Original 'Knight Rider' Car for Sale on eBay

[Brian Damage]

An original KITT — the talking car that helped David Hasselhoff escape bad guys on the '80s TV series "Knight Rider" — is up for sale on eBay.

The black 1984 Pontiac Trans Am is being sold to satisfy the debts of a slain real estate developer, whose killing last year is unsolved. Boats, cars and other items owned by car aficionado Andrew Kissel already have been sold after creditors claimed he owed $30 million.

One bid — for the $20,000 minimum — had been posted on eBay as of Thursday.

"I'm a little surprised because it is a unique car," said attorney Patrick R. Gil, administrator of Kissel's estate. "My understanding is that there were only four of them made specifically for the television series. I expected some 'Knight Rider' lovers to jump on it."

Another original KITT was put up for sale by a California auto dealer in April. The 1982 Trans Am was fully restored and had documentation as one of the four "camera cars" used for close-ups and scenes where Hasselhoff, who played Michael Knight, was behind the wheel.

That car sold in July for about $100,000, down from the asking price of $149,995, said dealer Johnny "Vette" Verhoek of Kassabian Motors in Dublin, Calif., in a telephone interview Thursday. He declined to identify the buyer.

Kissel apparently bought his KITT from an auction house for $69,000 in 2005. The online auction site says pictures are available of the car to verify its authenticity.

Kissel was found dead in his Greenwich mansion in April 2006 just days before he was to plead guilty in a multimillion-dollar real estate fraud case. His brother, Robert Kissel, died three years ago in Hong Kong when his wife fed him a strawberry milkshake laced with poison and bludgeoned him to death with a statue.