if you stop the clock at 1:40 you see that KARR was actually powered by a transistor radio.. no wonder he couldnt beat kitt...

Optimus?

It may be staged, but that's some good hoonage.

-10 for the Hoff's bird's nest hair.

The view around 2:40 is fantastic. Thanks for that.

Re K.I.T.T. replicas:

Saw this LA Times bit about Universal Studios slapping George Barris with a cease-and-desist order:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-custom4may04,0,255...

Could a replica of KITT be called a KITT KARR?

@scotte:

Yeah, Barris has a bit of a habit of, um, "padding his resume," as it were...

http://www.roblouisell.com/

I am sure you are all familiar with these Turnkey KITT replicas, but I sure hope we can get one of these nominated to the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, even if it is quickly removed to make way for better vehicles...they'll do KARR too!

Was that show really that bad? Somehow it seemed better when I was 10.

ACTING!

Man, watching The Hoff emote causes me pain.

i love how the tires squeal on dirt.

@ledwig: This is the danger in re-visiting childhood favorites. I tried to watch an episode of Knight Rider a while back, and was left wishing I hadn't. I'll stick with my memories of how awesome it was.

Same goes for MacGyver... my god, that show is cheese to the max. But to an 8-year-old, it's pure magic.

re re-visiting childhood favorites:

I found a VHS video that had 3 or 4 episodes of "The Green Hornet" on it. So what if the stories were kinda lame (there's a reason for that that's OT for here)...but the Black Beauty and the the "car-flip" special effect at the beginning of each episode (with a model of it & a '66 Chrysler 300 convertible), all the Mopar "atmosphere cars", the background music and Bruce Lee kicking/punching the crap out of the badguys with real (not faked) kicks and punches...all of that still rocks to this day.

If all else fails, call up Santini Air and ask pretty please if you could borrow Airwolf.

What is that annoying humming jet engine noise coming from KITT all the time?

I watched an old episode the other day and turned it off quickly for the same reason sardonicbastard mentioned earlier after I noticed that KITT was a hollow shell being pulled by a cable off a ramp in one scene. That and everytime they swithched to a new camera angle KITT was freshly detailed then sudden really dirty...then shiney again...wait, now KITT's bumper is crooked....and now it's straight.....I miss being a wide eyed kidd.

I suppose you're gonna tell us it was all fake just like rasslin'.

@ledwig: All shows of our youth really are that bad. Except the A team. Ok, that too.