Together with General Lee of "DukeWere the two most famous TV cars on 80s. Kit'sKnight of the asphaltAnd General Lee were adored by the television audience and especially by the children. In fact, there was a big rivalry between the two cars, not only between their fans around the world, but also between the producers, at a level close to each other.
However, Kit was the one who won on points, as it was a car that was coming from the future and seemed like a surreal thing to a child's mind. After all, the legendary car he was talking about was something innovative for that time.
Television mania in Greece as well
In September 1982, he premiered on American television, through the NBC network, a series that was to write history on television worldwide and to raise an entire generation. It was the "Knight Rider" (Knight of the Asphalt, in Greek) starring a car that spoke and thought like a man, Kit (Knight Industries Two Thousand) and a former police officer, Michael Knight, who was called to fight crime in collaboration with the car.
He came to Greece a little later, from the first state channel and was immediately adored. Especially, the boys had fun with Kit and the next day of the episode they commented at school what happened to the "Asphalt Knight". And such was the mania, that not a few boys who put red lights on the bikes to have something from the super-car.
Stickers, t-shirts, jackets with red lights, shoes, watches like that of the protagonist, posters, "Knight of the Asphalt" became the absolute rage, not only in the four years of the series, but also the next. In Greece, in fact, the parody of the series was released in 1985, with the imaginative title "The knight of the puddle", directed by Homeros Efstratiadis starring Costas Voutsas and his car, Psit.
The paradoxical duo that fought crime
Producer Glen A. Larson was inspired by another 1979 series, in which a truck driver with his pet, a chimpanzee, attempted to expose corrupt officials and bring order to order. And because he did not want the protagonist in his own work to be another handsome actor without great acting talent, he thought of the protagonist being a car and his co-star an incorruptible actor on television.
The second was found in his face David Hasselhoff, who until then was an unknown musician trying unsuccessfully to establish himself on the staff. The role of Michael Knight not only suited him, but established him as an actor (in the 90's came his great success as "Mitch" in Baywatch), while all the girls fell in love with the "lone rider" who was fighting the crime.
The story was as follows: An intelligence officer named Michael Longk was shot in the head during one of his missions. Death-prone and deformed as he was, he was considered the ideal candidate for a new undercover crime program by a multimillionaire Wilton Knight tycoon with incredible potential both in terms of technology and connections to government agencies.
The organization kept the policeman alive, giving him a new face and a new identity, that of Michael Knight. Together with Kit, a talking car, they got into a fight to defend the law. But surely the impressions were stolen by the car, which, among other things, fired rockets, drove alone, caught incredible speeds and made huge jumps, which was the "clue" of the chases.
Of course, no one can forget the beginning of the series and the music, which listening to it immediately brings sweet memories of our childhood.
Michael Knight and… Kit had never met!
Michael Knight and Keith were close associates and together they fought crime. But how would you feel about the information that the two of them had never actually met on set? In fact, David Hasselhoff had never met William Daniels, who lent his voice to the legendary car. This happened long after the premiere of the series, at a Christmas party.
The "Asphalt Knight" was also inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 2001 film A Space Odyssey. As its creator had confessed, he wanted to do something similar with the protagonist of a car with artificial intelligence.
However, the story with a car had greatly troubled the people of NBC, as they had many doubts whether it would resonate with the television audience. The reason was a series of 1965, "My Mother the Car" which had suffered a complete failure (it had been described as the worst series on American television) and was afraid that the same thing would happen with "The Asphalt Knight".
They chose a Pontiac Trans-Am sports car for Kit, which cost 18 thousand dollars for its conversion, while its current value is estimated at 245 thousand dollars.
The shooting was demanding and in each episode they used 4 to 9 "Kit" cars. In total, in the 4 seasons (1982-1986) 23 Pontiac cars were used, of which two were used only for jumps
Behind Kit's voice was William Daniels. However, in the beginning, the producers of the series wanted the voice of the legendary car to be more… robotic. The actor fought hard to convince the producers that the voice should be more human and thus Kit should acquire a personality. The producers in the end accepted and the result justified him.
The legendary car it is understood that he had a driver, who was hidden behind the driver's seat. The technicians added a special front bumper, a red light scanner and an impressive digital instrument panel to the classic model.
After the end of the series in 1986, video games, movies, series and games based on the "Knight of the Asphalt" were released. But the authentic is the one that has remained in the minds and hearts of the children of the 80's, who grew up with her. And let it last just 4 seasons.
The "Knight of the asphalt" in Meteora
And yet, Michael Knight and his legendary car even came to Greece! At the height of his television career, David Hasselhoff accepted a proposal from the roadside assistance company, Express Service, to become, together with Kit, the central figures of the campaign for the promotion of the company.
So, in the middle of the 80's and while the absolute frenzy prevailed here, they came to Greece to shoot the commercial. The shooting took place in Meteora and the story wanted Kit to run out and Michael Knight to call for roadside assistance to offer her services. The "thank you" of the actor in broken Greek, is what is left of this ad.