Tomy Jumpsters "KITT" (or Trans Am)

Archive for discussions from 2005. Please post new discussions in the appropriate forum.

Moderators: neps, Matthew, Michael Pajaro

Locked
User avatar
Toni Nummela
Knight of Finland
Posts: 109
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:25 am
What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
Location: Tampere, Finland

Tomy Jumpsters "KITT" (or Trans Am)

Post by Toni Nummela » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:13 pm

Now that I got our new Canon Digital Ixus up and running I'll have some nice new pictures for you to see. I myself find it very interesting to see what kind of stuff there is around related to Knight Rider. The first one is not listed under official "Knight Rider" title but the reference is so obvious that I think it should be introduced.

Tomy Jumpsters "KITT"

This is a small (7,8 x 3,9 x 4 cm) black plastic Pontiac Firebird look-a-like car that jumps (read turboboosts). Ok, in the 80's it surely was called KITT for us kids who moaned for our parents to buy it for us. You arm the car by pressing the button in the middle of the car. Then you send the car in forward motion and in random (as far as i tried it) distance the car will jump upwards with some string mechanism.

This was a very common toy in Finland among boys of my generation. There were some other "Jumpster"-models as well, but they weren't so heavily related to Knight Rider, if at all...

My car is constructed of two different cars I found from a junk collectors' fair. The plastic body and chassis as well as the tires tend to get some damage when used heavily in crime fighting ;-) and sadly the metallic parts inside collect some rust easily and the jumping mechanism gets quite stiff. That's why I've used parts of two different cars in this one. The car is easy to dismantle and assemble by yourself.

The writing on the bottom of the car says: "JUMPSTERS TM, (C) TOMY JAPAN, PATENT PENDING"

Here's the pic:

Image
Top
User avatar
HondaSiR
FLAG Assistant
Posts: 809
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 11:58 pm
What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
Location: Asia Pacific

Post by HondaSiR » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:14 pm

Your Canon digital cam takes good pics, it captures awesome details. Pretty good small KR "related" toy there. It resembles a stock Trans Am but good enough for a KR fan in those days. Can't wait to see the other goodies you have to share. :wink:
Top
User avatar
KITTfan
FLAG Operative
Posts: 1045
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2002 1:01 am
What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
Location: Finland

Post by KITTfan » Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:04 am

Ooh, that picture brings some memories to my mind, those were fun toys :D

-KITTfan-
Top
User avatar
Toni Nummela
Knight of Finland
Posts: 109
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 4:25 am
What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
Location: Tampere, Finland

Post by Toni Nummela » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:24 pm

Tell me about it. Haha. I knew I wasn't the only one. :-D I have some more of these nice "nostalgic" things that I've tried to collect. Pictures are coming soon.

Do you KITTfan remember if there were any launchers for these things?

I remember using a white Matchbox car launcher to give speed to these things, but I'd got it with some other car. They were the one's that you programmed a number from a knob. Those cars also rode some distance but then a fifth wheel popped out from the bottom of the car and the car did a turn related to the number you had selected from the knob.

They were able to go ski-mode too BTW. But I don't recall them having any more similarities to KITT. Maybe I can find those somewhere...
Top
User avatar
KITTfan
FLAG Operative
Posts: 1045
Joined: Sun Oct 20, 2002 1:01 am
What year did the original Knight Rider start: 0
Location: Finland

Post by KITTfan » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:20 pm

Unfortunately I don't remember if that jumper had a launcher, I just remember the toy from the button on it's roof.
I had some red Trans-Am looking little toy that had a launcher but don't remember if it jumped or did anything special. It got lost during the years so I can't verify.
The toy with a knob I don't remember.
Great stuff, keep the pics coming :)

-KITTfan-

PS: Here's some KR stuff I have with pics:
http://www.geocities.com/kittfani/docs/stuff.html
Top
Locked

Return to “General Archive 2005”