Autoblog

As one commenter put it, Autoblog has become KITT Central lately. Two Knight Rider posts in one afternoon? Seriously. But we thought this was particularly interesting, so we're sharing. The Muscle Car Blog sat down with Pierre Hoffman, President of Auto Indulgence, Inc., which was the company tasked with recreating the iconic scanning red light bar for the new KITT. He revealed that a number of prototypes were considered, including one comprised of 288 LED lights that pulsed to an actual MP3 file of a heart beat. That idea was nixed, and the actual one used in the show car is comprised of 480 total LED lights, 240 on each side with three rows of 80 lights per side. It's hooked up to a custom circuit board that allows them to create any pattern, pulse or swoosh of crimson light they'd like. They also installed a dark tinted film so the lights can't be seen during the day, and another diffuser panel so that the light blends together when moving from side to side. And get this, Hoffman is considering selling some of the prototypes on eBay or his website. Hmm... the '99 Alero would look killer with this mod, no?

The interview is a great read, including Hoffman's tale of how his team failed to produce a satisfying prototype in time and the producers initially decided to create the light bar effect using CGI! Thankfully he persisted and at least one component of the new Knight Rider will be truly authentic. Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[Source: Muscle Car Blog]