Old KITT auction photos
Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 1:10 am
I never gave a full report on the KITT auction earlier this summer. I know a lot of people were surprised that the "Nick & Jessica" KITT sold for $60,000, and people were even a little angry at the car and George Barris. I was never a fan of the car either, but after watching other cars being sold, I started to get an understanding of why KITT sold for that much. So although I will let the car speak for itself (ha!), I will defend the auction and Barris a little bit.
For starters, with every auction booklet was an addendum sheet that listed any changes in the auction from what appeared on the website. The changes were also announced before each auction. There were some complaints on the boards that there was a "bait and switch" happening because the online announcement showed a different car, but anybody who bid on the car would have known ahead of time what they were getting.
As a Knight Rider fan, I don't believe the car is worth $60,000. We have to stop thinking as KR fans, but as car collectors. It IS a unique Trans Am with George Barris' name on it. And to custom car collectors, that carries a lot of weight. The fact that the car will be used in a current movie with Adam Sandler added a lot of value. As an example: there was a car that appeared in the Dick Tracy movie. The bidding seemed to come to a stop, then Barris got on the mic to remind people that the car was not just in the movie, but that Madonna had driven it. (the car came with film photos as proof). I think that boosted the price by something like $7,000. So to these collectors, having a big star like Adam Sandler drive "their" car is a big deal.
One surprise at the auction: they had the second "Combo Car" from Team Knight Rider. I was taking pictures of it and some guy comes up to me and says "wow, that's a great-looking car!" I made a comment about how funny it is how slick it looked from the outside (what you see on camera), yet the interior was all exposed metal and duct tape. The guy said "yeah I know... I built it." Turns out he was the guy contracted by Barris to make the car. He went over the car with me, explaining a lot of the over-designed details they put into it. I admit I didn't understand a lot of it, but I did enjoy hearing him get excited about the car. he did tell a funny story about driving it around town and getting pulled over by a cop. He was worried that he'd get ticketed for it not being street-legal, but the cop just pulled him over to find out "what the heck is that?!"
As each car was pushed into the tent in front of the podium, they played the theme song from the show or movie it appeared in which was pretty cool. (They played the original KR theme for the TKR car.) The Auctioneer would give a description of each car, then Barris would add a few words. Then the bidding began. The cars went by very quickly; each one was probably up front for only 4-5 minutes and they went non-stop, back to back.
Other cars included 2 General Lee's, a Back to the Future DeLorean, The "Dragula" from the Munsters and many pure-custom vehicles.
A few photos:
For starters, with every auction booklet was an addendum sheet that listed any changes in the auction from what appeared on the website. The changes were also announced before each auction. There were some complaints on the boards that there was a "bait and switch" happening because the online announcement showed a different car, but anybody who bid on the car would have known ahead of time what they were getting.
As a Knight Rider fan, I don't believe the car is worth $60,000. We have to stop thinking as KR fans, but as car collectors. It IS a unique Trans Am with George Barris' name on it. And to custom car collectors, that carries a lot of weight. The fact that the car will be used in a current movie with Adam Sandler added a lot of value. As an example: there was a car that appeared in the Dick Tracy movie. The bidding seemed to come to a stop, then Barris got on the mic to remind people that the car was not just in the movie, but that Madonna had driven it. (the car came with film photos as proof). I think that boosted the price by something like $7,000. So to these collectors, having a big star like Adam Sandler drive "their" car is a big deal.
One surprise at the auction: they had the second "Combo Car" from Team Knight Rider. I was taking pictures of it and some guy comes up to me and says "wow, that's a great-looking car!" I made a comment about how funny it is how slick it looked from the outside (what you see on camera), yet the interior was all exposed metal and duct tape. The guy said "yeah I know... I built it." Turns out he was the guy contracted by Barris to make the car. He went over the car with me, explaining a lot of the over-designed details they put into it. I admit I didn't understand a lot of it, but I did enjoy hearing him get excited about the car. he did tell a funny story about driving it around town and getting pulled over by a cop. He was worried that he'd get ticketed for it not being street-legal, but the cop just pulled him over to find out "what the heck is that?!"
As each car was pushed into the tent in front of the podium, they played the theme song from the show or movie it appeared in which was pretty cool. (They played the original KR theme for the TKR car.) The Auctioneer would give a description of each car, then Barris would add a few words. Then the bidding began. The cars went by very quickly; each one was probably up front for only 4-5 minutes and they went non-stop, back to back.
Other cars included 2 General Lee's, a Back to the Future DeLorean, The "Dragula" from the Munsters and many pure-custom vehicles.
A few photos:
Good thing, Don Colie supplied some Turbo Casts with some ADIAT Caps. 
Me too! I hope they don't give him a goatee next. 