A Knight Rider fan has spent over 10 years transforming a run down vehicle into the iconic car from the hit 1980s TV series. Scott Bainbridge shelled out over $22,000 to a turn an unloved Pontiac Trans Am into his very own Kitt - the car driven by David Hasselhoff in the show. Scott bought the car in 2004 and started to re-create the sleek black vehicle - which even speaks in the voice of Kitt from the film and had to replace a lot of parts to get the Knight Rider model up to scratch – including fitting a new engine to the damaged vehicle.
00:00Nightrider, a classic 1980s TV series in which David Hasselhoff fought crime with the help of his talking car.
00:19This is the story of one man's ten year crusade to build his own personal replica of Michael Knight's iconic vehicle, Kit.
00:30He's Scott Bainbridge and he lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north of England.
00:42Nightrider is sort of a combination between technology and a cool car.
00:47So when you bring those two together I just fell in love with it, all the cool lights on the dashboard, the scanner light.
00:54And the car they use is a great looking car to begin with so it's just really won me over.
01:00In 2004 Scott bought a wrecked Pontiac Trans Am and after ten years work and an outlay of £18,000 has transformed it into a stunning replica of Kit.
01:12I wouldn't say there's one specific thing I like about the car on its own, it's sort of a combination of everything.
01:18I mean it's black, it's sleek and then you've got all the custom stuff on the inside, everything works really well.
01:25When Scott began his project ten years ago his Pontiac looked very different to how it looks today.
01:31I first got the car back in 2004, it arrived on a low loader and it was in a very very sorry state.
01:38So it's taken me ten years to get it from what it was originally up to what you see now.
01:43Which is the whole interior has to be redone, all new dashboards, new carpets, new wheels and that's just to get it to look like the Knight Rider car.
01:53But I'm also restoring a 25 year old American car so it's had welding, new doors, new wings, new windscreen, paint, everything, everything's been replaced.
02:05As well as fitting a 5.7 litre V8 engine, Scott has also paid special attention to recreating the technical aspects of the original TV car.
02:15Gadget wise it's got the full dashboard with the TVs, Kit can talk to you.
02:21I am the voice of Light Industry 2000's microprocessor, KITT for easy reference, a kit if you prefer.
02:30Gadgets planned for the future include an oil slick, a smoke screen, grappling hook but I don't think it will get as far as all the crews unfortunately.
02:40Scott now takes his kit to car shows and sci-fi events.
02:44How do I feel when I'm out driving it? It's great, I don't pretend to be Michael Knight and I'm fighting crime or anything like that but it's nice to just get out and hear the noise and what not.
02:57And the dramatic looking vehicle always causes a stir on the roads.
03:01It just looks like Knight Rider doesn't it? You can't remember Knight Rider, it's fab, really good, it looks like the real thing, I love it.
03:09Come inside here. That's not a good thing.
03:11Woah look at this.
03:13It's a super car with all the gadgets, all the toys, absolutely everything you could ever want and IT's dream as well really.
03:20The 30 year old postman says he's become used to the amount of attention the car generates.
03:25I get quite a lot of thumbs up and people flashing lights in their cars and people taking pictures of me, yeah it's usually positive.
03:33I think it brings back a lot of memories for people when they see a kid cruising down the road.
03:37However, Scott is not finished yet and still has several improvements he wants to make to the car.
03:44Is it complete? No. All the dashboard needs to come back out soon I hope when I get my new set of electronics. That'll take a while.
03:53There's other little bits on the body work that needs sorted out so it probably will be getting painted for a third time.
04:00And then I've got new interior panels to put in as well.
04:03Just going back to the screen accuracy thing, the plastics are a tan colour but mine aren't quite right so I've got a new set which need to go in.
04:11Do I have any plans to fit turbo boost? No, in a simple word. It might be fun getting some air but on the way back down I think the car will be right off so we'll leave that one off.
