Looking at that build sheet. The 8v92 was actually a TTA, which means Tailored-Torque, After-cooled. Probably 365HP factory. That's one of the earlier ones too, which were known to be problematic, mainly with the main bearing issues. If it still exists today, and has gotten some miles on it, I doubt the original motor will still be in it. Fuller RTO-12513 transmission, good setup, 13 speed. SQHP 4.33 rear end ratio, on Reyco 101A spring ride suspension, so it wasn't a fast or smooth truck by any means. Split ring aluminum wheels, with 10.00-22 tires (tube type) the truck you have now has the more modern 24.5 one piece tubeless wheels. The last page is the color combination, but just lists yellow, none of the other colors, and no paint codes which is odd...
That truck actually was delivered to a dealer. 'GMC Truck And Coach Division Los Angeles' was a 'factory' (GM owned) dealership in Los Angeles on Alameda Street near Slauson. It was a large dealership that handled GMC medium and heavy duty trucks and was in business at that location until 1989 or so.
I’m fascinated that this Knight Rider TV Show is actually a thing that people are so passionate about and if I’m honest that is the only reason I continue to watch these videos, it’s strictly because of the passion that everyone in this community has for this TV Show. I certainly did not care about the show when it was out let alone now! But I find it interesting and now for me it’s following along to watch you do the search for these vehicles that im fascinated about!
I feel the same. I did watch this when it was new but never gave it any thought after until seeing the General being restored then I started following it.
it also appears that, if you look at the semi in this picture 12:56, it has some missing trim on the front fender. You can also see the same missing trim in the image at 14:30 after the semi has been painted black, and in the B&W image at 28:10.
I have no nostalgia for Knight Rider (even though i watched it a bit as a kid) however I find your videos fascinating when you dig into the world behind the making of these shows.
I find oddly fitting that the second semi ended up having an almost identical but "mirrored" dent on its bumper. Carrying a similar scar in honor of its missing older brother?
The trucks has hit something with the fenders, one on the right side and one on the left side, and when straighten out the fender it leaves the crease dent where its bolted to the frame.
@@KnightRiderHistoriansOfficial You all probably already thought about this but those bumper dents look like where it/they was towed with a chain or something.
Those dents can be common with fleet trucks. They all get moved around a common lot that can have hazards leading to similar scars. They also spend time at filming locations that are not generally large enough for semi tractor to move easily. The cabovers can avoid the damage because they have a better turning radius. The bend is most likely caused by hitting parking lot blocking poles that are usually 3ft tall
It would be awesome if you found the the 1980 General. It would just about complete your collection of screen used vehicles. I think that the white and blue General was also used in Smokey and the Bandit 3.
just a pure guess - if the first semi was such an underdog setup - a todays dealer would have quickly sold it into some foreign country. for Europe that would be e.g. Afrika or Arabia. No idea what NA's dealers would do... Mexico? Middle/Southern America?
Man I'm stoked that the knight rider historians want to find the first GMG General. That would be awesome to see the historians with both Generals and the trailer all back together again ! That would be totally awesome to see that become real at some point in time. I'm all in with the historians in finding the first GMC GENERAL. Maybe someday the historians will have both Generals and trailer / Goliath as well someday in the future. Keep up the awesome Content video's coming. The knight Rider Historians ROCK !
The wrecker you can see @3:28 is a rare (today) Vulcan “Cradle Snatcher”, an unfortunately named but ultimately revolutionary product that led to “self loader” style wheel lift wreckers becoming an industry standard in towing and recovery.
Very cool behind the scenes photos of the tractor. Good luck for finding it! It's amazing that you found already both the 3-4 season GMC and the trailer :)
The LuberFiner is a remote oil filtration system designed to radically extend the life of the engine oil. Back then, truck oil change intervals were around 10,000 miles, the LuberFiner could extend this beyond 50,000. They would pull an oil sample periodically and check the contition of the oil and would change when those samples indicated it as necessary.
It's rare that someone in the Universal Studios Transportation Department doesn't have a record to showing which direction this truck took after leaving their possession. If the first few numbers of the serial number was known to the public. Anyone that comes across those first few numbers could then send you a picture of the rest of the serial numbers and if they match up. You could get in contact with them to the where abouts of the truck today. Just a thought.
Love the general in the b&w picture, standing proud in all of its glory, if it could talk it would say "I'm famous, please find me and rescue me". Hope it's found. Great video again m8 👍
Awesome job on finding the information on the first GMC General from Knight Rider. I'm curious and interested to know, is the "original" factory paint scheme and color "Cream" or a "Yellow"? Just thought I'd ask. And if it is "Cream", what shade of Cream is it? Or Yellow. Please, Thank you and keep up the awesome work on restoring the General from seasons 3 as 4.
There's a season 3 episode (probably more than one) where where season 1/2 b-roll was used and the flag semi goes from having a sleeper to not having a sleeper in the same episode😂😂😂
I wish I could help but unfortunately I only grew up watching the show. I am still stoked you found the truck and the trailer, so I feel you will find this truck too if it wasn't crushed long ago.
So I follow a ground on fb called lost muscle cars and there's ppl on there that track pre-1981 cars per vin. Just seen one guy track his old 68 chevelle by the vin..I am aware if the 81-up vin number and system but it's worth looking into if you guys haven't yet
"COMB YELLOW" probably means something like "Combination Yellow," referring to the mix of colours to get that particular tone of yellow (cream). Not sure that helps the hunt in any way, but it's my little observation. Great video!
Where is that A Team van now though? This was the 'hero van' but the whereabouts are unknown, I've been searching for the answer to that question for years?
Each time i watch a video i get more interested in Knight Rider as i was as a kid... This time as an adult i find it amazing all the things found and like many others i look forward to seeing the Semi and Tractor done..... If all the things were found The first General, Goliath and its Tractor there is going to need a lot of space for them all excluding the things they all ready own...... I look forward to seeing it all!
Thinking back to Goliath, is it possible the shot you have of the fleet at the beginning, he's in there as well? That's one I hope you find one day as well!!
Very cool , you can see paint on the can behind David's head standing there where you indicated the paint by the windshield. Look where the lid fits the canister
At 14:45 look at the General's front fender, the silver trim piece is missing a chunk. In the close up of the bumper when black, it's the same trim missing the front section. Also the close up of the windshield shot, you can see a bit of cream where the chrome cover on the Luberfiner(oil filter on front of cab) meets the black has a tiny bit of black paint scratched scratched away. Hope we find this and Goliath. To get it correct, the trailer went from factory colour(which we don't know entirely) to black/upper half gold, to white to final black scheme? Or was the white after the pilot episode of the black/upper half gold? I know that Luberfiners were discontinued during the early 80s, manufacturers went to regular oil filters sometime then.
My friend has a black gmc general and it does have the 8v92 detroit in it I've joked with him about putting the gold stripes on it to make it look like the knight rider truck. I highly doubt its the actual truck he's owned it since the mid ninetys always been a farm use truck so its not registered so if it was it wouldn't show up in your search
Not sure if you saw it, but the tank on the drivers side also has some missing paint near the top showing a cream color, its visible in the same photo you found the chip near the window.
The tractor you think is the first general looks like has split ring front rims. You can see there the same split ring rims in the show video you showed to prove the bent bumper. The tractor parked by it in the line up doesn’t have split ring front rims.
There was a series called B.J. and the Bear, they used a ton of semi tractors. Also there were movies like Convoy with Kris Kristofferson and Smokey and The Bandit films.
even if you did not mention it, but the first semi probably had no lid on his exhaust rod. that's also a point making it even more likely to be the shown pre-paint-job vehicle.
When you guys get the truck and trailer done hopefully you take it to some big truck shows. Like the Walcott Truckin Jamboree and the MATS show. I would think it would be a big hit.
Bud wheels are the type/style which used traditional lugnut/stud wheel hubs like the Front wheels shown. The other common design truck wheels back then were Clark wheels “5 spoke” rim only wheels that used hollow rims with spacers between the rims held on the wheel/drum assembly with 5 lug nuts and clamp blocks
Some more great digging here! Another difference between the two tractors you havent mentioned is that the first semi tractor doesn't have chrome where the two pieces of windshield meet. Possibly chrome on that piece only became a thing on later models.
I may not be the biggest Knight Rider fan, but as a long-time GMC General/ Astro/ Brigadier lover, I would KILL to parse through more of the photos you have of that backlot lineup. I already see one one-off Astro on Michigan plates that matches a brochure rendering I have that I didn't know was ever actually manufactured. Do you have any more HD truck photos from the Vista archives you could share? I'm sad to see Eric passed away several years ago - I'd bought some Rockford Files posters with Garner, his Sierras, and a number of Astros in the background and hung them in my cubicle while working for GMC in Detroit...that must have been a year or two before his passing.
I live in LA county very close to the Golden oaks ranch and the Saugus speedway (from the Slammin Sammy‘s stunt show fame) I have been to a few movie car storage lots, and know of a few others, I’ll look around and see what I can see. A few years ago I was looking for a 1980’s Ford XL 9000 and some older 1960’s Mack trucks.
If you look at the front rim on the 1980, it is a split ring tube type. The 1984 you have has the tubeless Alcoa style. You can also see that on the photos of it on the Backlot.
I had another thought if I had a license. I would try to find a Trans Am paint it black tint the front and back windshields and tint the drivers side and passenger side windows. For the motor I would transplant a 2015 Dodge Challenger motor and transmission / Drive train all from a 2015 Dodge Challenger. Then somewhere down the line in the future I would try to aquire the scanner / the entire dashboard and steering wheel and the ceiling consultant and the center consultant that Kitt has. That would ultimately be the coolest ride to drive. In my eyes. The historians rock !
That was interesting. Can you get the RPO sheet for the truck you have, from a dealer or GM historical? Is there a cop fan of the show who can search the VIN?
Damn! An 8V92 Detroit, 13 Speed, and 4.33 rears that truck was a stump puller! And by the way, the plate on the bumper was called a bingo card. Each state had a registration sticker that you would stick on that plate. You might check that vin number in different states. Might not be anything but you never know.
The Alcoa wheels are different between the first and second GMC’s. The first Rig had the split ring wheels known as the widow makers. And the second Rig has the Alcoa wheels that were more common after the 80’s. If you look closely at the Blue General and the White General you can see the difference in the two wheel types.
Story line wise, it was nice of the foundation to invest in the semi and adding upgrades such as the sleeper and painting the rear wheels. One question I have in regards to the sleeper… was it meant as a sleeper, or a pass through for the driver alas RC3 or was that a computer room… so the semi could drive itself? Story line of course. 😊
I would be very interested in hearing about the trucks that were in BJ and the Bear. Did the Vista Group have anything to do with providing BJs Kenworths and trailers? If you have any info on those, please do a video on them.
Joe, you've said a few times if theres anything new you can do on this channel,leave a comment below. Well in watching this video about the first semi tractor, seeing how much you know about all the details of everything knight rider, realized that you could do a full Documentary Series on Knight Rider and make as many videos/parts as you like, complete with interviews of cast and crew, etc. Something to think about.
i'm not sure how practical it is, but you could see what state the truck was last registered in and see if they have the records of where it was sold off to, or what type of title that truck has in their records. that's where i would start if i was trying to hunt down a specific truck that i have the serial for.
In the past, you'd made a video, that you're searching for the original, screen used tractor. Months later you found it. Later, another video came, this time you were on the hunt on the original, screen used trailer. Months later you found it. Now, we have this video... So, in like couple of months you'll find the another truck :D
Hi Guys at Knight Rider Historians. Looking at the earlier studio/vista photo, the General that you believe to be the one also looks like it has the optional sun visor, as mentioned on the build sheet. It certainly has a slightly different top of windshield profile. What do you think?
i wonder what happend with the A-team vans... i know they sold one but that wasnt screen used but licenced one... i know that one screen used van was in museum in 2010, but thats about it.
30:22 about the black / white image: Did you try some AI tools? There are some online tools, where you can convert black white image to color. Would be worth a try?
Joe & the knight Rider Historians. I was just thinking. If the first GMC General ever is found ? Would there be a sleeper addition to the first GMC General. Like there is a sleeper on the 3 & 4 season GMC General does ? If the first GMC General appears still living it would be neat to have a sleeper built for the first GMC General. Just a suggestion.
The wheels are called “Daytons” the stamped steel wheels are hub pilot wheels the “driving lights “ are called “ditch lights” the license plate on the drivers side is called a cab card or bingo card the checker board look carries the stamps from each state for licensing
Do you think they had hub pilots back then? I figured they would still be stud pilot (budds). Hub pilot wheels didn’t come until way later. Another name for Daytons is Spokes.
I would say I disagree on one thing you stated. The front wheels appear to different from the two Generals. The "older" semi has a more convex curve from the wheel bolts to the rim edge of the wheel. Also the wheel almost looks like it's a two piece wheel (not saying it is a two piece) where the inner part is attached to the outer rim - time code 29:30 - hopefully that makes sense. The "newer / your" General has a more pronounced step from the wheel bolts to the curve of outer portion of the wheel. The venting holes on the newer one also appear to be closer to the rim and the older are further away from the rim. Going back to time code 7:18 in the video you can clearly see a size difference in the front wheels too. The new General having a larger front wheel. Finally I would say the newer one tucks under the body of the semi fenders more as it has a more positive offset than the older one - time code 27:02. The older one is almost flat from the side of the tire to the bolting area and the newer one steps in quite a bit.
The question is once found, do you intend to buy and reunite it with the other one and the trailer? I mean once the restoration of the first one and the trailer is done, you'll need more content😁
Ok the “bullet” marker lights are in trucker terms called watermelon lights, also the original semi the black rims are called daytons. The “canister” is called a luber-finer
Did you notice the chrome trim on the front wheel arch are the same on the cream and black too it doesn't go all the way around the arch like the blue one
In Britain we have what we call an M.O.T, it's done every year and it's basically a health check of the vehicle to make sure it's road worthy, these tests are logged with what we call DVLA , Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, so in this country if I were looking for a vehicle I could check to see if it's registered , if it's road worthy and it's past M.O.T history, don't you have anything like this in America if you do should give you information on it's last known whereabouts
