knight rider online

ATTENTION!!! ORIGINAL SCREEN USED KNIGHT PLATE!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 88771&rd=1

ORIGINAL SCREEN USED SCANNER!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 86546&rd=1

I don't think that KNIGHT plate shown at ebay in the given link is real.. It is not screen used as the letter "I" is clearly the wrong font...

Both auctions include a Certificate of Authenticity. But I see something fishy...the COA of the scanner has the convertible KITT's Vin#. I thought the studio always scratched them off before filming? That's SOP right?

Another question I have is: Just how do we authenticate the Certificate of Authenticity? Anybody care to elaborate how this would be done?

I think "The Certificate" is basically meaningless here. It comes from "Hollywood Rock-N Country", whatever that means. The certificate is only as good as the organization that issues it. I would trust something if I absolutely knew it was from Universal, or if there was a certificate from, say, Planet Hollywood. (Because THEY would verify a prop before purchasing it.)

I can't say for certain that these are or are not authentic items. It does concern me that the seller only has 3 sales on eBay. Let the Buyer Beware.

HondaSiR wrote:Both auctions include a Certificate of Authenticity. But I see something fishy...the COA of the scanner has the convertible KITT's Vin#. I thought the studio always scratched them off before filming? That's SOP right?

I ran the VIN on Carfax. Its says its a Vin From a 1982 Firebird.

Michael Pajaro wrote:I think "The Certificate" is basically meaningless here. It comes from "Hollywood Rock-N Country", whatever that means. The certificate is only as good as the organization that issues it. I would trust something if I absolutely knew it was from Universal, or if there was a certificate from, say, Planet Hollywood. (Because THEY would verify a prop before purchasing it.)

I can't say for certain that these are or are not authentic items. It does concern me that the seller only has 3 sales on eBay. Let the Buyer Beware.

Thanks for the clarification, Michael. It also dawned on me that the seller had only three feedbacks. I wouldn't touch his auction with a ten-foot pole. Hollywood Rock-N Country.....yeah right.

Oh please, what a crock of $%#@. It's pretty funny that the SPM picture of K.I.T.T. right next to the plate clearly shows a different plate than the picture. The seller's other 3 sales had good feedback (but it depends on what he actually sold and the intelligence of the buyers). And the estimated value of this plate (according to the seller) is $900.00-$1,000.00? I wouldn't be surprised if his reserve price is $900.00. Unfortunately however, I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is a fraud either (namely for the fact that there's no way to prove this plate was not a legitamate unused prop), but I do believe this is a fraud. And a Certificate Of Authenticity means nothing (anybody can actually buy them). I would have to agree with Michael's point of view concerning trusting those. I'm actually going to ask the seller questions regarding this item and I will post my questions and his responses here accordingly. But I can't help but smell some B.S. here.

I just e-mailed the seller to find out more.

Isn't there a way to report fradulent representation of an item to Ebay? I mean the seller says its the real thing, but it clearly isn't. We all agree on that right?

Or we can just roll around with these on-
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... ename=WDVW
That "I" missed me in the picture. Im so blind.

TashaKnight wrote:Isn't there a way to report fradulent representation of an item to Ebay? I mean the seller says its the real thing, but it clearly isn't. We all agree on that right?

Well, no. The best I can say is "I don't know". I would hate to hurt someone's reputation based simply upon a theory. These might very well be legitimate items.

Well I got a message back in Hotmail saying "Messaage received" and the date, and also "Relaying denied IP name lookup failed" and some IP address. Weird. Oh well.

The "I" completely passed me by as well. Second glance showed it otherwise though. I agree that this is a fraudulent sale. Plus if you look at the picture of the "KNIGHT" plate on it's own it looks like the "I" has actually been added on to the picture (most probably in Paint or similar software). The COA (as one of you said) could be bought anywhere and there is no real way to test the authenticity of the COA.

Lost Knight - Did you get a delivery failed message back from the e-mail??

Mike

I'm even more curious to know why bot of the COAs are dated 12-14(?)-04.

There are "no" records on a vin check that I can find. That vin is not registered to anyone. I will also say that parts of that vin # can give out the year, make, and model of the vehicle even if false in vin checks. I do not know as to how it comes up with the engine type. I would hazard a guess that the vin # was made up.... could be wrong though.

Also part of the VIN says that the car is 1982. If this scanner was used on a 4th season convertible, then how can that be the correct date? I'm almost certain that Universal would have used one of the later model TAs that they had purchased over the years for the convertible mode vehicle.

BIGGER Question - Why have a vin # listed on a COA for a car part?
I guess that would be useful when saying it was on a used car and why the L.P. doesn't have one since it was actually on any of the cars used when filming.

Looking at both of the COAs, I noticed a minor flaw..... There is no dot after the N in the Hollywood Rock n Country

And the "I" in the plate had me stumped, but I could not figure it out until reading this thread.

Personal thought, it could be a real deal, but more questions than answers.

It seems that KnightRider2000 has come to the rescue again! (LOL, J/K). Mark of Marks Custom Kits restored a Universal owned KITT and took a look at the prop scanner. Can we get some comparison from a skilled KRO member? Thank you.

"Authentic" Scanner: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 86546&rd=1

Real Scanner: http://markscustomkits.com/kitt-restoration.htm

-KnightRider2000

Stargazer wrote:Also part of the VIN says that the car is 1982. If this scanner was used on a 4th season convertible, then how can that be the correct date? I'm almost certain that Universal would have used one of the later model TAs that they had purchased over the years for the convertible mode vehicle.

According to The Knight Rider Legacy, the Convertible Mode car was constructed from a 1982 model Trans Am.

KITT Rules wrote:Lost Knight - Did you get a delivery failed message back from the e-mail??

Yup, a mailer daemon, so I guess it never went through. Like I said I don't believe its genuine, but keep in mind that this guy is claiming this is an UNUSED prop, NOT a plate used on the hero car or any of the stunt cars. So according to this guy, it seems more like it was laying around the studio and perhaps was never used because of the "I" being different? Therefore we are left with nothing else but to confide in this fishy Certificate Of Authenticity.

I'm impressed with all the great detective work!

But to complicate things... I have a scanner and license plate which I won at an auction hosted by Universal Studios. I don't exactly which car or year they are from, but I am confident that they are "official". My scanner looks a little bit different from both Mark's scanner and the one on ebay. The scanner design may have changed a bit over the years so just because the other 2 don't match doesn't mean they aren't both authentic.

Also, the lettering did change on different plates.

Hoax or not, both auctions are doing pretty well with the bidders out there! The license plate is now at $202.50 and the scanner $898.00. The seller's reserve price hasn't been met on both auctions yet. For a seller with just three positive feedbacks, he's doing pretty well! (Probably with the aid of his COAs...authentic or not)

I knew this guy's reserve was $900.00 or more. And to think he started the plate's auction at .99!

Although there were different people that made the plates and the scanners through the years, and that explains the difference with the parts, I don't think I would be comfortable enough. An auction direct from Universal, like Michael did is one thing. But a newbie on eBay, good luck.

Isn't there some sort of Universal Studios ID system placed on their parts, or is that just on the complete items?

And Stargazer, is that you with the high bid on the scanner?