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Welcome to all our new visitors from Engadget, Gizmodo, Knight Rider Online, and Autoblog.
Readers of Muscle Car Blog are already well educated about the new Knight Rider original NBC 2-hour movie to be aired this Sunday. We have posted a ton of news about the show as we were huge fans of the original 80's show starring The Hoff. We're excited about the upcoming movie and we hope NBC turns it into a new series.
With all of the the entertainment news shows and websites focusing on the actors, we here at MCB are all about the cars. We already 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. We wanted to learn everything there is to know about this new light scanner and find out what else he's up to.
Our interview is 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". Pierre also happens to be a good friend of ours, working together to promote his California Jamboree PLUS car show events over at our sister-site, Truckblog.
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.
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