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  1. Five of the best TV cars of the 1980s
  2. GMC G-Series van, The A-Team
  3. Ferrari 308 GTS, Magnum P.I.
  4. Pontiac Trans Am, Knight Rider
  5. Dodge Charger, Dukes of Hazzard
  6. GMC pick-up, The Fall Guy

Pontiac Trans Am, Knight Rider

Nothing would empty the streets of kids on bikes on 1980's Saturday evenings quicker than the distinctive sound of Knight Rider's opening sequence. Michael Knight, an undercover police detective saved from certain death and given a new identity by the Knight Foundation, drove around in the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT for short). Even the Hoff's mighty personality struggled to compete with KITT for Knight Rider's young, impressionable audience; every single schoolboy wanted a car with ejector seats, a smokescreen, a turbo boost jump function, indestructibility and the ability to drive itself and talk.

Actually, KITT was a rather camp-sounding machine, but nobody cared, with Michael Knight and KITT sorting out a law and order issue every week. Why the criminals all didn't just stop their naughtiness at the sight of the black Pontiac Trans Am arriving we've no idea, but it wouldn't have made great viewing. KITT could jump over broken bridges, shrug off bullets and explosions and talk. Yup a talking car; we had to wait until the Maestro was introduced before that became a reality, British Leyland shattering a whole generation of boys' dreams when their dad's new car told them in a 'speak and spell' voice that it needed more oil or had broken down - as it did frequently, unlike our hero KITT.

Kyle Fortune