VOLO, IL., May 8, 2026 – Volo Museum recently opened its mail to find a speeding citation from a New York City traffic camera accusing none other than KITT, the famous talking car from the iconic 1980s television series Knight Rider, of speeding through a school zone.
The problem? The museum, known for its collection of famous TV and movie cars, is located in Illinois. The KITT vehicle owned by the museum has not been in New York and has remained on display for more than a decade.
Even stranger, the ticket was issued using the camera image of KITT’s novelty television prop California license plate reading “KNIGHT,” a decorative plate never intended to be a real registered license plate.
“We honestly thought it was a joke at first,” said Jim Wojdyla, marketing director for Volo Museum. “Then we checked the violation on the official New York City website, and it’s legit.”
The question now being asked is: How did a fake TV-show license plate end up in an official license plate registry, and how did Volo Museum become associated with it?
Museum Director Brian Grams decided that instead of simply paying the fine, the museum would formally request a hearing. “The fine is only $50,” Grams said. “But we decided to request a hearing partly for clarification and partly because the entire situation is too bizarre not to pursue answers.”
After posting a picture of the violation online, the story quickly exploded across social media, generating more than 1.5 million interactions in a single day and thousands of comments from amused fans of the classic television series. Chicago television and radio stations have already requested interviews regarding the unusual ticket.
“I can’t imagine there are many KITT cars driving around the streets, so I’m very curious who that vehicle belongs to,” Wojdyla said. “I heard there may be a Knight Rider reboot coming out soon, so maybe David Hasselhoff is fighting bad guys again. If he is, he owes us 50 bucks.”
The incident has sparked broader online discussion surrounding automated plate-reading systems, novelty plates, stolen plates used in criminal activity, and how fictional television vehicles could potentially become entangled in real-world traffic enforcement databases.
According to the notice, the vehicle was allegedly clocked traveling 36 mph in a 25 mph school zone on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. The citation included photographs of the vehicle, a $50 fine, and a matching online violation record on New York City’s official violations website.
K.I.T.T., short for Knight Industries Two Thousand, starred alongside Hasselhoff in the NBC series Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986 and remains one of the most recognizable television cars of all time.
Volo Museum is a family-owned attraction that welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to experience one of the nation’s largest collections of collector cars, iconic TV and movie vehicles, the Titanic Museum, an animatronic dinosaur park, vintage attractions, rides and more than 50 exhibits.