ILLINOIS, USA: It’s a mystery on the streets of New York City. What traffic law violator with unpaid fines is driving a black Pontiac Trans Am that looks like the car with the talking computer from the 1980s TV series “Knight Rider,” and even has the same license plate?
Officials at an Illinois museum are among the people who would like to know. The Volo Museum near Chicago, which has a replica of the show’s Trans Am that hasn’t moved from its exhibit in years, recently received a $50 traffic ticket from the Big Apple, alleging its car was doing 36 mph (59 kph) in a 25 mph (40 kph) zone in Brooklyn on April 22.
The ticket came complete with traffic camera photos showing a black Trans Am with the California license plate KNIGHT, the same plate as the car on the show and the novelty one on the museum’s unregistered car. The license plate is also connected to five other unpaid traffic violations in New York City since late 2024, city records show.
How the city linked the plate to the museum was not immediately clear. City officials did not immediately respond to email and phone messages 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.”
