It is not as terrible as you think. It’s worse.
Although it’s not easy for younger Motor1.com readers, the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, a redesigned Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, debuted in 1982. It was simply amazing. Knight Rider followed the original sleek design and added some cool engine sounds and an awesome turbo boost button that allows you to jump any distance at will. Pontiac was overwhelmed with requests to purchase a Trans Am that was featured in the show.
Pontiac decided to put a special badge on Trans Ams and add $5,000 to the price. Instead of doing that, Pontiac told the production company to refer the car as a Pontiac Trans Am. This is why the original K.I.T.T. The original K.I.T.T. had no branding and the reason why the show seemed to go out of its way not to use obvious product placement.
It is a terrible irony that the 2008 Knight Rider series was nothing except obvious product positioning – this time for Ford, its new 540-horsepower Mustang Shelby GT500KR and perhaps every other car the automaker made in 2008. We believe there was a secret competition among Dearborn executives over which vehicle would get the most screen time. You wouldn’t have the new Mustang Shelby “morph” into an F150 pickup, if you didn’t know. Oder worse, transform a supercharged Mustang crime-fighting machine into a plebian V6 motorbike?
Even for fans of the original series, it was a painful show to watch. We’re going to make it even more painful by revealing that the main character car in the series, the Shelby black with red nostrils and flaring red noses, was actually a V6 auto. Yeah, really.
For the story, we turn to Christopher Rutkowski (aka TheAficionauto) on YouTube. Richard Morey, the Mustang’s owner, confirmed that it was indeed the car used in the non-action scenes and glamor shots. Morey, a Mustang enthusiast and collector of TV memorabilia, stumbled upon the car at an auction for Back to the Future and decided to buy it. Although we don’t know what he paid for it, we do know that it was the last K.I.T.T. Hollywood made a V6 Mustang.
This video tells the entire story and is quite fascinating. The car is beautiful, and the video is automotive art. It’s still unfortunate though, that ten years down the road the never-should-have-happened Knight Rider reboot is still kicking us in the teeth. Rutkowski mentioned that there is a Knight Rider initiative currently underway. Please learn from the Ford fiasco, regardless of who is in charge.