A puzzling case has emerged in New York City involving a black Pontiac Trans Am resembling the iconic vehicle from the 1980s television show “Knight Rider” – complete with matching license plates and multiple unpaid traffic violations.
The Volo Museum located near Chicago finds itself at the center of this mystery after receiving a $50 traffic citation from New York City. The ticket claims their Knight Rider replica was traveling 36 mph in a 25 mph zone in Brooklyn on April 22, despite the fact that their display car hasn’t been driven in years.
The citation included traffic camera images of a black Trans Am bearing the California license plate KNIGHT – identical to both the television show’s vehicle and the novelty plate on the museum’s unregistered exhibit car. City records indicate this same plate number is connected to five additional unpaid traffic violations in New York City dating back to late 2024.
The process by which city officials connected the license plate to the Illinois museum remains unclear. City representatives had not responded to requests for comment as of Wednesday.
“The fact that we’re legally tied to a movie prop is interesting,” said Jim Wojdyla, the museum’s marketing director. “We’re known for having our Hollywood cars from TV and movies, but I have no idea how we got registered from a ticket in New York to the plates in California to the Volo Museum in Illinois. We’re still trying to figure it out.”
Museum officials have filed a request for a hearing to contest the citation.
“It’s really amusing,” Wojdyla said. “We want to find out who this Knight Rider guy is because, birds of a feather. We just want to know is this from a museum, is this just a guy that built this car as a hobby? And it looks pretty damn accurate. We’d like to meet those guys.”
The original “Knight Rider” series featured David Hasselhoff as a crime-fighting protagonist and aired on NBC between 1982 and 1986. The show’s star was KITT, the black Trans Am equipped with an artificial intelligence system. (KITT is an acronym for Knight Industries Two Thousand). Approximately 20 vehicles were constructed for production, though Road & Track magazine reports only five originals still exist.
Many replica versions exist today, including the museum’s display model. The Facebook group Knight Rider KITT Car Club, dedicated to replica owners, boasts nearly 19,000 members.
Records from the California Department of Motor Vehicles show that an individual with the surname Knight renewed their registration for the KNIGHT license plate in March.
New York City operates up to 750 speed detection cameras under state authorization. These cameras photograph speeding vehicles and their license plates, with Department of Transportation staff reviewing violations and mailing citations to registered owners when vehicles exceed speed limits by more than 10 mph, according to the city’s website.
The Volo Museum has embraced the unusual situation on social media platforms. They recently updated their Facebook page header to read “Home of the Knight Rider KITT that famously got a speeding ticket in New York City without ever leaving its exhibit in Illinois!”
One of their social media posts reads: “Does anyone have Hasselhoff’s number? He owes us $50!!!!”
