Vehicle from the TV series
Knight Rider. The car used as
KITT in the series was a customized 1982
Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, that cost US$100,000 to build (). The nose and dashboard of the car were designed by design consultant Michael Scheffe. The concept of a black Trans Am as the star vehicle was already familiar to audiences through the
Smokey and the Bandit film franchise - the third film of which actually featured the same model of Trans Am as
Knight Rider albeit without the customizations. Stuntman Jack Gill says KITT's ride height was dropped 1.5 inches (4 cm) from a stock Trans Am. The hero car was the only vehicle that contained the intricate dashboard with the functioning electronic elements. Spare cars were always on hand, and Universal eventually did all of the modifications that were needed. A mock up dashboard was used on a sound stage for closeups of the voice box or other buttons. For continuity reasons, some (but not all) of the stunt cars were fitted with a dummy version of the dashboard which contained fake electronic displays but were shot in a way not to make this obvious to the casual viewer.
Glen Larson wanted the talking muscle car to have a heartbeat and asked Scheffe to design a beam of light like the
Cylons had in
Battlestar Galactica to be used on the front of the vehicle. The Pontiac's nose was eventually extended slightly, although brief shots of the first version of the car without the extended nose were used in the pilot episode and in the opening credits sequence of Season 1. Gill said that the studio got the cars from
Pontiac for $1 apiece, but Pontiac often gave the studio vehicles that had already been damaged from a train derailment. The only car
Universal had to pay for was the hero car. For the scenes in which KITT appeared to be driving without a driver, Gill would sit behind the driver's seat. Gill would extend his arms and legs through the seat out of sight. A two-way mirror was created that hid Gill during scenes where KITT appeared to be driving solo. KITT was never seen driving for long periods of time solo because of the difficulty of shooting it. William Daniels, the voice of KITT, would record his lines after the majority of the episode was filmed. Hasselhoff would work with an assistant off-camera who would read him KITT's lines. If KITT was in motion during filming, the lines would be read to Hasselhoff through the car stereo. The vehicle was usually towed during scenes when Hasselhoff appeared to be driving. The studio held a marketing campaign for
Knight Rider. Fans could write to the network and they would receive a pamphlet detailing some features about KITT. The first campaign was held in August 1982. The pamphlet said, "The Competition is NO Competition!" KITT was pictured parked alongside a vehicle that resembled the
General Lee from
The Dukes of Hazzard.
Soundtrack The "Knight Rider Theme" was composed by
Stu Phillips and Glen A. Larson. The series DVD bonus material contains an interview about this lead music, where Glen A. Larson says he remembers a theme out of a classical piece ("Marche Et Cortège De Bacchus" Act III – No. 14 from
Sylvia written by French composer
Léo Delibes) from which he took pieces for the "Knight Rider Theme". The decision to use synthesizers was largely a network decision. Larson claims that they used five or six synthesizers, drums and a
Fender bass. The rest of the series music was composed by Stu Phillips for 13 episodes and Don Peake for 75 episodes. Glen A. Larson co-wrote music for one episode and
Morton Stevens wrote the music for one episode. Peake took over scoring duties with the 14th episode of
season 1, "Hearts of Stone", in 1983, when Larson moved to
Twentieth Century-Fox and Phillips was working there on his projects. Peake remained as the series sole composer until the end of the series in 1986. In 2005, FSM released a disc of music from the series, featuring the series theme, ad bumpers and Phillips' scores for "Knight of the Phoenix" (the pilot), "Not a Drop to Drink", "Trust Doesn't Rust", "Forget Me Not" and the composer's final episode "Inside Out", as well as the logo music for Glen Larson Productions. Albums of Don Peake's scores have also been issued. ==Episodes==