[HN Gopher] Auction: David's Personal KITT Knight Rider Car on Sale
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       Auction: David's Personal KITT Knight Rider Car on Sale
        
       Author : baxtr
       Score  : 84 points
       Date   : 2021-01-04 10:33 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.liveauctioneers.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.liveauctioneers.com)
        
       | tskulbru wrote:
       | This is great news for the various AI researches around.
        
         | tinus_hn wrote:
         | It's just a car with a nice looking but totally impractical
         | dashboard and steering wheel.
         | 
         | There's a YouTube video of someone driving it, it's great
         | nostalgic value but that's all really.
        
           | mrunkel wrote:
           | I believe the comment you replied to was meant in jest.
        
           | stedaniels wrote:
           | Surely there'd be value in attempting to reverse engineer the
           | AI?
        
             | Sosh101 wrote:
             | The sarcasm model alone would be worth a fortune.
        
           | joosters wrote:
           | Let's not get carried away, it doesn't even have a steering
           | _wheel_ :)
        
         | mhd wrote:
         | Or they could retrofit the existing AI with a state of the art
         | one.
         | 
         | "Super Pursuit Mode, KITT!"
         | 
         | "Looking for Proper Fursuit Mods on www.cyberfurries4u.org,
         | Michael"
        
       | slowhand09 wrote:
       | In other news... Kung Fury 2
       | https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/12/david-hasselhoff-kung...
        
         | metalliqaz wrote:
         | Kung Fury was amazing. But after years of Vaporwave, /r/outrun,
         | and all that, not sure that formula will land in the same way.
        
           | agumonkey wrote:
           | Just like many sequels of this kind, it had to happen anyway.
           | Just to finish the (new) wave.
        
       | mvanbaak wrote:
       | This looks fake to me.
       | 
       | Only some pictures of the inside of the car. Lots of
       | spelling/grammer errors in the announcement. Is it USA or UK?
       | 
       | Of course I can be wrong, but I dont buy it.
        
         | brandall10 wrote:
         | Did you miss the ones with David Hasselhoff inside of it?
        
         | davegardner wrote:
         | David Hasselhoff is promoting it on Twitter so it is legitimate
         | https://twitter.com/DavidHasselhoff/status/13454826542973132...
        
           | cgriswald wrote:
           | What is legitimate, though? If Hasselhoff picks up a
           | converted Trans Am it's his personal KITT car, but doesn't
           | otherwise have any other relationship to the show. There's no
           | indication this is the car from the show nor is there an
           | indication as to how long Hasselhoff had owned the car.
           | Arguably he needn't even be the owner; it could be "DAVIDS
           | PERSONAL" simply by virtue of the personal delivery by
           | Hasselhoff of the price is high enough.
        
             | GekkePrutser wrote:
             | He seems to be selling lots of stuff though.
             | 
             | But yeah the description and the photos are pretty sparse
             | for something that'll fetch about half a million.
        
           | MegaDeKay wrote:
           | "IF HAMMER PRICE EXCEEDS 25% ABOVE RESERVE PRICE, THE HOFF
           | WILL PERSONALL DELIVER THE CAR TO THE NEW OWNER."
           | 
           | Capitalized per the original article.
           | 
           | OMG
           | 
           | Capitalized because this would be awesome.
        
       | _nickwhite wrote:
       | I was surprised by the seemingly low price of this car: "Estimate
       | $175,000 - $300,000"
       | 
       | Jay Leno owns a _replica_ of the Back to the Future DeLorean
       | valued at $750,000.
       | 
       | I think anyone would agree the DeLorean is way sexier than the
       | Trans Am, but I would argue its place among pop culture is pretty
       | high, probably higher than the auction asking price.
        
         | agumonkey wrote:
         | I don't think any of them wins in terms of design appeal (that
         | Pontiac is really really peculiar and peak in its own genre).
         | Now I think that BtTF got 1) an already very excentric car
         | (pontiac was mainstream) 2) hollywood seal of fame, TV is
         | important but not as glam.
        
         | cgriswald wrote:
         | I don't see anything in the post that convinces me this isn't
         | replica as well (albeit one ostensibly owned by Hasselhoff).
        
           | metalliqaz wrote:
           | from what I remember, it is a replica... sorta. Made for
           | promotion rather than for filming. There were several filming
           | cars, and most were damaged for various reasons during the
           | show. Also, most of those didn't have interiors. Interior
           | shots were done in a different cockpit from the exterior
           | shots, which were mostly stunt cars.
        
       | tass wrote:
       | There's at least one home reproduction of this, and based on a
       | review it's horrible to drive: https://youtu.be/V1WbvwQCTvU
       | 
       | I'd love to see a museum pick it up assuming it was used in the
       | show's production.
        
         | Digory wrote:
         | >assuming it was used in the show's production
         | 
         | There are only two blurry photos of an old Hasselhoff in the
         | car. I suspect someone has converted an old car, and agreed to
         | pay Hasselhoff well for the privilege of putting his name on
         | the title.
         | 
         | It's like the home contractors who reluctantly sell "the
         | builder's own dream home" every year.
        
         | mschaef wrote:
         | > and based on a review it's horrible to drive:
         | 
         | Not really a surprise. The design of the car is close to 40
         | years old, even before you take into account the age of the car
         | itself and all the junk piled on for the purpose of looking
         | good on screen.
        
           | dharmab wrote:
           | Many cars of that era are still delightful to drive:
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/6u8xlg-q5Xc?t=576
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/v5whGoNQK6I?t=172
           | 
           | A lack of safety regulation allowed for cars significantly
           | lighter and simpler than what you can buy today. They're
           | definitely not _fast_ cars, but they are _enjoyable_ cars.
           | 
           | It's mostly the interior that ruins the KITT cars.
        
       | weinzierl wrote:
       | How do actors end up with expensive film props? It doesn't seem
       | to be rare that actors and other people involved in movie
       | production sell movie props. I always wondered how this works: Do
       | they buy it from the production company or is it all courtesies?
        
         | capableweb wrote:
         | A lot of people (probably not big time actors though, more like
         | taking and no one says no) end up stealing props and smuggling
         | them out from production, as otherwise they wouldn't be able to
         | get anything from the production.
         | 
         | At least from the few people I've visited who had props at
         | home, 90% of the props were stolen by them on the last day of
         | shootings.
        
         | bluedevil2k wrote:
         | Not too many years ago all the props of movies and TV shows
         | were simply destroyed when the TV show or movie ended. There
         | was no "collector market". Since the items were worthless to
         | the studios when filming was complete, actors were allowed to
         | take what they wanted. This is why you rarely see items from
         | the early days of movies (1920-1950) for sale, they were rarely
         | saved. The movie posters from the movies in those days were
         | some of the only items preserved, and those can command premium
         | prices, even into the millions for a poster like "Metropolis".
         | It also makes you appreciate the fact that the ruby slippers
         | from "Wizard of Oz" were saved. (Source - the Hollywood ride in
         | Disney Studios)
        
           | GekkePrutser wrote:
           | Yeah lots of stuff is just left to rot outside. Like that
           | Enterprise Bridge (though it wasn't the one from the show but
           | from the Vegas Experience)
        
         | jasonv wrote:
         | If they end up as producers on the show, they can often just
         | get it granted to them, or included in the promotion
         | obligations that are part of their contracts.
        
         | thrav wrote:
         | After a season or 2 -- if it's a hit -- I bet it becomes pretty
         | easy to negotiate ownership of items into your contract, since
         | they can't do the show without you anymore and it's a
         | relatively small price to pay.
         | 
         | See Sex and the City wardrobe.
        
       | rootbear wrote:
       | I'm wondering how KITT feels about this. Did he and the Hoff have
       | a spat, so Hoff is dumping him? So many questions...
        
         | baxtr wrote:
         | If you won the auction you could ask KITT exactly that...
        
         | fiftyacorn wrote:
         | Are they certain it's KITT? There was a baddie version of KITT
         | for a while called KATT
        
           | metalliqaz wrote:
           | KARR
           | 
           | You get 10 demerits on your nerd card.
           | 
           | Also KARR was white, not black.
        
             | dredmorbius wrote:
             | Originally black: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KPs5O5HXODE
             | 
             | A virtual twin of KITT (same prop set I believe).
             | 
             | Later two-tone: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dYs_DkFIqx8
        
           | coleca wrote:
           | I thought it was KARR
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KARR_(Knight_Rider)?
        
       | GNOMES wrote:
       | I see they are selling other Hoff items, but still question why
       | not sell the car on a more automotive focused site like Bring a
       | Trailer
        
         | 5555624 wrote:
         | Probably because as a car, it's not worth as much. I think this
         | is the sort of thing that would appeal to a memorabilia
         | collector, rather than a car collector. If I was selling the
         | Batmobile, from either the movies or the TV series, I would not
         | think of selling it a car auction.
        
       | mrunkel wrote:
       | I don't understand this site.
       | 
       | Are we pre-bidding for the car? The actual live auction will take
       | place on the 23rd of January, so what would be the purpose of
       | bidding now except to drive up the price ahead of time?
       | 
       | > FULLY FUNCTIONAL K.I.T.T. CAR WITH FULL CONVE3RSION CAR LOCATED
       | IN U.K. LOT WINNER RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERY EXPENSE, IF HAMMER
       | PRICE EXCEEDS 25% ABOVE RESERVE PRICE, THE HOFF WILL PERSONALL
       | DELIVER THE CAR TO THE NEW OWNER.
       | 
       | How unprofessional is it to have so many typos and punctuation
       | mistakes in one short blurb?
       | 
       | The auction says it ships from Canoga Park, CA, the description
       | says it's located in U.K.
       | 
       | What is a buyer's premium?
        
         | netsharc wrote:
         | > How unprofessional is it to have so many typos and
         | punctuation mistakes in one short blurb?
         | 
         | The blurry picture of Hasselhoff about to step out of the car
         | and not ready for a pic is the cherry on top...
        
         | dcminter wrote:
         | The buyer's premium is a fee (usually a fixed percentage on top
         | of the auction price) paid by the buyer.
        
           | dkdk8283 wrote:
           | The buyers premium in this case is 21%.
        
             | bluedevil2k wrote:
             | The buyer's premium on this is crazy high - typically
             | they're 6% - 10%.
        
         | technothrasher wrote:
         | > The auction says it ships from Canoga Park, CA, the
         | description says it's located in U.K.
         | 
         | Pictures are from a shop in London. I imagine contacting them
         | might shed some light on it for an interested party.
         | https://yiannimize.com/
         | 
         | > What is a buyer's premium?
         | 
         | Buyer additionally pays a percentage of their winning bid to
         | the auction house. This is very common in auctions.
        
           | 88 wrote:
           | Yiannimize is the business of a well known British Youtuber.
           | The business is mostly known for car wrapping.
           | 
           | See below a video Yianni made with this car back in 2016:
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/FFgJT9H9z0o
           | 
           | Edit: It looks like this may be the current/previous owner:
           | 
           | https://www.instagram.com/knightriderlondon/?hl=en
        
         | qrbLPHiKpiux wrote:
         | Did you see his cheeseburger video?
        
       | tmpxgdqrcKFuG wrote:
       | > FULLY FUNCTIONAL
       | 
       | With Turbo Boost and the molecular bonded shell that repels
       | bullets and explosions?
        
         | agumonkey wrote:
         | You might have to buy Devon's truck and hire Bonnie for a
         | while.
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | I suspect this will be bought by Waymo or another autonomous
       | driving company, for PR.
        
         | motohagiography wrote:
         | That's genius. It's more than PR, it's an organic user
         | experience with mainstream familiarity for hundreds of millions
         | of people. If I were at a large car company, this is easily
         | worth the price of 2-3 engineers.
         | 
         | As a product manager, I would use the popular understanding of
         | KITT as a reference early-adopter customer experience, not to
         | replicate, but as a median.
         | 
         | KITT's dashboard instrumentation is amazing (and oddly seems to
         | have a synth ASD envelope if you look closely), which seems
         | hilarious, but the point is to be a sophisticated command
         | console for powerful operations, which is what it looks like.
         | Totally different from the disconnected infotainment web pages
         | of today.
         | 
         | The entire car UX today is about permission, approval, safety,
         | and comfort, like a kind of suburban living room in a display
         | case. Whereas what the KITT (and motorcycle) UX is about is
         | measurement, instrumentation, and consequence. A KITT style UX
         | may be the secret to getting self-driving car traction because
         | almost nobody will believe autonomous land vehicles are safe,
         | but they will believe they are powerful.
         | 
         | I should do a self-driving car startup.
        
           | intrepidhero wrote:
           | I love the "powerful" retro sci-fi look but let's be honest
           | about KITT, this UX is (unsurprisingly) terrible. All those
           | glowy bar-graphs that line up perfectly are hard to
           | differentiate and flat out inappropriate for some
           | measurements. There is way more information presented than
           | needed, and it's not grouped into logical clusters at all. It
           | looks super cool but it's a safety nightmare.
           | 
           | The dashboard morphed a little during the show's run. KITT
           | must have got an upgrade because the speedometer max went
           | from 200 to 500 MPH. It's got a built in printer! I'm dying
           | to know what "Propagation Delay HRS" is supposed to mean. And
           | you know it's 80s because: no blue LEDs.
           | 
           | https://knight-rider.fandom.com/wiki/K.I.T.T._(2000)
           | https://www.deviantart.com/davemetlesits/art/Kitt-
           | dash-S1-2-...
           | https://www.deviantart.com/davemetlesits/art/Knight-Rider-
           | Ki...
        
             | motohagiography wrote:
             | There with you on the nightmare aspect, but having spent
             | time in tech, powerful looking but meaningless is a big
             | selling point. It's representative and preformative. It's
             | like when an enterprise customer says, "I know your product
             | does this thing, but I need it to show everyone else it's
             | doing it, and how sophisticated it is so they come to me to
             | get it done!"
             | 
             | A product doesn't need to solve a problem (looking at you,
             | every security product ever), it needs to let the customer
             | demonstrate value to their own coalition. The point of KITT
             | was it made the Hoff look cool without the cost and risk of
             | a sidekick co-star. I wouldn't replicate the dash, but I
             | would certainly use it as a reference example for something
             | that did that job.
             | 
             | Great links, such a strange thing to be discussing a 40yr
             | old fictional talking car.
        
       | loudouncodes wrote:
       | Fully functional?
       | 
       | I have expectations...
        
       | fnord77 wrote:
       | surprised Tesla hasn't included a whimsical "KITT mode" in their
       | cars' software.
       | 
       | Maybe copyright issues.
        
         | LoSboccacc wrote:
         | we just have to wait til 2087
        
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