KITT, The Car That Was 40 Years Ahead of Its Time
Put down your star wars figures for 5 seconds, pour yourself a bowl of Corn Flakes with a mountain of sugar, ignore the scratchy polyester jumper that used to be your cousin's, and somewhere in the background - you hear the theme tune.
Welcome back.
Knight Rider — which first aired on NBC on 26th September 1982 — was absolutely the latter. For four glorious series and 90 episodes, Michael Knight and his talking black Pontiac Trans Am made Friday nights feel like the future had arrived, and it had arrived wearing a leather jacket.
But here's the thing nobody talks about enough: KITT wasn't just cool. KITT was right.
The Car That Predicted the Future
Let's talk about what KITT could do in 1982, because the list is quietly staggering.
KITT had voice-activated controls — you spoke to the car and it responded. We called it science fiction. We now call it Siri, Alexa, and "Hey Google, why won't you understand me."
KITT had collision avoidance systems — sensors that detected obstacles and reacted faster than any human driver. Today that's standard on a mid-range Ford Focus.
KITT had a heads-up display — data projected so the driver didn't need to look away from the road. Tesla didn't invent that. A Pontiac Trans Am with a red scanner on the front did, in 1982, on a TV budget.
KITT had self-diagnosis and self-repair capabilities, turbo boost, silent mode (essentially an EV mode), a built-in GPS navigation system decades before satnav existed, and 360-degree cameras. The car could park itself. In 1982.
The writers of Knight Rider weren't just making things up for dramatic effect. They were, accidentally or otherwise, writing a fairly accurate spec sheet for the premium car market of 2024.
The Numbers Behind the Legend
Knight Rider ran from 1982 to 1986, producing 90 episodes across four seasons
The show was watched by an estimated 40 million viewers per episode at its peak in the US alone
Three Pontiac Trans Am Firebirds were used as the primary KITT vehicles during filming, with an estimated 15–20 cars used across the full production for stunts and close-ups
The iconic red scanner light on KITT's nose was inspired by the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica — both shows shared the same production company, Glen A. Larson Productions
The KITT voice belonged to William Daniels, who was initially uncredited at his own request. He didn't want to be known as "the car." He later admitted it was one of the best decisions he ever made, and one of the worst
The theme tune, composed by Stu Phillips, reached number 47 on the UK Singles Chart in 1983. It deserved higher
The Man in the Leather Jacket
David Hasselhoff was 29 when Knight Rider began. He'd come from The Young and the Restless, was largely unknown outside soap opera circles, and was handed a role that would define him for the rest of his life — for better, for worse, and for Baywatch.
What's less known is that Hasselhoff was deeply involved in the creative direction of the show and genuinely cared about the character. Michael Knight was originally conceived as a darker, more morally ambiguous figure. Hasselhoff pushed for warmth and humour, and the show was better for it. He also did a significant amount of his own driving. The production team were not always thrilled about this.
Edward Mulhare, who played Devon Miles — the quietly magnificent, perpetually exasperated Foundation operative — brought a theatrical gravitas to what could have been a thankless straight-man role. A classically trained Irish actor who'd appeared on Broadway and in Hollywood films, Mulhare treated every scene with KITT's dashboard like he was doing Shakespeare. The show didn't deserve him. It was lucky to have him.
Patricia McPherson as Bonnie Barstow, KITT's primary technician, was one of the few female characters in 80s action television who was defined entirely by her competence rather than her appearance. She left after season one in a contract dispute, was replaced, and then brought back for seasons three and four after fan pressure. The fans were right.
KITT Himself
The car was a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, painted black with a red scanner and a dashboard that looked like mission control had a baby with a synthesiser. The production team added the scanner, the dashboard electronics, and various body modifications — but the base car was entirely real and entirely available to buy at your local Pontiac dealership.
Sales of the Trans Am increased significantly during the show's run. Pontiac never officially acknowledged Knight Rider as a factor. Nobody believed them.
The voice modulator used for KITT's speech was a custom-built piece of equipment. William Daniels recorded his lines separately from the main cast, meaning Hasselhoff was often reacting to a producer reading the lines on set. The chemistry between man and machine that felt so natural on screen was, in large part, constructed in post-production. It shouldn't have worked. It absolutely worked.
Why It Still Matters
There's a reason Knight Rider doesn't feel dated in the way that other 80s shows do. The core premise — a man and a machine that genuinely understand each other, that have each other's backs, that are better together than apart — is timeless. The technology KITT represented has largely arrived. The relationship hasn't been bettered.
Every time your car parallel parks itself, every time your phone reads you a message while you're driving, every time a sensor stops you drifting into the next lane — somewhere, faintly, you can hear a red light scanning back and forth and a voice saying "Michael, I think that's inadvisable."
You were right, KITT. You usually were.
Own a Piece of It
In 1987, at the height of Knight Rider mania, Barratt's produced a complete 40-card candy stick set — the kind you got with a stick of chalky sweet that was mostly packaging and optimism. The cards featured scenes, characters, and KITT himself, and they were absolutely everywhere in school bags, bedroom drawers, and the bottoms of toy boxes across the UK.
We have a complete set of all 40 cards, in remarkable condition for something that's been sitting in someone's collection since 1987.
Shop the complete Barratt's Knight Rider 40-card candy stick set →
These don't come up complete very often. Just saying.
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