Engineer lends his KITT to Chicken Licken

ELECTRICAL engineer Anban Pillay’s replica of KITT, the car that actor David Hasselhoff drove in the 1980s Knight Rider television series, features in a Chicken Licken advert.

Pillay recently bought the car, a black Pontiac Trans-Am, that has the same year, model and transmission as KITT.

The 49-year-old, of Kloof in Durban, said the car also sported an autograph by Hasselhoff in the boot.

Pillay said he initially built a V8 Manual Pontiac Trans-Am, which took him five years to complete and then converted it into a KITT replica.

But he sold the car in order to buy another Pontiac Trans-Am from Neil Quantrill, a movie car fan.

“In the car I sold, I built in a digital dashboard feature and a voice generating system.

“Using my engineering skills, I used current programming technology to build a mini-computer that responded to either voice or text messages,” he said.

“The computer would then either play back the required voice responses or the Knight Rider theme. Alternatively, it would switch on or off certain electrical components, for example, the scanner, hooter, ignition and lights.”

He plans on putting these features into the new KITT.

Pillay, formerly of Chatsworth, said that as a child of the 1980s, he grew up watching the Knight Rider series.

He said Chicken Licken approached Quantrill a year ago to feature the car in an advert. The advert was, however, only filmed after Pillay took possession of the car.

“When I am on the road, it is amazing that everyone immediately recognises KITT and wants me to stop, let them take pictures and sit inside. The Knight Rider slogan is ‘one man can make a difference’ and similarly, one KZN man (Pillay) has made that difference,” he said.