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Post by jeremy223 on Aug 20, 2009 21:31:11 GMT -5
Like most here, I watched Knight Rider as a child and fell in love with KITT. Its the only car I ever wanted. I remember being in 5th grade looking through a science magazine and there was an article on KITT. It was giving his fictional abilities and listed his price tag at eleven million dollars. I remember thinking if I ever get eleven million dollars, I'm buying that car. ;D Now as an adult, I've learned that I can have that car, and much cheaper. But, I'm becoming concerned having just learned tonight that Rob L is going to stop making parts,Mark S is expanding in other directions, and Billy has mentioned in a post that he wants to cut back to part time on Knight Rider parts. Couple that with slower traffic on the boards, I'm wondering if the hobby is slowly dying. I realize the show and the car are only getting older, and some vendors will eventually leave the business, but I am pretty particular about the quality and accuracy of the parts in my car and I'm wondering if I will be able to finish it the way I want. Anyone else feel the same or am I worried about nothing?
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Post by ws6air on Aug 20, 2009 21:57:50 GMT -5
I think the economy has alot to do with it. I personally think alot of people are getting out of it because it is an expensive and nerve reckoning hobby... at least for me.... That's what I meant by this picture guys.... I've been in the hobby a long time, but didn't get on the boards till about 4 years ago.... I watched the boards for about 2 years before I even joined. I feel like if vendors stop making parts, then the hobby will die, but, I do feel like if you pursue your dream of having a KITT replica, then you will find ways of getting the parts. I believe the hobby hit a climax about a year and half ago.... but to be honest, I think the parts that are available now are 10 times more accurate and correct than the older stuff, but even the older stuff looked good compared to most of the KITT's from the show. There was only a few dashes , one from Scheffe, and the other 2 studio dashes that I thought were the nicest(those three) With the help of some of the vendors , the hobby has accelled in quality and also has gotten better quality of originality. I will say, I personally enjoyed the Knight Rider Festival , so to say the hobby is dying , well , I personally just think the hobby is slowing down because of the economy. Do I think it will pick up... Don't know. I'm moving on with the hobby and MOST of the time, enjoy it. It is at times, very stressful for me, but i just keep moving on. Hate to hear about Rob, but he probably wants to pursue other things glass wise....like mustangs... plenty of them on the road.. 82-92 trans am's ...well they are getting harder to find... I know I probably didn't answer anything, I probably won't be able to, but that's my responce to the question....Any others? Marc
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andyg
Full Member
Posts: 226
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Post by andyg on Aug 21, 2009 0:25:11 GMT -5
The best time to be in the replica hobby is right now.
I do believe the economy has played it's role, but you just have to know your limitations and don't overextend yourself.
Replica building is a slow process, but taking your time has it's rewards.
A slowing? Maybe posting wise...sure. But I can assure you I'm always moving forward with my build, and I know many others who are as well.
Just remember, the hobby is what you make of it.
Andy
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ivirscar
Full Member
Lectric Enterprises
Posts: 237
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Post by ivirscar on Aug 21, 2009 0:38:27 GMT -5
The hobby is not slowing by any means! My sales this year are the strongest since I began almost 7 years ago. While I finish up on the Season 3/4 products, there will be more to supply to the greatness of our hobby soon thereafter! My main project will be a complete 4th generation dash assembly that will be more "plug n play" than anything ever seen to date. Imagine a KR dash built into the OEM bezel of the dash... Soon, a reality. Billy is only slowing on taking orders until he gets the molds created that he needs for production - Those molds are like my schematic/PCB designs, they consume much more time than building a production part. So... As for building the car... ENJOY!!! Brenon
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Post by KentuckyKITT on Aug 21, 2009 1:43:14 GMT -5
I would agree that the US economy has made a difference in the choices we make right now. In my case, I've been hit pretty hard and 2009 is the worst year I've ever had. When this year is over, I will be glad. I've hung onto my car, but BARELY, and the year an't over yet. I think many people have been forced to weigh whether or not to put food on the table and gas in the tank, or send 500 dollars for a flashing light, or 1,500 for a piece of fiberglass. It's the same as a 54" Plasma TV or a new Boat. It's just stuff. Items that are not necessary for survival and rank extremely low in terms of importance in an economy like this.
To tell you the truth, I could care less about building a KITT right now, that's how bad off I am. I'm lucky if I have enough money for gas every week to get to work. Frankly, I'm tired of having 2 college degrees and not being able to find work (even with 1000s of applications this year so far), while struggling every month. I'm sure I'm not alone and others have similar problems. It's gotten me down pretty bad lately and all I do is keep my car running and drive it and enjoy it for what it is for now. I'll probably never finish this car, but at least I can say I had a neat black Trans Am once.
So, now you all know I'm just barely hanging on. Soon, bankruptcy will be in my future. Sad, but true.
I'm probably a worse-case scenario, but I'd like to hear others' stories too.
SO, in a nutshell, I'm dying off from this hobby, mostly because of money. All of it goes to bills such as rent, electric, gas, etc. The world has jacked everything up so freakin high now, that it's rediculous. My electric has nearly doubled in 2 years. Gasoline is insane. Propane is insane. Paycheck stays the same. When I have no extra money, and I can't do the things I want to do, I lose interest.
Bryan
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Post by Nelson b on Aug 21, 2009 13:56:45 GMT -5
I have said this many times before as third generation trans am's get harder to find this hobby would slow down. I think the new way Rob is going to run his business is the way to go. Make a couple of dashes and bumpers at a time. He will probably find out that they will fly off the shelves.
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Post by ripperace on Aug 22, 2009 14:45:13 GMT -5
I think that to some people the board politics and other things (that I won't get into) play a MAJOR role in the activity you see on the boards themselves.
As for building cars? Well, I'm in the same boat as Bryan right now. Haven't worked, because of injury and crappy economy, solidly since two years ago. When I bought my car, I had "disposable income" to spend on this undertaking. Now I'm barely scraping by to keep a roof over my head. This ISN'T a hobby to invest in if you're broke by any means. It's to the point now that I hope to just be able to get the car back together.
Ripper
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Post by The Board Master on Aug 23, 2009 0:05:33 GMT -5
well i didn't follow the hobby so closely last summer, but I can't help but wonder how much of falling off in posting is simply due to people being outside getting the summer on'. I think we'll see more daily activity when its too cold to do something else. Me, well I'm here every day board mastering, until work pulls me away.
Though money does directly influence amount of accomplishment in people's hobbies.
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Post by derekw76 on Aug 23, 2009 6:25:16 GMT -5
I hope this hobby doesnt stop. I have alwaysed wanted to own a KITT. I have been looking at replicas for years before I joined these fourms. Back then there was no where near as many replica parts available as there are nowadays. Rob has had his fun in this hobby and has provided lots of us replica builders with great parts. He has done his fair share. Now its up to all of US to keep things going. I am impressed at how good some of you are at creating all the items we need to build the car we once dreamed of owning. For those of you that think its comming to an end I wouldnt get too discouraged. That will only happen if WE let it. We cant make a 3rd gen production line, but we can all still use our creative sides and keep it going. There are still lots of great vendors out there. I would be proud to own many of the electronics and fiberglass parts that I see around. Keep it up. KentuckyKitt I am glad you still have your car , and I hope you are able to finish it. I feel the same pain as you as far as the budget thing goes. I havent done half of what I wanted to accomplish this summer as far as my car goes, and I too feel as if I might not ever get 'em done, but Im still gonna hang on and try. Little by little we will get there.
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andyg
Full Member
Posts: 226
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Post by andyg on Aug 23, 2009 9:32:14 GMT -5
I think that to some people the board politics and other things (that I won't get into) play a MAJOR role in the activity you see on the boards themselves. I'd attribute at least 50% to 75% of the reason being this. The other percentage being taken by $$. Traffic stays the same, it's just the participation that declines. (You ever look at thread view counts?) Even if only a 1/4 of the people who view most threads posted a reply...hmmmm I think it's just the participation thats declining not the actual love/want/building of a replica. It's one of the cheapest things someone could do in this hobby is to be involved. I know myself (from personal experience) that it can be difficult to want to contribute to something that has brought you much anguish at times, but it's remembering to "keep yur eye on the ball" that is the most important. One day your car will be finished, and you'll be glad you contributed to not only help others out but help yourself too. As members you just have to look beyond all the ugly backdrop of the hobby and focus on the positive. When members contribute to the message boards it's helps our hobby as a whole. Everything trickles down...The more shown interests, the more vendors are wanting to make parts...make new products, ect. I think you guys see where I'm going with this. I've always said it...Just be involved...contribute...In the end, everybody wins. Andy
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Post by knightconuk on Aug 23, 2009 15:12:09 GMT -5
the Vegas event and now the interest i have in knightcon shows that the hobby is better than ever! the only thing it needs is for folks to ENJOY it! lots of great parts out there like never before and the waiting times are coming down too!
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Post by The Board Master on Aug 23, 2009 16:38:16 GMT -5
true statement. My cousin had no clue what a huge fanbase there was for this hobby until he went to vegas with us. Now if I only had a passport and a spare wad of cash....I'd totally go to knight con UK. Maybe next year! =)
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Post by ripperace on Aug 23, 2009 19:31:11 GMT -5
I agree with Andy. Any support and traffic that is being upheld will ALWAYS spur new ideas.
When I started out in this world of replica building (looking around to be specific) I would have NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS thought that there were people crazy enough to do this. Much less that there are THOUSANDS out there globally.
Money is known to be a HUGE factor in undertaking ANYTHING of these proportions. Hey, try and just restore one of these cars or ANY car for less than 10 or 12k and I'll pucker up! (A SHOW QUALITY car, not a running restoration). That's what I started out to do was build what I could refer to as "The Showstoppa" (Shawn Micheals fans rejoice! LOL) I wanted a show quality Trans Am that would have people's jaws dropping, then convert the car on top of that. Doing the work yourself saves one H$LLUVA lot of cash, but lets be realistic. Not everyone who posts or even lurks has the skills or knowledge of automobiles, much less finishing fiberglass and painting, to save that much cash. Not knocking on anyone, but that's reality. That's where boards like this can play a HUGE role. It is evidenced by how people ASK QUESTIONS.
As long as there are people interested, the hobby will never totally go away. There will always be someone who's looking to do something crazy like this. As long as that one crazy person has a dream, this hobby will continue on. These cars, as with any vehicle that has impacted pop culture (General Lee, A-Team, any of them) have a tendancy to have a lasting effect of "cool." For that matter, look at the original Batman Batmobile. There are STILL people constructing or maintaing those cars. That show was over 40 years ago!
Ripper
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Post by jeremy223 on Aug 23, 2009 22:14:49 GMT -5
I first found this hobby somewhere back in the early '90's. Back then, there was only Eric Nagy and Mark. But even then, you had no choice because Eric only did season 1/2 products and Mark only did season 3/4 parts. There were no conversion message boards yet..only alt.tv.knight-rider. Fast forward to today and the parts are so much better, not only in quality but accuracy. Also more choice of whom to buy from. That's why when anyone announces they are closing up, I think back to those days when there wasn't much choice and I realize I've become spoiled with so many options for parts. This hobby is definately in a better place than when I first found it. I still believe its a niche market that will one day be all but filled. But that day is not here yet and I want to thank all the parts makers for helping us build our dreams.
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Post by ripperace on Aug 24, 2009 17:59:53 GMT -5
I agree with you totally about more and better products. And I also concurr with you about more vendors equaling more choices thereby creating a "buyers market" so to speak. I've ALWAYS stuck by the last statement. But that is also a double edged sword too. If there's a flood in the market of KITT part vendors, then the said vendors don't make the money that they did when it was more exclusive. Good for us, bad for them.
When I first started looking, Brenon wasn't making electronics yet. He was strictly scanners. The ONLY place you could get a set that you could put into a bare shell were from Mark Scrivani (which were expensive as all get out) and Christian Forget. Don didn't sell his seperately. Now, you've essentially got three choices of whose electronics to buy. There were also only four major reputable vendors of fiberglass parts. Mark, Don, Rob, and Joao. Now we've got Ken with his fine bumpers, and that Billy guy who is making some pretty hind quarter thumpin' stuff. Don't know whatever happened with Marc and his excursion into the front nose realm. If he picks up on it, there might be one more kid on the block. It IS a niche market, but I don't feel it's totally dead or going to be anytime soon.
The way I read it, Rob isn't totally getting out of it. He's getting out of the turnkey business and concentrating more on paint and body. He will still sell fiberglass through E-Bay when he makes them. I figure that Knight Rider will probably be "downswing" business for him to be honest. You can probably bet that you'll still be able to buy a Louisell nose or dash when they come up for auction on E-Bay.
Ripper
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