knight rider online

Right now (at least until 3/4/2012) there is a perfectly-done KITT replica for sale on eBay. Anybody wanna loan me 30 grand???


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/100-Comp ... ars_Trucks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Also, I had a question concerning making your own KITT replica. I know most or all of the parts are available online, but will they fit on ANY Firebird from the '82-'92 body style, or does it have to be a specific year(s)? Any answers/info would be greatly appreciated!



KNIGHT RIDER RULES FOREVER!!!

82 -92 all the same. You can build a replica for way less than 30K. You just have to do most of the work yourself.

Lurch Knight:


That is Paul Casey's(KRO:tigersharka) KITT on eBay he runs the Vegas KR Festival's and it's been on eBay for awhile


You CAN build a replica from any 82-92 firebird ,But some will require more work/$$$ then others like removing fenders,Ground Efx,Rear bumper,taillights....ETC which can cost some $$$$.

Also people have different taste lol. Do you want a 100% authenticic KITT/KARR replica or KITT/KARR inspired replica ??

And as the years go by and now hit the 30 year mark,Original 82-84 parts like Fenders,PMD seats,Taillights,Turbo Cast wheels are going to get more harder to find and prices will go up as with any H.T.F muscle car part . You don't wanna know how much 15" Turbo Cast and PMD seats are going for


I won't even get into the KR conversion parts side,Seems like allot of parts are taking 1-3 years from order to delivery and vendors are coming and going these days


My BEST advice is to get a clean 1982-1984 trans am,SAVE allot of $$$, grab a 12 pack,and get ready to wait



Dave

yea what Dave said.

Thanks for all the info guys!

I'm currently looking for an '82-'84 (but will settle for up to '92 if I have to) Firebird that already has all of the correct parts - t-tops, turbo hood, turbine rims, and correct spoiler.

Out of all the KR conversion parts, which are the hardest to come by? Do most or all of the parts come with installation instructions? I know how to do some car stuff & I have done work on my cars in the past but I am not a mechanic nor am I an electrical engineer.

you can get almost all knight rider conversion parts from various manufacturers, but what Dave said is the truth, the older something gets the more its going to cost. today you could probably get a fully converted, screen accurate kitt or karr replica for $50000. not much less then that, and thats maybe fully restored. now adat or automotive designs and technology makes a $40000 turn key kitt replica from seasons 1 and 4. weather or not that price is still the same i have no idea. you would have to goto there site and contact don via the email address to know the exact price for a turn key. and that's just the standard, non working interior parts. if you want full working final product slap on another $10000 or so.

im just saying this about don/adat, i have no idea about any other knight rider replica people out there. i know of some but i think adat is the best hands down. there stuff is very accurate from what i can tell. so if id go with anyone id go with adat. i hear don is one of the best in the business, but dont expect to have it anytime soon. these people are busy, and you would have to wait in line of any other customers or for parts needing ordered or made. if you ordered a turnkey from don it say it would be a year or two before you even got it.

maybe longer maybe less, i dont know, i dont have that kind of money to spend. if i did i would buy a replica from don, but anyways you can do what you want. my point is if you want screen accurate and fully restored, you got to pay top dollar for it. if you just want something that's like kitt and not necessarily fully restored or accurate, then maybe between $30000 to $40000. if you want the best you got to pay more, that's how it works man. so start saving a lot of money because your going to need it. also it would be cheaper to buy the parts and do the work yourself.

it always is because whens someone else does it for you, you have to always pay for the labor and parts. so that makes it more expensive, i myself dont know anything about vehicles so a turn key would be the way for me to go. but to each his own, either way its not something cheap. it takes a lot of money to work on vehicles, and the other and rarer the vehicles and parts are. the more it will cost, and the price keeps going up and up man. so id hurry if i was you. because in the next 5 years or less a kitt replica we be probably 2x as much as it now. close to or right at $100,000, most replicas are for TV and movie vehicles. you just about have to be rich to afford anything these days, new or old. but anyways good luck man, talk to you later, peace

The dash electronics are definately the hardest to come by. Of the 2 major electronics vendors, Jupiter isn't taking orders right now and Brenon is WAY backlogged. Mark's Custom Kits sells electronics but the price is outrageous. Don does not sell electronics seperately. If you get a set though, they will come with instructions. Fiberglass parts usually do not come with instructions.

that's right, its according to who you go with and there policy's and ways of doing things, there always different in some way or another, its up to you to decide who to go with and so on, anyways good luck getting a replica man, and pray they dont make kitt illegal, ive seen enough of that stuff to kill myself already as it is, and half the stuff is illegal anyways, scanner and nose for sure, and dash and etc, just according to where you live and the laws where you live, anyways talk to you later, peace

thanks again for all the posts evy1!

Thanks Dave, looks like you've got a lot of the parts there on your site.

Lurch Knight wrote:Thanks Dave, looks like you've got a lot of the parts there on your site.

Ya you could say that lol

Dave

Sweet. If I am lucky enough to be able to procure a 'Bird for myself, I may be hitting you up for some parts in the semi-near future.

Besides yourself, would you say that the ADAT folks are the most reliable as far as part quality and/or shipping time? Who else would you recommend for quality & speed?

I think what I want to do, once I've got a Firebird, is do the exterior mods & gullwing steering wheel 1st, then if I get through all that ok and have the $$$, then do all the dash/interior stuff.

Lurch Knight wrote:Sweet. If I am lucky enough to be able to procure a 'Bird for myself, I may be hitting you up for some parts in the semi-near future.

Besides yourself, would you say that the ADAT folks are the most reliable as far as part quality and/or shipping time? Who else would you recommend for quality & speed?

Very good Lurch Knight

And just a friendly reminder,I do find/sell "Donor" cars.Few years ago,I sold a nice 1982 trans am and had it shipped to a customer in Switzerland and he is VERY happy with it. And It helps that I'm in the GREAT state of California.


****Also aside from the taillight blackout,I don't make any replica parts.I only sell factory GM 82-84 Firebird Parts




ADIAT (Don Colie) and is one of the BEST in the replica hobby and he is a honest "Cut and dry" kinda guy NO BS.I and MANY of my customers have dealt with Don and have NOTHING but good things to say about him.I have been doing this for 10 years now and have met/seen the worst and the best in the KR replica hobby and Don is a TRUE guy all the way !! We had a silly misunderstanding a few years ago and like a TRUE person he called me up to clear things up and everything was cool he even invited me to his place to check things out,But I'm a busy guy and Virginia isn't my "Cup of Tea"


And as I have mentioned NO MATTER who you buy from,You ***WILL*** have to wait some time for products to arrive.People who like to Threaten/Blackmail/Intimidate/Harass in order to get their parts sent quciker, are in for a SURPRISE .Again many years in the biz,I have seen and heard it all.


Dave

Also Lurch Knight where in IL are you ?? I drive through I-55 sometimes to visit family in Chicago,Maybe i can deliver some parts to you in person ?? lol


Dave

Ahh well I figured out I probably won't be able to get a 'Bird just yet. Timing, money, etc... not good at the moment. Unfortunately I know the longer I wait, the harder it is going to be to find a good running Firebird w/ the parts I need.

I am in Central IL - Peoria area. Thanks again 4 all the info!

BTW - that is dumb to try to threaten/blackmail/intimidate etc... I would never do that to anyone. I am pretty much WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get, and I try to follow The Golden Rule - treat others as you'd like to be treated. Apparently there are a lot of people out there these days who want to be treated like crap, LOL!

Lurch Knight wrote:Ahh well I figured out I probably won't be able to get a 'Bird just yet. Timing, money, etc... not good at the moment. Unfortunately I know the longer I wait, the harder it is going to be to find a good running Firebird w/ the parts I need.

I am in Central IL - Peoria area. Thanks again 4 all the info!

BTW - that is dumb to try to threaten/blackmail/intimidate etc... I would never do that to anyone. I am pretty much WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get, and I try to follow The Golden Rule - treat others as you'd like to be treated. Apparently there are a lot of people out there these days who want to be treated like crap, LOL!

Lurch Knight:

Ya this is a bad time to think about building a replica if your living paycheck to paycheck.I was VERY lucky to start my conversion YEARS ago when the economy was good .Now my replica sits in my mechanics shop collecting dust waiting for new carpet and dash/electronics

And I wasn't saying you will do all those things,Just making a point clear to others who think they can get a replica done in a month

And very wise way of living life .I live the same way myself Must be an Illinois thing .And i agree lots of people I have met really liked to be treated like dirt I still can't figure what's up peoples A@% sometimes ?


Ahh Peoria isn't to bad atleast its not Joliet


Dave

yeah man I've lived here my whole life, and it's a great area. Most of Illinois is pretty flat, but around here you have the river valley with the bluffs on either side so there are some pretty nice views. If you're ever back in P-Town, I recommend you check out Fondulac Drive in East Peoria, and Grandview Drive in Peoria. Grandview was called "World's Most Beautiful Drive" by President Teddy Roosevelt when he visited Peoria, and to this day there is a radio station (where I work) and TV station here with the call letters WMBD.

This area kinda sucks tho if you wanna find an old-school Firebird! Most dealers around here only go back to '91 or so, and usually none of the '91-'92s are 'Birds. They don't even list cars older than 1994 in the newspaper classifieds around here.

Plus we have our lovely government to thank for the horrific clunker of the "Cash For Clunkers" program. I don't even wanna know how many perfectly good and/or potentially restorable Firebirds got trashed thanks to that idiotic idea... it would probably make us all sick. That's where great intentions (less foreign oil used, better overall fuel economies) lead to a program that had horrible results. All it did was take (mostly) perfectly fine cars off the road, thinning out the remaining available vehicles while driving up the prices of those vehicles. Stupid.

Don't even get me started on getting pulled over for having a K.I.T.T. scanner or the fog lights, etc... How about you cops out there go concentrate on catching some REAL CRIMINALS like, oh, I dunno, RAPISTS, MURDERERS, CHILD MOLESTERS, TERRORISTS, etc... instead of pulling over someone for having a red light on the front of their car!!! Our country is going down the tubes because our priorities are out of whack.

Ok I'm done ranting now. (Trust me... if you really knew me, you'd know that's nothing LOL)

How recently have the K.I.T.T. conversion parts become readily available? I know they weren't available when the show was on the air. I would think fairly recently with the advent of modern technology - computers becoming smaller/cheaper, and with the proliferation of LED's.

I'm just mad at myself for not thinking of doing this sooner. I guess I didn't realize until only recently that it was a do-able thing!

Lurch Knight wrote:How recently have the K.I.T.T. conversion parts become readily available? I know they weren't available when the show was on the air. I would think fairly recently with the advent of modern technology - computers becoming smaller/cheaper, and with the proliferation of LED's.

I'm just mad at myself for not thinking of doing this sooner. I guess I didn't realize until only recently that it was a do-able thing!

Anything is do-able if you have the $$$

And the only US vendor with ready to go parts that I can think of is Jay Ohrberg out of Oceanside(San Diego)California.He worked on Knight Rider and has ORIGINAL MOLDED KITT parts from Universal .And his prices are CHEAP But from what I have heard more labor/prep work is needed on his parts since these are OUT OF MOLD.

Electronics your pretty much screwed.............BUT I would check around with Dakota Digital shhh


Dave

What does "out of mold" mean?

I think even though the '82-'84 Firebirds are more correct replica-wise, I want to go with an '85 or newer because it will have fuel injection, and be more reliable and better on gas mileage (plus not as old LOL). Definitely getting tougher to find the 3rd-Gen 'Birds but some decent ones are still out there.

Like I said, I think after I find a Firebird I want/can afford, I'll work on getting the exterior to look like K.I.T.T, put in a gullwing steering wheel, and THEN maybe worry about dash/electronics, since that's the most expensive and labor-intensive part of the conversion.

Thanks for all the info as usual OKC!

So according to Ebay there's been several offers -all rejected by Paul. Anyone know what he's bottom line is?

I don't think the KITT Lurch linked to is Paul's - his is in Nevada and this one says Indiana. Paul does list his KITT from time to time - not with the intention of selling it, but as a "free promotion" for the Knight Rider Festival. He usually talks about how it's been there in the description of the car.

You're right, this is a different car. But Paul has had his KITT on Ebay for sale for about 6 months now. Priced at $35,000 with 7 rejected offers. Here's the link to the listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KNIGHT-RIDER-HA ... 1e69359178" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This year's show is going to features a bunch of different TV show cars, not just KR. Obviously for $35k he would let it go...