2 of 5 surviving 'Knight Rider' cars reunited in Butler County; tractor-trailer restoration nearing completion

The world’s largest collection of screen-used Knight Rider cars is now in Butler County.

The first Pontiac modified to portray the Knight Industries Two Thousand — KITT for short — and seen in the 1980s TV show’s iconic opening racing toward the screen in the desert is parked alongside one of the last cars built for the show that starred David Hasselhoff.

The pair qualify as the world’s largest collection of screen-used KITTs because they are among only five that are known to still exist out of about 30 used during filming. The rest were destroyed during the show’s production or after its cancellation in 1986 after four seasons.

The other three are at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin, Calif.; the Orlando Auto Museum in Florida; and privately owned in the United Kingdom.

Butler native Joe Huth, 44, built a garage behind his Clay Township home this spring so he’d have a place to keep them. He owns the cars with partner AJ Palmgren of Iowa, who together are known as the Knight Rider Historians.

The cars are not alone. Outside the garage is a tractor- trailer that portrayed the mobile unit for the Foundation for Law and Government, which Huth is in the process of restoring, including fitting out the interior of the trailer to look as it did on the show.

“It’s like Hot Wheels on steroids,” he said of the collection. “It’s a great source of pride and satisfaction for me. These are things that I grew up with and idolized as a kid. To be able to have the opportunity to actually touch them and restore them is amazing.”

That first car, a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, was among three that “Knight Rider” creator Glen A. Larson procured to film the pilot episode. It arrived in Butler County in July after having been on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles since 2019.

Having the car at the museum was “kind of like having a celebrity in the building,” said Kristin Feay, an assistant curator at Petersen.

“Boys of a certain age grew up idolizing the car. It’s really exciting for them to come and meet their idol,” she said. “We have a lot of guys come in with their families and be so emotional in front of the car. I saw a man with his family, and he was actually crying. He said he used to watch the show with his dad when he was a kid, and it meant so much to him to see the car. And he wanted to share that with his son.”

For its Hollywood displays, Feay said the museum chooses cars that were more than just background vehicles, but that drive the story and are as recognizable as characters as the actors.

“KITT is unique in that it’s an anthropomorphic car,” she said. “It’s not just a prop. It’s a character that you, as a viewer, have a relationship with KITT as much as any other human characters in the TV series.”

East Coast “Knight Rider” fans will have a chance to see the car at Retro Con, a pop culture and memorabilia show, taking place Sept. 6 and 7 at The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa.

While the convention’s lineup includes a 1960s Batmobile, a “Smokey and the Bandit” Trans Am, and an “A-Team” van, those vehicles are replicas. KITT will be the real deal.

This year’s Retro Con will be the first time the 1982 car, used primarily in Knight Rider’s first two seasons, has been at the convention. It also portrayed KITT’s “evil twin,” the Knight Automated Roving Robot, KARR.

Huth was at Retro Con once before, in 2022, with the other car, a 1984 Pontiac Firebird. One of the last two cars created for the show, it was used for stunts, not including jumps or “turbo boosts,” in the third and fourth seasons.

The 1984 car was featured on Jay Leno’s Garage in 2018 and reunited with Hasselhoff on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in 2019.

Each car followed different roads after the end of the TV show — roads that could have led to their destruction had Huth and Palmgren not found and preserved them. Except for briefly in 2019 before the 1982 car went to the Petersen, the two cars had not been together since 1986, Huth said.

The 1982 car, which they acquired first from the Los Angeles area in 2007, was among four sold to a promotions company, Hollywood Productions. Huth understands that a Saudi Arabian prince bought it in the early 1990s, but never picked it up. It then sat outside in a San Diego auction lot, where one of its T-tops was stolen, before another individual bought it and restored it before Huth and Palmgren acquired it.

The 1984 car was displayed at Universal Studios in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1993. It then sat, unused, behind a maintenance building until 2008, when it was sent to a Los Angeles junk yard, which was when Huth and Palmgren rescued it.

Neither car had KITT’s distinctive dash during its time on the show. Hollywood Productions put a dash in the 1982 car, which, before then, had just a fiberglass shell with stickers.

The 1984 car didn’t have a dash until Universal Studios put it on display — Universal also had aftermarket T-tops added to the car; a hardtop that was made to look like a T-top was used on the show.

“It’s such a blessing to be able to be the caretaker of something I adored so much as a kid and still do as an adult,” Huth said.

Tractor-trailer restoration nearing end

Huth and Palmgren revealed in 2021 that they owned one of two semi-tractors that were used on Knight Rider. They bought the 1984 GMC General, appearing in the third and fourth seasons, from an Idaho farmer in 2019, but kept that secret in hopes of finding the one trailer that was used over the show’s run.

The semi tractor from the first two seasons, a 1980 GMC General, has not been found.

Their search for the trailer, a 1978 Dorsey, came to a successful end in 2022 when it was located near Phoenix, where it was used for storage for 11 years.

As they were found, neither appeared as they had on the show. The semi-tractor was blue and the custom fake sleeper attached to it was gone; the trailer was white and had been previously modified to carry drag racing cars and boats.

Huth and Palmgren have been working to restore the tractor-trailer to its Knight Rider appearance, including outfitting the interior of the trailer, although the front half of it had been a set not contained within it.

They have posted video updates of their progress on their YouTube channel, which has more than 120,000 subscribers.

“It took me a year to strip everything off of the trailer to get it back to its base,” Huth said, adding that it totaled 4,000 pounds of metal.

To pay for the restoration, Huth said they have so far raised about $57,000 from donors around the world, including through a GoFundMe campaign and a “donor wall,” where to-date about 500 people have given $100 each, which will get their names on plaques that will be displayed on the inside of a side door to the trailer.

He figures they need another $20,000 to $25,000 to finish it. Most of that money is needed for painting and cabinets inside the trailer.

Huth said he’d like to find a corporate sponsor to paint the tractor-trailer, or one that would donate the paint. He’s also looking for a cabinet maker interested in a “unique project.”

A supporter gave $15,000 for a ramp, which, when lowered, allows KITT to travel into the trailer.

“It was a hugely generous gift,” Huth said.

A new aluminum sleeper has been put back on the semi-tractor. Designed by fan Glenn Holzer and fabricated with his assistance in Wisconsin, behind-the-scenes photos and screenshots of the show were used to ensure its accuracy.

“I’m proud to say it’s exact down to the rivet,” Huth said.

Huth hopes to complete the semi-tractor this year and the trailer by June 2026.

With the help of the Northeast Ohio Dukes, a group of “Dukes of Hazzard” fans in Warren, Ohio, who jump replicas of the General Lee, they are planning an unveiling event for the semi.

It would feature a replica KITT that would be backed out of the trailer while the truck is in motion, and then perform a “turbo boost” jump stunt. A date and location have not yet been chosen.

After the unveiling, Huth said the plan is for the tractor-trailer to be kept in Chicago, where a third partner has space to keep it enclosed.