KNIGHT RIDER FEST 3 Brings together fans of KITT and KARR in VEGAS, BABY!

There are fans of TV shows, and fans of the cool cars on the shows, then there are super fans who do something to bring a fan community together!  Paul Casey had a dream a few years back of getting rows of Knight Rider cars AKA KITTs  (Knight Industries Two Thousand) and KARRs (Knight Automated Roving Robot) as well as cast and crew all in one place for fans of the two Knight Rider Series to get to spend time together.   After many hours of detective work and many more hours of phone calls convincing people he was actually going to pull this fan based event together  it actually happened!     Now in it’s third year Paul has established an annual event for all things Knight Rider!

Owners from around the country, and even Canada and beyond have come with their replica and tribute cars to meet the stunt men, creators, and actors at the last three Knight Rider Festivals.  David Hasselhoff star of the first show has appeared, as well as Justin Bruener, the star of the more recent “Mustang” based Knight Rider show that followed the continuing adventures of the Foundation of Law and Government that the HOFF worked for in the 80’s.  One of my early jobs in Hollywood was being the voice of the KITT at Universal Studios and I joined the speaker panel at the first Festival. Since then representatives from Starcarcentral.com and Knights of the West Coast aka KOTWC have volunteered and brought their talents and cars to every Festival!   Dan, Alex, Nick, Jenn, Matthew, Glen, Nate and even Paul with his Back to the Future Delorean have appeared at the event as the Designer of KITT Michael Shiffe, also worked on the Delorean for the back to the future movies!

This year there were 16 kitts,  2 karrs, 6 mustang kitts (3 of them were the originals from the tv show). Of the 3 screen used kitts, 2 of them were from the pilot episode, the hero and attack mode, and the other one was the gimble kitt, the one that was at the on the rotating platform at the foundation base.

It took many people coming together to make this show a reality and everyone enjoyed getting to know the other owners and cast members and driving down the Las Vegas strip in a parade of 80’s Trans ams with their Knight Rider Red lights flashing!  So is Paul ready to do a fourth? He says “YOU BET!” so mark your calendars for Knight Rider Festival FOUR in February 2012!

KITT knight Rider brought back to life….

Hey Star car fans,

One of my first jobs in Hollywood was a tour guide at Universal studios, and for a short time I was also the voice of KITT on the back lot in the early eighties while the show was still in production.

Well

years go by, and I sit my son in the same car at Universal, with some other guy doing the voice of KITT but I was on a quest to get the TV batmobile, so it was just a fun memoriy to sit in KITT again, this time witn my little boy.

Well that boy if off to college now and I have had my tv style batmobile for almost 10 years,

and I needed a new daily driver to get me to work and back. I figured, hey, why not a KITT? It has lots of stuff my batmobile doesn’t that I want in a daily driver like A/C, windows, a roof when it rains, wiper blades when it rains, a lower profile so people don’t wave and take your photo so much, A/C, vents, A/C did I mention Air Conditioning? and a ROOF? Anyway, after much negotiation, KITT is now in my backyard with my batmobile, and they are getting to know each other.

I am working my way through all the Knight Rider Episodes looking for details, and discovering that they were very fast and loose with dashes and panels so making an accurate KITT is impossible, as even the screen used cars weren’t the same from show to show, and often even used two cars in the same episode that had different dashes!

My son got a little bigger since the last time he sat in a KITT!

A few wires to figure out and trouble shoot before kitt is back on the road….

This KITT was built by Dan Morgan “Knight” in the 90’s, about when I was building my batmobile, then it made it’s way to California and to the SCA thanks to Jason “Knight”.

So with the help of a F.L.A.G. operative Alex, KITT should be on the road soon! (Foundation for Law and Government, for those who aren’t fans of KR! )

Now if you are in southern California this weekend the Star Car Association will be at the Pumpkin Festival in Calabasass http://www.calabasaspumpkinfestival.com/FestivalEntertainment08.htm

come by and say HI to some new members and our new SCA KITT OWNER, Alex! Also the DEATHRACE hero Mustang will be making it’s first appearance with the SCA!!

So how will I get my new car around the Batmobile, and the minivan to get to work?

That’s easy, just like THIS!