Talk of a Knight Rider re-boot is nothing new, the franchise has been stuck doing figure 8’s in Hollywood’s ‘Pre Development’ Hell for nearly two decades.
Hasselhoff has been attached to various renditions of a new show since 2002 and in 2017 both the Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn and Fast & Furious‘ Justin Lin were both briefly attached to some type of Knight Rider Project.
However recently, the Knight Rider Reboot buzz has been revving more than usual which has got car geeks like Geeky Daddy wondering about who should be cast as the new K.I.T.T.!
The original Knight Rider series was known for 3 things: The amazingly futuristic look (at the time) of the Pontiac Trans Am K.I.T.T., the amazingly futuristic intro music and David Hasselhoff’s amazingly Amazonian Rainforest dense chest hair!
Well since I have absolute zero interest in recasting Michael Knight’s chest hair, lets look at Geeky Daddy’s Top 5 Cars That Should Play K.I.T.T. In The Knight Rider Reboot:
1 The 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray Z51
The 1982 show Knight Rider coincided with the launch of the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, General Motors new futuristic looking take on the classic sports car. So why not rekindle that product placement magic with General Motors new futuristic looking take on the Corvette classic sports car: The new mid-engine Corvette C8 Stingray Z51!
This vehicle selection makes sense from a cosmetic point of view as well as a business point of view. I don’t have quantitative numbers behind this, but the casting of the Trans Am on the small screen boosted sales for Pontiac on the street (or at least drove foot traffic into their showrooms).
What better way to create necessary buzz and excitement for GM’s new flagship sports car than by casting it as the most famous GM car to ever hit the small screen? (aside from maybe the A-Team van…)
With aggressive straight lines, sharp angular cuts and triangular intakes tucked tightly inside every nook and cranny possible, the C8 looks more like a stealth fighter jet than a sports car.
Rocking a 6.2 Liter naturally aspirated V8 (buck the turbo-charger trend!), this domestic beauty clocks the 0-60 time in at 2.9 seconds. A performance that matches European competitors priced twice as high as the new Vette’s $60K MSRP.
2 Aston Martin DB 11 AMR
Let’s shift gears from the economically responsible (as far as exotic sports cars go at least) Corvette to the absolutely economically irresponsible Aston Martin DB11 AMR, which starts out around $241,000.
Opposite from the domestically produced C8 in pretty much every possible way, this British racer offers flowing organic styling with no straight edging to be seen anywhere.
In ‘Geeky terms’ and strictly from a style point of view, comparing the organically smooth flowing DB11 to the angular C8 would be like comparing the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation to the triangular Star Destroyer from Star Wars.
Sporting a 5.2 liter twin turbocharged V12, the DB11’s 0-60 time is surprising slower than the C8 (but can you really consider 3.7 seconds a “slow” 0-60 time?) but a hefty 630 horse power!
3 Nissan GT-R Nismo
Closer in looks to the straight edged C8 than the organic DB11, the Nissan GT-R has been a mainstay of Go Fast car franchises such as the Fast & Furious.
I know over $200,000 sounds like a lot for a Nissan (especially one that hasn’t gotten any kind of style upgrade beyond a superficial face-lift in over a decade), but with a 600 HP “fanatically tuned” 3.8 Liter DOHC twin-turbocharged V6, this Japanese import’s 0-60 is sub 3 seconds!
This is admittedly more of a personal emotional choice as the Nissan GT-R Skyline has had a special place in my heart since I dominated my college dorm 20 years ago in 1999’s Gran Tourismo II Playstation video game.
But it has also been brought to my attention that I am hold….which has been evidenced by the fact that the first “Happy Birthday” text I got on my birthday this year was from my cardiologist (and we are not friends…).
4 Mclaren 600LT
I mean, just look at that photo above!
When it comes to super cars, people often think of the Italians (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Dugati…) and the British Mclaren brand tends to fly under the radar.
This 600 HP twin-turbo V8 space ship is a carbon fiber aerodynamic marvel. Swap out the McLaren logo on the ‘frunk’ (front trunk) with a slow horizontally moving red LED light and you have the making of a TV icon!
The McLaren 600LT in a 2-tone paint would also make the ideal K.I.T.T. nemesis: K.A.R.R.!
5 Mustang Mach 1 Concept
While the 2008 Knight Rider attempt wasn’t painfully awful, for the sake of humanity, we are going to pretend that the 22 episode 1997 Team Knight Rider attempt to sell some Fords never happened.
The Mustang Mach 1 Concept makes me willing to give the Knight Rider/Ford marriage another chance.
So I am cheating a little bit here by including a concept vehicle, but I am just in love with the aggressive front end on the new Mustang Mach 1 Concept.
Just swap out that light up Mustang logo with that same slow horizontally moving red LED light as we mentioned above. I could envision the Mustang logo on the rear end (which is sexy, by the way) as a vertical moving LED light as wll.
Honorable Mention: Rivian R1T Truck
I initially left the Rivian Electric Truck off the list for the simple reason that it invoked memories of the F-150 on the previously mentioned Team Knight Rider, but in hindsight, that was not fair.
There is a ton of buzz and excitement for the launch of Rivian’s 1st vehicle and rightfully so.
With head turning styling and expected performance measures of over 400 mile range, horsepower of over 750 and a 3 second 0-60 time (which rivals the supercars on this list), the R1T has all the tech you’d expect to find inside the Foundation for Law and Government’s (FLAG) super vehicle!
Launching a new Knight Rider series to coincide with the launch of the new Rivian flagship vehicle makes sense on the business side of things and could work for ratings by cashing in on the popularity of the truck market.
Will we ever see a true Knight Rider Reboot? I sure hope so.
Will it be anytime soon? I honestly doubt it.
Which vehicle would you love to see cast as the new K.I.T.T. (and K.A.R.R. for that matter)?
Comment below with your choice!
As always, if you enjoy our content, please Like, Share and Subscribe.
Please check out more of our LISTS or CAR RELATED posts.
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
Geeky Daddy 