Finding the Perfect Car
The idea of finding the perfect car is really a misnomer unless an unlimited budget is at your discretion. There are a million variables that go into finding the perfect car for turning your F-body car into KITT from Knight Rider. For me it was a matter of setting a budget and trying to find something within that budget. My goal was to find a car for $1300 or less that I could work with. Having a basic understanding of cars and being pretty mechanically inclined I knew that I would be able to fix most problems that would present themselves. The problem for me was that there were no Trans Am's or Firebirds in the midwest that I could afford. I spent much time looking at many different online websites for purchasing automobiles, but it was Ebay that landed me my car.
When I attacked Ebay I knew I had a set of parameters which would be important to converting whatever car I bought. In the first season of Knight Rider, KITT was a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am with some modifications, but mostly stock. However through some research, I found that getting the correct combination of stock parts on the same car was going to be the challenge, so I made the following list of components needed for KITT:
- 1982 - 1984 Trans Am or Firebird
- Cowl Induction Hood
- 15" Turbo Cast Aluminum Rims
- Bowling Ball Hubcaps
- Rear Deck Spoiler
- Trans Am Fenders
- PMD Seats
- Tan Interior
- Black Exterior
- Automatic Transmission
- T-Tops
I knew going into this that I would not find all of those components on one car in my price range, so I spent 6 months looking until I found a car that I could work with. What I came up with was a beautiful 1982 Firebird S/E with a 5 of the 11 desired components. The good thing about this car was that it only had 98,000 miles on it, and ran and looked great. The downside was that it was missing the most expensive component to replace. An automatic transmission.