then, just for giggles, I typed police officer + knight rider and came back with one hit. Eric Wang. I read an online article from the suburban newspaper, The Daily Herald. In it, Eric spoke of his love of the show and car and his purchase of his very own KITT. I clicked on the YouTube link where Eric discussed his replica. I grew excited and knew I just had to contact him. But how? Fortunately, the writer of the piece included the department in which he was representing. The following day, I contacted his department and left a voicemail. No response. I went to work several days later and called a second time before being transferred to Eric (who as of this writing currently works investigations). I stated my name, department, and position but told him the reason for the call was not work related (I can only assume he was glad he didn’t need to stop his busy day to help someone from another agency). As such, I proceed to tell him, “I really am a Detective and this is not a joke….” at which point I told him of my intent of wanting to pick his brain about his replica after reading the article. We talked briefly before asking me if I wanted to see it. Did I want to see it? I thought to myself, does a kid put out cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas eve? So, after some planning, I met Eric weeks later. Let me just state, that Eric is truly one of the nicest, genuine guys I know. He is generous with his time and coincidentally enough, we have many things in common aside from Law Enforcement (we both own proton packs). We talked about work, faith and our mutual love of all things related to TV and cinema. I learned Eric is quite accomplished and is in the Guinness World Book of Records for most rides on a roller coaster. He’s also an actor, a passion we both share. As we continued talking and walking towards his garage, I immediately reverted to that same 8-year-old boy again upon seeing it. Not one but two KITTS! Eric had a T-top and convertible in his garage! I couldn’t believe my good fortune and immediately knew I was all in. Eric graciously allowed me to sit in his car. I fell in love. The gullwing, the dashboard and all its gadgets had me at hello.
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After leaving Eric’s home, with a cupcake no less, I began wondering how I was going to make this happen. You have to keep in mind that I now felt as if I wouldn’t be viewed as abnormal for loving and owning a KITT. I was a big boy looking to buy my big boy toy. I quietly searched online in the hopes of finding a bargain basement 82 trans am. I wanted the 82 solely for the purpose of recreating authenticity given that the show’s KITT was originally an 82. I told my wife of my intent, which she thought was just a nostalgic blast from the past, but she came to realize how real it was for me. After much “discussions” the wife embraced my pursuit and became a financial benefactor. She is an amazing and loving individual who purely wanted to see me happy and for that, I am forever grateful. On 4/23/18, I bought a White 1982 trans-am listed on Offer Up as part of an estate sale in green bay Wisconsin. I negotiated the price from $4800 down to $3500, unseen mind you, with my brother in-law driving me down (a five-hour drive). The car seemed to have all of its original interior but it needed reupholstering badly. The first test was driving it back to Illinois. It had approximately 75k miles on it with a 305 V8 engine. It was a two-owner vehicle kept in the garage for about 20 years. The drive back was a risky adventure, especially at 65mph at night not knowing the condition of the engine with nothing but smoke coming from the exhaust. I thought to myself ‘well if I make it home, it a win’.
The first thing done was having it inspected by my mechanic who conducted a compression check of engine. “Runs good” he said “for being over 30 years old”. I had all of the engine’s seals, filters, plugs, gaskets, etc. redone. While the engine bay was free of everything, I had a neighborhood painter paint the engine bay black. In hindsight, big mistake. I should have spent a little more by having it professionally stripped and painted, but alas, at least the engine bay was black. I’ve had some ask, ‘why not a new engine?’ Sure, I could’ve updated new but I wanted to retain all original parts. Ultimately, however, I may seek to have it converted to electrical. $7800 later, and now I was really all with no turning back. Not being a sport car enthusiast, I had no idea how low it sits to the ground (even after sitting in Eric’s) and how long and heavy it is (over 2800 lbs.). I am a perfectionist so; I was starting to become anal in terms of what interior parts would be needed but where to start? There are so many vendors in this hobby that it is almost cult-like, in a good way, in that only we understand the time, money and energy needed to create such a replica. After searching many forums, websites and Facebook groups again, I decided on a gentleman from Kentucky named Scott Benson.
For anyone not familiar with Scott in the Knight Rider community, he’s a no-nonsense friendly guy who also has a love for all things 80’s especially knight rider. His knowledge of electronics is fascinating in that Scott will rattle off terms, tasks and what it takes to retrofit your car from T-top to wheel caps. His southernly disposition puts one at ease as he details what will be done to the car and what options can be attained depending on your budget and imagination. After discussing pricing and housing, I then took another drive with KITT (this time with a U-Haul trailer) from Illinois to Kentucky, a five-and-a-half-hour drive. After looking over my car, I began panicking on the way back home. Is he going to do what he said he would do? Will he keep to his promises? Will he drive off with my car for me to never see again? Thankfully, Scott put me at ease upon creating the Facebook build page entitled Knight Industries of Kentucky, Robert’s Build. This allows me to see progress and communicate effectively. Scott is one of the staples in this replica community and has established himself as one of the most trustworthy builders and vendors out there. Now all that’s left was interior parts such as the gullwing (steering wheel) Gull-pod, Dashboard, overhead and lower consoles, not to mention all the electronics associated with it. The most worrisome part are all the different vendors out there, some who have horrible reputations or are no longer making parts. Luckily, I reached out to Sal Hanna of FoundationKnights.com who steered me to Ricardo Vera of Kitts Customs in Mexico. I proudly received his first customized Season 4 concept gullwing with its flashing green lights. Like Sal, Scott and myself, Ricardo is a true KR fan and has a part time business in which he fabricates all the interior parts for KITT and even has gone so far as to create custom parts that mount underneath the dashboard giving it a factory look unlike anyone else in the business. There are lists of reputable vendors but for the sake of research, I have provided the vendors I utilized which allowed me to complete my build and who are honest, friendly and professional. If I missed anyone please forgive me.
As of this writing, there has been so much work done to my car that I haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s been done. As such, my car is still in the hands of Scott who is finalizing all work after paint. I spent additional costs by having the entire vehicle media blasted down to metal along with wet sanding paint job which Scott supervised. In the meantime, I’ve been buying little extras from various vendors in order to create a world in which this car could have lived in. The money spent is not for the faint of heart. Many replica’s out there have the look and feel of KITT. I just wanted to have the feel of owning my very own. Now if I can only convince the wife to allow me to build an 89 Keaton Batmobile.
My build page: https://www.facebook.com/RobertAlveradosKITT/ Knight Industries of Kentucky (Scott Benson) http://www.knightindustriesofkentucky.com/ Foundation Knights (Sal Hanna, Consultant) http://www.foundationknights.com/ Kitt Still Rocks (formerly Knight Rider Historians Joe Huth & AJ Palmgren) https://www.kittstillrocks.com/knight-rider-historians-and-kitt-still-rocks-join-forces/ Phoenix Bumper (Marc Brown) https://www.facebook.com/groups/456326471412958/ KITT’s Customs (Ricardo Vera) https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/TV-Show/KITTs-customs-113769802409307/ KRW https://www.ebay.com/str/knightriderworld
Article by Robert Alvarado
