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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
I thought it was interesting. Car was very rough when he started. Looks to have been red. Was a Firebird and not Trans Am. I'm curious of how much body filler it still has. Original tires, therefore not much speed in the shoot. 500 original miles. Added TTops.
I wanted to hear Jay say what a pain the steering wheel is, based on what I heard from Regular Car's KITT review.
My only negative is how many good Pontiacs are lost due to the post-show conversions.
I am retarded for clear glass. That car has a clear windshield
The clear glass stands out! Very tough to come by today unless you have it custom made and that's expensive. I acquired one for my car about two years ago and had it installed after paint.
I thought it was interesting. Car was very rough when he started. Looks to have been red. Was a Firebird and not Trans Am. I'm curious of how much body filler it still has. Original tires, therefore not much speed in the shoot. 500 original miles. Added TTops.
I wanted to hear Jay say what a pain the steering wheel is, based on what I heard from Regular Car's KITT review.
My only negative is how many good Pontiacs are lost due to the post-show conversions.
I saw this car in person twice and rode in it last year. It rode pretty rough in the parking lot and yes there is a ton of filler, welding etc..., but at the end of the day, it was saved from the crusher and continues on. No matter how accurate I try to make my car, it will never be an original. Even the most accurate 50k replica can't hold a candle to that original car!
If it were a Hollywood 69 Charger or 77 TA it would possibly garner more interest on TGO, which ain’t right. A bondo’d Simon & Simon car would likely get even less respect than this KITT, or a rusty IROC.
Last edited by Saxondale; Apr 3, 2018 at 06:49 AM.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again... KITT, the TV car was sentient. The car could drive itself, and had all those James Bond gizmos. It was a "super-hero" that could do things a typical car couldn't conceivably do. Conversely, KITT clones, in the real world, are flashing lights and generally poor build quality. They're a prop.
Meanwhile, a General Lee clone is a car, that does car things, just like the car on the show. The Bandit's Trans Am was a car. That did car things, just like a real car in the real world (self repairing body damage excluded). That's the difference. It doesn't matter if it's KITT, or the Delorean time machine, a Batmobile, or James Bond's whatever euro-trash, the gimmicky clones are just props, they don't carry the same weight as a CAR featured in an iconic movie or TV show.
It also doesn't help KITTs case that Knight Rider is an arguably awful show.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again... KITT, the TV car was sentient. The car could drive itself, and had all those James Bond gizmos. It was a "super-hero" that could do things a typical car couldn't conceivably do. Conversely, KITT clones, in the real world, are flashing lights and generally poor build quality. They're a prop.
Meanwhile, a General Lee clone is a car, that does car things, just like the car on the show. The Bandit's Trans Am was a car. That did car things, just like a real car in the real world (self repairing body damage excluded). That's the difference. It doesn't matter if it's KITT, or the Delorean time machine, a Batmobile, or James Bond's whatever euro-trash, the gimmicky clones are just props, they don't carry the same weight as a CAR featured in an iconic movie or TV show.
It also doesn't help KITTs case that Knight Rider is an arguably awful show.
OKAY !!! We get it, you HATE Knight Rider, You hate KITT replicas, You think anyone who has a KITT is a loser, nerd, dork
But whether you like it or not KITT is and will always be based on a 1982 Pontiac Trans am (THIRD GEN) car and last time I checked this is a
THIRD GEN based website, It has put our generation of cars in the public eye for 35+ years and is the car still respected by many people AROUND THE WORLD AND pops up on TV/Movies at times !!!!
The clear glass stands out! Very tough to come by today unless you have it custom made and that's expensive. I acquired one for my car about two years ago and had it installed after paint.
I have a complete set on my car, windshield, sides and non defrost hatch. Like you said very hard to find. How did you find yours. The interesting thing with the KITT car in the video is that it has air conditioning. I thought the only way a car ended up with the clear glass was if it did not have air conditioning and tinted glass was not chosen as an option. When air conditioning was ordered it triggered tinted glass automatically.
The clear glass stands out! Very tough to come by today unless you have it custom made and that's expensive. I acquired one for my car about two years ago and had it installed after paint.
I have a complete set on my car, windshield, sides and non defrost hatch. Like you said very hard to find. How did you find yours. The interesting thing with the KITT car in the video is that it has air conditioning. I thought the only way a car ended up with the clear glass was if it did not have air conditioning and tinted glass was not chosen as an option. When air conditioning was ordered it triggered tinted glass automatically.
For the original cars, the clear glass was installed in the film cars so the actors would not be shaded for front camera shots. I have never been able to confirm there was ever a factory clear glass in thirdgens, but when I had mine installed, the windshield installer told me they used to install them many years ago and that he had seen them before, however I could not find a single company that would make one without spending thousands. They all come with tint now. I always thought it was a film car only thing. Mine was acquired from a private collector and it was never installed in a car and came from a company that supplied clear windshields for the Knight Rider TV series. My 82 originally came with a/c and a bronze color tint strip windshield, non-tinted door glass and non-defrost hatch.
Dose this dude have more windshields ? Is your hatch tinted, it looks to be in your picture, side glass also. I think it would be odd to just get a tinted windshield and non tinted glass on the rest of the car. I have heard it called movie glass. I am surprised to hear that they had people switching it out, I figured they would have had the car outfitted in that fashion when purchased. I have seen a few pics of early brochures where they had clear glass so you could see interior features. Was your original windshield clear with the band on top or green with the band on top .
That was so boring that even Jay was struggling to make a joke anywhere. I didn't make it through the whole video even multitasking doing other things.
What I don't understand is why people who hate KITT are even looking at this thread. I don't look at threads about topics I'm not interested in.
Who "hates KITT"? If anything I dislike the way that every 82 Firebird is reduced to being a prop from a really corny TV show. Or the way that every thirdgen Firebird part on Ebay has to have the buzzword "KITT" in the subject so that some nerd that doesn't give two rips about thirdgens can build their dork-mobile. It's really not a hate for KITT, or even Knight Rider, it's a disgust with the cult that follows it.
If it'd been an interesting video I would have finished watching it. I've watched other KITT youtube videos without losing interest. This one just didn't go anywhere.
My friend was able to find me a clear back glass after searching for around 4 years for one. It was NOS still in a warehouse. As far as the steering wheel, It drives amazing and doesn't come close to my knees at all. The car featured in "driving the knight rider car" was not the best replica to say the least.
Last edited by Blasius02; Apr 4, 2018 at 02:10 PM.
Dose this dude have more windshields ? Is your hatch tinted, it looks to be in your picture, side glass also. I think it would be odd to just get a tinted windshield and non tinted glass on the rest of the car. I have heard it called movie glass. I am surprised to hear that they had people switching it out, I figured they would have had the car outfitted in that fashion when purchased. I have seen a few pics of early brochures where they had clear glass so you could see interior features. Was your original windshield clear with the band on top or green with the band on top .
No he doesn't have anymore. I got the last one! Oh and I completely misunderstood you on the tinted glass. You clearly have crystal clear door glass and hatch. My car has factory tinting in the side glass and hatch, just no stick-on tint. So, that's pretty cool that you have that! The only thing crystal clear glass on mine is the front windshield which I wanted simply because it makes it look more like KITT where you see the headliner all the way across and upper console unobstructed. I will say though there is a drawback to that windshield and that is glare. It doesn't seem to have much in the way of anti-glare, especially at night when oncoming headlights hit it!
I'm not really sure what tint color my original windshield was in the car when I bought it, but it just had faded yellowish tint at the top is all I remember.
My friend was able to find me a clear back glass after searching for around 4 years for one. It was NOS still in a warehouse. As far as the steering wheel, It drives amazing and doesn't come close to my knees at all. The car featured in "driving the knight rider car" was not the best replica to say the least.
That's cool about the back glass! I've been slowly working the water spots out of mine over the past several months which is taking forever, but they do come out! Your car needs a clear front windshield to really set it off! As for the steering wheel, that other car in that "driving the knight rider car" video has the dash/pod wheel too low in the car. Yours is right about the same height as mine which is about perfect and comfortable to drive as KITT replicas go! That guy also seems to be turning the steering wheel way too much on straight roads which means that car needs steering component attention somewhere.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again... KITT, the TV car was sentient. The car could drive itself...
They actually have that now! Although, it's hideous cars with stuff all over the top and sides and sets aerodynamics back 60 years! I have no love or want for self-driving cars! Isn't that odd? Fan of KITT, but I will not own a self-driving car unless it is exactly like the technology of KITT and they are nowhere even close to that.
They actually have that now! Although, it's hideous cars with stuff all over the top and sides and sets aerodynamics back 60 years! I have no love or want for self-driving cars! Isn't that odd? Fan of KITT, but I will not own a self-driving car unless it is exactly like the technology of KITT and they are nowhere even close to that.
Somebody may have mentioned this and I didn't see it......IIRC, if it is actually an 82, it should have had a TH350 trans in it originally anyway. They didn't change it because it wasn't capable of handling stunts. Sounds like stories and hogwash that thirdgen hobby gets filled with. But I could be wrong, did some 82's have a 700R4?
Somebody may have mentioned this and I didn't see it......IIRC, if it is actually an 82, it should have had a TH350 trans in it originally anyway. They didn't change it because it wasn't capable of handling stunts. Sounds like stories and hogwash that thirdgen hobby gets filled with. But I could be wrong, did some 82's have a 700R4?
Incorrect. TH-350's were NEVER were a option on a third gen
1982 was ONLY auto option 200C 3 speed auto
1983 was 700R4 (200C export only only Iron duke and 2.8 V6 models)
1989 TTA 200R4
Ah! Right. I was thinking 3 speed and blanked about them being 200s. Regardless, if that is an 82 as they claim then it never had a 700.
KITT was based on a 1982 trans am that CAME with a 200C trans from the factory, When universal got ahold of the cars the POS 200's were swapped out with TH350's
The car featured in the Leno episode above is a BASE 1984 Firebird(Made to look like a 1982 T/A) so it had the 700R4
In the last 2 days I read a post on here where the glass company broke someone's rear glass, and now his insurance company will not pay for another. I hope he sees this and is close to you. I don't know if he had rear defrost or not.
Clear rear glass, my car came with the louvers on the back hatch, glass was clear with no defrost as I remember. Took off the louvers and got a hatch with tint and defrost. I guess I should have not junked the old hatch/glass? Sure looked odd to me.
LOL, yeah I saw it too. Thought it was funny Leno pokin fun at the one dude about being single!
I think it's great that people are into KITT replica's, but to me the car always looked kinda silly on the inside. I loved it when I was a kid, and I as a sci-fi fan, I love the fictional concept of KITT, as more less the partner of a crime fighter/hero type character, but the 3rd gen car just looks silly to me, at least inside. I think the outside holds up....just not all the whiz-bang gadgets.
