| | Muscle Car Blog are already
well educated about the new Knight Rider original NBC 2-hour movie. They have
posted a ton of news about the show as huge fans of the original 80's show
starring The Hoff. They are excited about the upcoming movie and hope NBC turns
it into a new series.
With all of the the entertainment news shows and websites focusing on the
actors, MCB are all about the cars. They know that the new KITT car is a Shelby
Mustang GT500 KR that throws down 550HP off the showroom floor. But what makes
the new KITT so special? What made the original KITT so special? It's that
buzzing red light in the front, just under the hood. It's as iconic as David
Hasselhoff when it comes to Knight Rider history. MCB Webmaster Chris Duke
recently had the opportunity to sit down with the inventor of the new KITT LED
red light scanner for an exclusive interview.
Here is the interview with
Pierre Hoffmann, President of Auto Indulgence, Inc. based out of Lomita, California. Pierre's company is well known for its work on designing
and installing lighting in the movie "2 Fast 2 Furious" and several
episodes of "Monster Garage".
MCB: Pierre,
did you watch the original Knight Rider TV series in the early 80's starring
The Hoff?
PH: Yes!
MCB: Are you somehow related to "The Hoff" since your last
name is Hoffmann?
PH: Um, no.
MCB: What do you remember from
those days when the original Knight Rider series aired?
PH: The red scanner in the front of the car and the action of the stunts
in the show.
MCB: How old were you back then?
PH: I was 17 when I started watching and it was one of my favorite
shows, because of all the action. I don't think I missed a show. I think it
kind of helped me to get in to business for myself, as I was always into making
things and making money. I would make custom parts for cars or electric
components, then sell and install them.
MCB: How did you originally get involved with the new Knight Rider
movie?
PH: I worked with Ted Moser from Picture Car Warehouse in the movie
"2 Fast 2 Furious". My Auto Indulgence crew and I did all of the
StreetGlow lighting products in the movie and his company built the cars for
that movie. When the producers from Knight Rider were looking for someone to
make the scanner for them, Ted called us to take care of it.
MCB: Tell us about the iconic KITT light scanner! How many LEDs are in
that bad boy?
PH: There are 480 total, 240 per side.
MCB: What kind of LEDs are they?
PH: They are super bright red LEDs, however I cannot disclose the exact
ones we used.
MCB: In what sort of pattern
are they mounted? Simple rows or something tricky?
PH: We used three rows, with 80 in each row.
MCB: How many prototypes did you build before you found that one that
worked best?
PH: We did many different prototypes to get what the producers were
looking for. The first unit made was made with 24 red Luxor1 universal LED
units, the units we used had 12 surface mount
LEDs for a total of 288, or 144 on
each side. The idea was to make the lights beat like a heart beat. We provided them
with a sample that had a MP3 player to simulate with sounds of different
heartbeats that were connected to a music interface to flash the Luxor1 lights
to the look like a heart was beating. |
| | Posted 5/22/2008 10:49 PM - 1274 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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