Being able to seat in the A-Team van was a childhood dream came true.

Last Saturday, August 15th, a big movie props and vehicle auction was held at LA Center Studios. Most of the movie cars came from Picture Car Warehouse, Hollywood’s biggest provider of wheeled heroes, villains, stars and extras. PCW was founded by Ted Moser and has supplied vehicles for hundred of movies and TV shows, including the Fast and Furious franchise, Knight Rider, Grindhouse, XXX, Mad Men, Transformers and Indiana Jones. Up for auction were, among others, the green chopper from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that Megan Fox liked so much, along with the “Barricade” Saleen Mustang and the “Landmine” sandrail, the van from Little Miss Sunshine, some Challengers fromThe Bucket List, the ‘32 hot rod from the latest Indiana Jones, KITT from the TV movie Knight Rider 2000, a pair of humongous H2s from Dragonball , an F-Bomb Camaro from Fast & Furious… and an A-Team van replica! A few cars from other collectors and a lot of props were there as well.

Cars + Movies was there and we had the chance to meet and chat with the excellent Ted Moser, who proved to be a very approachable and knowledgeable car guy. He also gave a lot of explanations about the cars and the work that goes into them during the course of the event, whenever one of them went up.
A lot of effort is put by his crew to fabricate the vehicles in record time and with a lot of attention to details. And most of the time they make several copies of them, for instance one for close-ups, a few for the stunts and chase scenes…
Now, we don’t go to auctions very often and the atmosphere is electric, very fun. Unlike when you watch Barrett-Jackson on Speed, you really get caught up in the tension and the enthusiasm from both the buyers and the the auctioneer.

Seeing the stars in person is a bit like spotting a celebrity: some are just as beautiful, and some are better in makeup. But all around it was fantastic to see them up close and see a bit of what goes on behind the scenes. Call it nerdy, but being able to seat in the A-Team van was a childhood dream came true… and we’re dedicating an article and a gallery to it! So stay tuned.

The steal of the day was a ‘74 Challenger made to look like a ‘70, equipped with a 5.7L 360hp Hemi crate engine that went for $12,500. Keep reading for more prices and our huge photo gallery!

To learn more: iCollector.com, Picture Car Warehouse

Ford has once again came up with very specific commercials based around a sole popular TV show, and we selected three of them to share with you guys. You might remember the ads specificaly made for the new Knight Rider pilot, involving KITT, Mike Tracer (Justin Bruening) and pretty much every Ford vehicle equipped with SYNC. Well, they did about the same thing with the finalists from American Idol, singing choir-style and interacting with the same cars.

We’re not big fans of the show, but we like the “Ring of Fire” one, shown above. The Mustang becomes a mix between the “bull” car of Nero the Hero from Death Race 2000 and KITT. It’s probably a good marketing move to get a lot of attention from a higlhy targeted audience and to make the brand look more connected to their world. And at the same time, the contestants, admired by the public, endorse the product… So it’s all good for Ford. Which is not to say that it’s not too shabby for the idols either: both winner and runner-up each win a Mustang, such as this year’s David Cook and David Archuleta.

Watch two others videos after the jump.

OK, we hear you, it’s not a car, but as we stated before, we’re pretty open to any kind of cool movie vehicle and, secondly, Airwolf was probably pitched to the networks as “Think Knight Rider, but in an helicopter” (completely different from Street Hawk, which was pitched as “Knight Rider, but on a bike”). That said, the futuristic chopper and its awesome theme music was great to watch as a kid, and many of us began to dream of getting our pilot license because of it. Dark (like… KITT) and full of high-tech gadgets (like…KITT) and super fast (ok, you got the point), the Lady , as it was called, and its crew, fought the bad guys without asking for much in exchange.

As you guessed, we were happily surprised when we spotted this Airwolf replica on the auction website. Based, like the original, on a Bell 222, it’s not completely finished, but looks great (some of the props have to be acquired separetly). It was owned by the Helicopter Headquarters museum in Pigeon Hole, TN, but unfortunetly the museum “didn’t make it” and has to sell it. There’s even a website about the mock-up.
Right now it’s at $ 38,900 and the reserve hasn’t been made. So go ahead and bid. You know it would make your neighbors jealous when you install it in your backyard.

Source: eBay, Wikipedia

Watch the Airwolf and Street Hawk intros after the jump!

What if KITT was a Volvo? And not a new one, mind you: the finest exemple of Swedish crafstmanship, a.k.a the 240 station wagon?

YouTube’s user Hakanson and his friends wanted to see by themselves and put together a nicely done video with a tricked out (read “an extra cashier, some duct tape and a few stickers”) 240, shot in a deserted place outside Stockholm. The result is hilarious!

Watch the video after the jump.

When looking for the VW ad with The Hoff, we stumble upon some of his greatest music moments (like the Limbo Dance song, and we laughed so hard we had to show them here. Well actually, sometimes we had to stop watching or skip some parts to make it bearable, but still.
Surprisingly, KITT is part of the action in most of them, which made us wonder what kind of publicity move that was…

So if you’re ready, click on “Read more” to get the top five and watch the videos after the jump!

5. Hooked on a feeling

No KITT in here but the video won a Grammy® for Best Editing and Best Use of the Blue Screen Technique.

4. Crazy For You

In this one, The Hoff shows us he could have been a good cast for Street Hawk, the motorcycle version of Knight Rider, AND a good addition to the Village People. Nope, no bad gay joke here, the song really is a cover of YMCA!

3.Our First Night Together

Apparently, this was IN a Knight Rider episode, and the charming lady was is wife.

2. Jump In My Car

The Hoff post-op, showing either a very bad music taste, or a very high sense of self deprecating humor. He’s basically asking girls 30 years younger than him to jump in his car (that’s how you get chicks, right?). But even though the aforementionned car is the good ol’ KITT itself, he’s not too succesfull.

1. Looking for Freedom

And, of course, at the top position…THE song that gave David ultimate stardom in Germany!

To watch him sing it live at the Berlin Wall in 1989 (which gives the song a whole new meaning), go to YouTube.

We finally found the new VW TV commercial with David Hasselhoff ( the one we told you about two days ago), and I realized I had misremembered the video (seen just once on TV): he actually start singing by himself, when Max, the black Beetle, asks him what’s new.
Max makes fun of him when David goes on and on about of succesful Volkswagen is around the world, reminding him that he wasn’t.
That really surprises us… with a hit like “Limbo Dance” in his portfolio. Forgot about that? Never heard of it? Lucky you.

If you dare, watch the music video after the jump!

LIMBO DANCE

CARS + MOVIES had the privilege to spend an hour with famed designer Harald Belker, whose impressive credits include the Batmobile from Batman & Robin, the GTO from xXx, the vehicles from Minority Report, the crazy car from The Cat in the Hat, the shuttle from Armageddon, the new KITT from Knight Rider… and many more! Stay tuned to learn more about his work, how KITT was created and what exciting projects he’s working on.

By popular demand, here are our KITT My Ride wallpapers, to give your desktop that tasteful note it was missing.

Widescreen

1280 x 800, 1680 x 1050

Standard

800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1600 x 1200

Update: download our KITT My Ride wallpapers!

A couple days ago, the good guys at The Knight Rider Online revealed NBC’s online strategy for the new Knight Rider series, scheduled to debut this fall:

“Knight Rider” – Fans of the show will find a “KITT” My Ride feature, weekly KITT voicemails to mobile subscribers, talking KITT e-cards and streaming full episodes.

That’s all cool and goes along with the growing trends of “webisodes” and other kind of online support for movies, TV shows and other products (even toys like Legos have their own webisodes now), but what really caught our eye is the “KITT” My Ride feature.

Really? They want to KITT my ride? Is it a geek version of MTV’s Pimp My Ride (which is actually quite gadget savvy as is) with computers, screens and tech toys thrown all over, or is it just aesthetic, with all the cars getting the glossy black with matte black stripes treatment? OR…. is it yet another way for Ford to push its SYNC system? Giving a Focus with the aforementioned system to every participant wouldn’t cost much, and it’s not like they go flying of the lots anyway. Hope at least they all come with a scanner on the hood. Whatever happens, we had quite some fun making the poster.

Get the TV schedule for Knight Rider and watch the episode 503 of MTV’s Pimp My Ride after the jump.

Official TV schedule

NBC Prime time schedule for fall and winter both show Knight Rider at 8.00c on Wednesdays, with encores at 9.00 on Saturdays only in the fall. In summer 2009, the Wednesday slot will be occupied by Shark Taggers.

Source: The Knight Rider Online, Variety

Pimp My Ride , episode 503

The Governator pays a visit to Xzibit and Galpin Auto Sport (GAS) when they convert an Impala to run on Bio Fuel… and get on of the best (read “almost tasteful”) customization ever done on the show.

KITT My Ride Wallpapers

Widescreen:
1280 x 800, 1680 x 1050

Standard:
800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1600 x 1200

Nostalgia and revivals are in full force these days (lack of creativity? lazyness? good idea? need to go back to a more comfy era during our uncertain times?) and KITT is on TV again, so what’s next? Here’s a three-part overview.

The A-Team

Yep, one of the all-time crowd favorites will be back in 2009, but as a movie, which seems to be the big trend (Knight Rider being the exception). Ice Cube is rumored to be replacing Mr.T as Sgt. Bosco ‘B.A.’ Baracus, while Woody Harrelson would be Capt. H.M. ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock, originally pplayed by Dwight Schultz. As for the van… GM must be trying real hard to not lose the product placement contract to Ford like they did on the Knight Rider!
Release date: June 12, 2009.

Magnum P.I

Funny how things are in the air sometimes…
Right when we were getting this article about the upcoming Magnum movie ready, Autoblog wrote about it, citing an article from Cinematical. On our part, we got the news just a couple days ago from a little research on Wikipedia and IMDb:

Keep reading about the upcoming Magnum and Death Race 2000 remakes!

In January 2006, it was announced a feature film is again in the planning stages (after several false starts most recently in 2005) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (whose filmmaking credits notably include Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) would write and direct the screenplay.
In January 2007, it was reported Matthew McConaughey would play Magnum, with Steve Zahn as Rick, Tyrese Gibson as T.C., and William H. Macy as Higgins.

IMDBpro.com has said that on January 17, 2007, the script is finished and the film will be released in 2009.
It is not known whether the film will be simply titled Magnum, P.I., or whether a title of a more revisionist nature will be used instead.

We’re looking forward to see the adaptation but, considering the previous credits of the screenwriter, we’re also anxious to see if it would keep the original Magnum feeling or if it would become a parody like Starsky and Hutch with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. But Matthew McConaughey is not Ben Stiller, so we can keep our hopes up.
Release date: 2009.

Death Race 2000

We told you about the remake of Death Race 2000 before, but more details are starting to leak about the Jason Statham-lead feature. So far it’s been shortened to Death Race and we learned from concept artist extraordinaire Harald Belker yesterday, that he is the one who was in charge of the design for all the vehicles. According to him, he “was given some of the hottest cars on the market” and had to “desconstruct” them. We sure are looking forward to see the result!

Don’t miss the part II of our “revival” overview, where we’ll tell you more about Akira, Speed Racer, MacGyver, Dragon Ball Z, Miami Vice, G.I Joe and other oldies (brace yourself for some surprises) scheduled for a makeover in the next couple of years!
Release date: September 26, 2008.