Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of K.I.T.T. and the Mio GPS

There were a lot of movie and TV-themed vehicles at SEMA this year, but one of our favorite entertainment tie-ins had to be the Mio Knight Rider GPS system. We told you about this way back in June, played with it when the new K.I.T.T. visited the Autoblog Garage, and messed with it some more in Vegas. It sounds exactly like you'd hope it would. "Michael, you're going the wrong way, you ninny," isn't in the regular playlist, but it did have some attitude. Even better than laying hands on the Mio, however, was the fact that K.I.T.T. ( no, not the Mustang) was actually in the Mio booth selling the product. It was almost too much to handle. As we told you in June, the Mio Knight Rider GPS unit uses the voice the one-and-only William Daniels, the original voice of K.I.T.T., and asks cordially "Hello Michael, where do you want to go today?" when powered up. The 4.3-inch LCD display is also flanked by a series of red LEDs reminiscent of K.I.T.T.'s nose-mounted lights. It's available for sale now at about $270.


Photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.

Do you know what KITT stands for? Or what KITT"s top speed was? Do you know the name of Michael Knight's boss? Did you know George Barris built the convertible and super-pursuit versions of KITT? Do you know the license plate KITT wears? No? Dude, you are so not ready for the new Knight Rider movie. You've got about a year to prepare, and the "Knight Rider Legacy Unofficial Universe" is your Cliff's Notes. Or you could just watch every episode, now available on DVD. Unofficial Guide to the Knight Rider Universe - $21

Next up: What day is today?

The rumor that K.I.T.T. will be played by a Mustang in the upcoming Knight Rider TV series appears to be true. That is, assuming someone with a lot of time on his hands didn't mock up a Hoff-ified Mustang just for the hell of it. That's extremely doubtful, as the car you see above is actually wearing the body kit of a Shelby GT500KR, which isn't easy to come by for weekend projects. Nope, if we take the pic at face value, then the only conclusion possible is that K.I.T.T. will be played by a 550-horsepower Shelby GT500KR in black with silver racing stripes.

K.I.T.T.'s trademark running red light bar has been relocated up and into two nostrils that sit atop the GT500KR's hood. It's a natural fit, though we have to question the silver stripes that, while a trademark of the GT500KR, are totally harshing on K.I.T.T.'s blacked-out super stealth persona.

General Motors is probably a bit bummed that one of its cars wasn't tapped to play the part. But unless show creators agreed to a four-door K.I.T.T. and used the Pontiac G8, the car was definitely not going to be a Pontiac (we hear the Hoff can't fit in a Solstice). And GM is no stranger to stealing acting roles away from other automakers. Volkswagen is probably still pissed off that a Camaro played Bumblebee in Transformers.

Click the Read link to view a couple more pics over at Jalopnik.

[Source:Jalopnik]

Photo from Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars. Click for more photos of the car on that Web site.

So say our colleagues over at Jalopnik who quote their "validated connection" at an L.A. special effects house. Writing for the blog, Ray Wert nominates the Roush Blackjack Mustang for the role and even has photochopped one in full K.I.T.T. livery. But it wouldn't be the first time K.I.T.T. has appeared as a Mustang. In 1994, in a badly failed attempt to revive the Knight Rider series, Universal Television produced "Knight Rider 2010", in which K.I.T.T. is replaced by a Mad Max-styled Ford Mustang seen above. The car is now in Jay Ohrberg's collection of movie cars.

Reading Jalopnik's readers' comments is pretty funny, like the one from Papercutninja, "The Mustang is as technologically advanced as a Trans Am from the '80s." And this one from Seth, "It's like putting the A-Team in Mercedes Sprinter!" But the best might be from SRT8Six, "Maybe the pilot episode will have Michael driving KITT around just so he can figure out where that annoying rattling sound is coming from."

But we have to give props to one of our own readers, James F., who predicted way back in May, 2006 that the Mustang just might be cast in the movie's lead role. Congrats, Mr. F!

So, Autoblog fans, what say you? Will a Mustang be able to save the ass of Michael Knight's son just as well as a Firebird? Will the next special edition Mustang have oscillating LEDs in the grille like Jalopnik's chop? Is this in fact, as Jalopnik commenter Novaload says, where "Mustang AND Knight Rider jump the shark together!"?

[Source: Jalopnik, photo from Jay Ohrberg's Hollywood Cars]

When we told you that NBC was moving forward with a modern take on Knight Rider, speculation at the time was that executive producer Doug Liman would also take the reins as director. Turns out, that's not the case. The director of the pilot is Steve Shill, an industry veteran whose long list of directing credits includes episodes of The Sporanos, Law & Order, Big Love, Dexter, Deadwood and many, many more big-time shows.

AICN correspondent Merrick thinks that Shill is a good pick for Knight Rider, and he also happens to have read the script! We'll let you choose whether or not you want to read more details, but we will say that the new show takes place in the same Knight Rider universe as the original, and is actually a continuation of sorts, instead of a re-imagining in the vein of shows like Battlestar Galactica and the (horrible) new Bionic Woman. If you want to know more about the new KR storyline, you can read Merrick's review of the script (warning: spoilers) here.

[Source: Ain't It Cool News]

Click the image above for our gallery.

We've reported on K.I.T.T. cars being up for sale in the past, but those were all reproductions of the real thing. Now, one of the four documented 1982 Pontiac Trans Ams actually used in the Knight Rider series during the '80s has a For Sale sign on its windshield. The car has been restored to its "debut-season glory" and is being displayed at Kassabian Motors in Dublin, California. The price? $149,995. Ouch, that's a big chunk of Knight Industry's defense contract budget. But it's a small price to pay for the actual car in which the Hoff and his perfectly coiffed hair shot his close ups. Many of the buttons on the dash light up and the two video screens do work, though don't expect this K.I.T.T. to hit 300 mph or jump a school bus when the Rocket Boost button is depressed. The string of red lights on the nose do light up, however, which would be the deal breaker for us.

[Source: Kassabian Motors via Yahoo! News via TV Squad]