Replica of Knight Rider car to go on show for first time in five years

The iconic talking Pontiac Trans-Am from the 1980s’ hit television series Knight Rider offered a weekly dose of souped-up wonder.

Fans of the show will have chance to see one of its replicas for the first time in five years at this year’s The Yorkshire Post Motor Show and Classic Car Rally at Castle Howard on Father’s Day.

Rob Ormondroyd bought his own version of KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand), a 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am, 15 years ago and created his own dashboard.

“It’s something you bring from your childhood,” said Mr Ormondroyd, 44, of Bradford. “It’s a connection to your childhood and the memories of it. It was an event to watch something like this, it was once a week, you would look forward to it. There was nothing like it on television. It was always about the car.”

Actor David Hasselhoff, who played Michael Knight in the show, ‘met’ this version of his co-star in 2011.

Five years ago, Mr Ormondroyd, who co-produced Knight Rider convention Knightcon, ripped out the dashboard to tweak it but was too busy to finish the job.

Now a desire to take his five-year-old daughter to the Yorkshire Post Motor Show and Classic Car Rally is driving him to complete the rebuild.

“The Yorkshire Post Motor Show was always my favourite show,” said Mr Ormondroyd. “My son Brandon, who is 13 now, came to the show lots. He loved standing up out of the T-top roof when the cars were displayed in the arena. For the last 18 months my daughter Alexa has mentioned wanting to do the car show so she can wave to the crowds. I decided to do the car for her.”

The car, which has the classic KITT red scanner, is being rebuilt with the custom KITT dashboard including hundreds of LED lights and television screens and should be able to talk. It is also signed by William Daniels, the actor who supplied the Voice of KITT,

Mr Ormondroyd, a designer who now produces sci-fi comic convention Ultracon at Doncaster Racecourse, said: “These things are works of art. Most of the KITT conversions are better and do more than the one in the TV series did. You can put artificial intelligence in these things now and they will talk back to you.

“When you are in this car the world is a happy place because everyone is smiling. People stop and double take all the time. I have had people jumping out of the cars in front of me to take pictures.”

Tickets for The Yorkshire Post Motor Show and Classic Car Rally on June 19 can be bought online by visiting www.castlehoward.co.uk/motorshow. Those booking online will receive a 10 per cent discount. To enter a vehicle please contact Karen Goodridge Cross on 0113 238 8201 or [email protected].