1982 Pontiac Trans-Am, the Knight Rider KITT Car

Of course I'm talking about the 80's show that lasted four seasons with David Hasselhoff. The 2006 series did not even last two seasons.

The KITT car is number 5 in a list of 50 most famous cars of all time. Number 1, 2, 3, and 4 in that list are respectively, Eleanor, the 1967 Shelby Mustang from Gone in 60 Seconds (2002), 1981 De Lorean DMC 12 from Back to the Future, 1963 Volkswagen Beetle from Herbie the Love Bug, and the General Lee, the 1969 Dodge Charger from Dukes of Hazard. I'd probably put the General Lee at number one.

Fifth place is not bad, though I think more people, who are not car buffs, would recognize the KITT car over the Shelby Mustang. In my youth, this car was all over the place and my neighbor had one. Looking back, I believe that the contemporary sports car back then were the Camaro IROC Z, Mustang 5.0 (Vanilla Ice video), Toyota Supra, and the Mazda RX-7. Out of all of them, I've always preferred the Mustang 5.0. And then, the Mazda RX-7 because of the rotary engine.

Interestingly enough, do you recall the sliding red light in front of the KITT car? It looked familiar because it was on the faces of the Cylons from old school Battlestar Galactica. It was their eyes. Glen A Larson created both shows and he used the sliding light effectively in each.

As for the KITT car itself, the 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am was capably equipped having a Crossfire-injected 305 Chevy V8 rated at 165 hp under the hood. The full name for the model was actually Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, with Trans-Am being the highest performing edition of Firebirds available. The other two were the Pontiac Firebird and the Pontiac Firebird S/E. It's also the third generation of its line.

The Firebird Trans-Am shared the body platform with the Camaro IROC Z. Though I didn't know it at the time, but it was easily observable and one can get the hint that there was a relationship. Of course, they were both made by GM.

Sadly though, the Pontiac brand is being phased out. But the legacy of the KITT car shall go on.

Replicas of the KITT car can be seen in various public places. Various outfits retrofit Trans-Ams to look like KITT. Here's a video clip one that's being loaded onto a trailer for deliver: