Marc Brown

I thought I'd post some pics of my front nose I recieved from Rob Louisell.... I did some priming and a little more work to the snout section of the nose, made it look more smiley looking(I know CRAZY knight rider people) , but KITT in my eyes had a little more smiley going on.. anyway... here's an original shot of KITT from the side.....



and here is mine in first prime....



Here is a 2nd season nose shot which was missing the turn signal plexiglass for the turn signals ( or as Knight Rider people say, the droopy nose) some like that nose , while others prefer the plexi over it... i prefer the plexi... My plexi has not come in yet so I made some mock up cardboard pieces... had to have something to visualize...but here is the 2nd season nose , The lines of the snout are still visible here...



When shooting my pics, the sun was behind me, so the snout's depth is not very visible, but you can see the lines good, so anyway, here's mine....



I just was excited again about this ride... it's getting closer by the year... yep that's what it feels like.... anyway... thanks for looking ... as you can tell , I've been having fun.... just call my ride the , bondo mobile......engine bay , then this? AHHHH!!!!

Thanks
marc

JohnC

iTrader: (1)

That looks really cool.

tamatt27

Hmm...have you seen the Knight Passions nose? That's the only one on the market that has the 'smile'..until yours.

Marc Brown

Yey, i studied and studied , that... and your right, Joao, (Knight Passions) has a Phat a$$ nose... His is awesome and to every degree , correct... Rob's Looks the part to me, except it's missing the smile... which I added to mine, His overall lines are perfect...but is missing the smile , which is more on the bottom half of the nose than the top.... This nose was also in conjunction with Michael Scheffe to recreate the original idea of the nose... Rob and him worked together on this one.... Michael Scheffe is the original designer of KITT... I also have Rob's dash which I love... during (I think)the 2nd season, Universal took over the noses and created the nose that Joao's nose recreates... Rob's noses are more like the pilot episode and the very first couple of show's... but I am doing with Rob's nose what I think is my interpretation of what I remember, and that(smiley) is what I remember.... Although , you could just block his new nose out and it would be fine, I'm just very @n@l about this car... It's my last resto(per Wifey) that I'm doing ,so i'm making it the best I can and precise as I can.. thanks for looking ... and sorry so long

Thanks
Marc

DirtyCanadian

I got an 83 Trans Am that I am painting black and keeping stock on exterior, the car isnt even black yet and already the knight rider jokes are comin in, how do you stand those or do you just use it at shows?

Marc Brown

i haven't even got to the point of show yet... everything is still in primer.. I get them all the time already.. most people are like , yey , right, your building what? yey right? that's normally what I get... I don't mind the jokes because I personally really like Knight Rider and that IS the main reason that I'm into trans ams... i've had plenty of trans ams , but I keep going back to 3rd gens.. I've previously owned 4 3rd gens.. and 4 4th gens and 2 2nd gens... The 3rd is still my favorite because of Knight rider and I also have a 1980 Trans am , just because I like smokey and the bandit.. I get those jokes also.. so i quess if I had a delorean, I'd get back to the future jokes? I'd just deal with people saying stuff and if you really like the car than do what you want to it... it's yours... quit worrying about what people say... That has never bothered me... thanks for the reply and looking...

Thanks
marc

84z350crate

thats awesome where u from

Marc Brown

I'm from North Carolina... i'll have some new pics up today sometime.. got bumper in another priming... anyway.... Looks better when both sides done anyway, thanks

Marc

Marc Brown

Just thought I'd share some pics of my whole bumper in first prime... i thought it turned out great!... i added a little smile to KITT's bumper, just excited, by the way, I think I'll just make this my fab page for this car... anyway, here is the original:



here's mine!



Here's a closeup







anyway... just thought I'd share the excitement I had.. Can't wait to get this thing in paint now... I think it's going to look killer... anyway , thanks for lookin, and peace out!

Marc

83TransAmRECARO

If I'd seen this thread I wouldn't have posted my own about the Knight Nose... I'm wanting to do the same only without the scanner light bar... Was there alot of modification required to mount the nose.. and where did you get it from... love the look..!

gunner53227

Are you guys going to mock up the interior also?

kahless

GREAT JOB MAN!!!!!! I BEING A CHILD OF THE 80S I ALSO GREW UP WATCHING KNIGHT RIDER AND FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE THIRD GEN BIRDS. I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED K.A.R.R. OVER K.I.T.T LOL. I REMEMBER WATCHING THE EPSIODE WITH K.A.R.R WHEN K.I.T.T SAID THAT HE IS GOING TO GIVE TRANS AMS A BAD NAME LOL

Gordiggz

I've got a black 89 w/ the power bulge hood and t tops.

To deal with Knightrider jokes, I did what any mature adult would do....I made the Knightrider theme song my ringtone.

duh dada daaaa, duh da da daaa, dodo do do

Marc Brown

I just want to show you all of my progress I've done on this bumper.... The reason that I've not shown in awhile is because I've been reconstructing this whole bumper... from bottom to top... I really like the first episode of Knight Rider and I started messing .... I still didn't like it, so I moved on to another step... adding glass



then, after this... I got the original measurements from an original that was in California at the time.. So , I fiberglassed the back side and did some chopping.

before:


after:


I was trying to get the original measurements.


CONTINUED ,next reply

Marc Brown

So I had to do alot more....Here's when I was working on the spoiler area and the fog area...I made the fog area to the specs of the original.. and made it more deep.....




Now the bad part is , is that I'm going to have to mock the whole other side ...make it exactly the same...so I made the templates and started raising the areas with glass....



Got this side done....after months of aggrevation, I finally got it like the other side and got it in first prime....

Marc Brown

Continued from last post


Here is a comparison of the original and mine....NO , I'm not saying look what I've done...I'm not like that.... But look at the differences....first the before and after of when I got the bumper




Now here is the actual Knight rider show car and a comparison of mine

Mine


the real one from Knight of the Phoenix(first episode)

Marc Brown

continued from last post


After I found the lines and the measurements were on... Now it was time to fix a couple of eye sores....the bottom was NOT straight from fender to fender...so I added bondo to the bottom....and braced the backside so it wouldn't flex anymore



Fixed a couple of lines



Then I primed it one more time...


Now it was ready for some paint... I shot this and , MAN what a difference blk makes



Anway... that was why I've not posted in a long while... Been very busy with this monster of a project.. but the end result was worth it... Now , I know that someone is going to ask, " Is it heavy?" Oh yes try over a 100 LBs..so , not only am I screwed, now I have to find someone to mold it. I've been looking for someone that does handlaid fiberglass... not alot of people that do it like this anymore.. I did try a fellow Knight Rider conversionist, but that did not go thru ... He does hand fiberglass...loved his work, but that wasn't helping me out ...but I did gain a very good friend in the mean time... So now I'm just looking for someone while starting back on my engine bay...Just so you all can have a comparison shot... Here is a comparison pic

Marc Brown

continued from last post


I do want to thank everybody that helped me with this and I don't know what the future brings , but I hope the new year does alot... Here's a couple more shots ...I'm out of here , sorry so long...just wanted to show what I did this whole year... Thanks for lookin, now , I've got to go get on the engine bay







and my favorite



thanks again and hope you all liked this... I sure haven't....Just jokin...now back to the regular scheduled program, that engine bay



marc

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

wat did u do to the engine bay to get it that clean? looks as ive u welded up the pass side tray where the charcole canister once sat, as well as the openings for the side fender have also bee covered up. u also filled in the holes alonf the front subframe as well as the holes for the over flow tank, and blended in the strut tower cap.

now did u weld these up or just body puddy? those lines where the charcole canister are really clean and straight almost looks fake lol. good job

Marc Brown

No , I welded it all... I welded a pan in the battery tray area... This side took about a month and a 1/2 , if not more to complete... I'm now doing the firewall and wiper area...making everything seamless.... Here's a pic of the passenger side while welding...



Hope this helps... Here's the bondo...what a mess though



I wouldn't suggest this pain and suffering on anybody... but the end result is cool... but very painful on the back... but yes , everything is welded..holes and all... Thanks for lookin

Marc

ABJ88

iTrader: (3)

I'm loving it!

l_dis_travlr

K-R jokes be d*****!, that is an awesome looking piece of work.
I see all the work you put in, but I'm not clear on what was the
starting point. Can you identify the original vendor? I'd like to
see the original & price.

thanks,
kk

Marc Brown

The original bumper was out of mold , and at first I liked it... I thought it looked good until I put the hood on. The lines DID NOT line up like the Scheffe(original designer) bumper was suppose to. So, I took it on myself to make it right. Rob Louisell made the bumper. The bumper was originally a 4th season bumper that he rounded out and called his own. ... well, not really.... the 4th season bumper molds are still out there and alot of vendors make them. There is only a couple in the hobby that I trust with the glass work and alignment... My bumper WILL be available and will be of top notch hand laid fiberglass. Rob's are choppered (meaning used by a gun and have more resin in them than glass.. I say, look around , but there are other vendors in the Knight Rider community to buy from. again, mine will be available very soon. My lines are the measurements from an original bumper... so, That's what I used to give my bumper it's own look... I would say that there is NO line on the bumper that is Rob Louisell's bumper...not even the fender to nose...that changed also... I worked on this bumper for over a year and I'm very happy about it. Can't wait to get one in final glass. Go to this web board and you can see my entire build... Thanks for looking... And also go in the body section of this forum...I have pics there also

http://www.knightregistries.com/forum/index.php

Here's one of the best in the hobby fiberglass wise and bumper wise
http://www.wraithinnovations.com/knight.html

Interior , I'd go to one of these
http://www.knightdesigns.org/
or
http://www.adiautotech.com/

zerovelocity

What Part of NC you from marc? I'm doing a KITT replica as well. Maybe we could share some tips.

Thanks

Jimmy