1:64 Scale Diecast TV Hero Cars Past Their Prime KITT and General Lee

December 21, 2020

#409

Gentle reader,

There is a saying, "The cars are the stars." And that certainly applied to the black Pontiac Firebird which disguised the incredible abilities of K.I.T.T. and the frequently flying orange Dodge Charger (anti-PC) called General Lee.

Both had capabilities far beyond their less glamorous stable mates. Many a scene in their 1980's TV shows called Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard, had them flying through the air and landing without damage then racing off.

As you know, Nancy and I are avid diecast car collectors and racers. And, like many of you, we prowl the neighborhood's thrift stores for potential treasure troves in the guise of clear plastic bags stuffed with toy cars of many sizes and materials.

And that is how these two, down on their wheels, tiny official representations of their small screen car's antics came to be in our possession.

As you can see, they are both past their prime, and likely came from the same household. The Charger having been trod upon by an unwary parent's bare foot at least once. Not quite as painful as stepping on a Lego or Jack, but unpleasant nonetheless. 

I have often wondered if the Germans used Jacks as their basis for the anti-landing craft obstacles on the beaches of Normandy, France in WWII.

But I digress. Nancy frequently accuses me of thinking to much. She may have something there. 

Blogger, after their update, has been loading the photos in the opposite order in which I wish them to do so. Technology, love it or hate it, we're stuck with it.

Do you see the pink object peeking out of General Lee's right side window opening? That's a tiny pink bead someone shoved through the open window.

I tried to remove it with locking tweezers. It ain't coming out without trying to raise the roof to it's original height.

Just how hard does a kid have to play with a toy for it to end up looking like this?

As per all cars and trucks we tried racing these two, they sucked. Look at the caster angle on the Dodge's right front tire. 

Do you know why rail cars roll so easily and why trains are so hard to stop quickly? SMALL contact patches or areas between the steel wheels and the steel rails.

Note how both of these cars "tires" have raised center ridges. This creates the opposite of what we want of our REAL car's and truck's tires. It creates a very small contact patch with the track and thus less rolling resistance. 

The closest we could come to duplicating this on our real vehicles would be by replacing our wheels and tires with FOUR compact temporary spare tires. Just compare your spare tire's width to the other four tires.

There's more than one reason they are not to be used all the time. Braking (and all functions of motion) in cars/trucks all depend upon how well our tires grip the road surface. Narrow tires greatly reduce braking and cornering ability on most surfaces.

As you can see, both of these cars are the genuine article. By the script on their chassis.

These last two of the car's images show that they went the extra millimeter with K.I.T.T. by making sure it had the correct dashboard.

Since I'm on the subject of contact patches or contact area, look at how narrow the wheels and tires are on this WRC Subaru rally car.  

Driving on snow and ice requires a completely different type of contact than doing so on dry or simply wet pavement does.

For greater cornering and braking with a performance car, one desires wider and lower (short tire sidewall height) tires. The opposite applies when Winter comes along. 

Those who buy performance cars equipped with SUMMER tires and do NOT buy a second set of narrower wheels equipped with snow tires will soon find our WHY they are called "Summer Tires". 

This graphic above which I found online, clearly shows the difference between narrower and the taller tire's contact areas: 175/80 R 14 (the higher the number after 1xx/xx is, the taller and more narrow the tire is) and lower and wider tires with wider tread and lower sidewalls. See how the shape changes for each tire?

Each increase in width shown: 175, 195, 205 and 245 also requires an increase in diameter of the wheel to retain the same overall diameter of the tire. This is vital to keep the reading of your vehicle's speedometer the same.

In snow, a l-o-n-g-e-r contact area (top left tire) is preferred to grip the slippery stuff than a lower/wider contact area. 

So, those trucks, Jeeps and SUV's [and gansta Crown Vic and Impala cars with ENORMOUS wheels with rubberband tires (above)] you see cruising along will get little to no traction on snow and ice.

I went off on a tangent again, but the dad and retired mechanic in me sometimes comes out to share multiple-decades knowledge and experience.

To view a list of ALL of the articles I have written about our shared obsessions, click here:

The Robb Collections: INDEX To EVERY Diecast Die Cast Car And HO Slot Car Article I Have Written 

Please, go ahead and click or tap the FOLLOW button which is by the photo directly above, so that you will receive notices every time I come out with a new article.

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Thank you SO much for reading our humble blog.

Scott & Nancy

December 21, 2020

#409

Merry Christmas!