The Fantastic Car is a television series that was all the rage in Spain. It premiered in 1985 and tells the adventures of a car with its own personality and intelligence named Kitt and his driver, Michael Knight, as they fight crime and protect the innocent. Throughout the 90 episodes of the series, Kitt proves to be more than a simple vehicle to become not only an icon of popular culture but also a cult object for a whole legion of collectors.
Michael Miralles, from Sabadell, is 37 years old. He shares a name with the protagonist of the series and boasts of having an exact replica of the Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, that is, the Fantastic Car. He is one of those inveterate collectors who has dedicated a lot of time and money to have his own Kitt that he keeps like a hidden treasure in his home in Tarragona.
That's right, I have my own Fantastic Car too. It is a dream that I had as a child and that over time I was able to make it come true.
Is this due to the series?
I owe it to my grandmother. She died three months before I was born, and from what I've been told, she didn't miss an episode of the series. She was Fantastic Car's number 1 fan. Since my parents had not chosen a boy's name, only a girl's, they decided to name me Michael, like the protagonist of the series, in tribute to my grandmother.
Called Michael and with the memory of his grandmother in the middle, everything was already filmed...
At home, no one expected it. But I started watching the series and I fell in love with the car. For many years I fantasized about Fantastic Car because I loved it so much. I looked at similar cars, like the Toyota Supra or the Toyota Celica. But I saw it as something very far away because I didn't have enough mechanical knowledge to transform a car.
Until one day…
I was 16 years old and I discovered that, in Valencia, a boy had made a replica of the Fantastic Car. Only on an external level, but he gave the hit. That's when I realized I could do it too.
And he did…
Not so soon. A few years passed. When I turned 20, I bought my first car, which I still have. I had already forgotten a little about all that, but soon I found out that someone, in Granollers, had put the Fantastic Car up for sale. I couldn't buy it, but I went to see it anyway. He took me for a ride...
It must have been hard, so close and so far...
Yes, at that time I couldn't make another financial effort, but that experience helped me persevere in the attempt.
Eventually the big moment arrived. How do you remember it?
Wait, it wasn't that easy... Before, I was almost on the verge of buying other cars. But they were failed operations. The first time, the car was repossessed. The second time, they deceived me directly... They assured me that the car was fine and when I saw it I realized that it was literally a mass of iron. I lost almost 1,000 euros with the joke because I had gone to pick up the Pontiac in Toledo with a trailer.
Wow, he really resisted her.
The reward always comes, although in the most unexpected way. I had been searching for the Fantastic Car all my life without success and in the end the car came looking for me. A friend called me one day on the phone and told me that if he wanted it he would sell it to me. He left it to me at cost price.
And, of course, he bought it.
It didn't fit me much because I had just bought the apartment. But my wife and parents encouraged me. 'You've been behind this car all your life and now that the car is coming to look for you, you don't have to miss the opportunity,' they told me. The car was perfect. The only thing is that it has a small engine and the friend who sold it to me wanted to have a fantastic car with the big engine.
How much did you pay for the car?
I prefer not to talk about the money the car cost me and the money I spent conditioning it. It is a whim, it is something that is done little by little and it is money, there is no doubt. But it's not as much as people think.
What was more difficult, getting the car or getting it conditioned?
Hehe…, both things. Getting the car was complicated and conditioning it is something that was done little by little, buying original parts and spending a lot of time. Keep in mind that it took me five years to completely customize it.
How did you get all the accessories needed to bring Kitt to life?
The car is American and in the United States there is a lot of automobile culture, not like here, where you say you have an American car and they tell you that it costs a lot and that it is very difficult to get imported parts. There are pages on the internet where you enter the make, model and year of the car and a list appears with all the parts it has. You can buy them safely and you only have to replace the new parts with the old ones. It's that easy, even for a non-mechanic like me.
Are you still improving it?
Hardly anything. The car is finished and is a faithful Kitt replica. I don't think there are many like this, because not only is it the Fantastic Car when you see it from the outside, but when you look inside and see the inside you realize that nothing is missing. People are amazed when they see it up close.
What is your Kitt's crown jewel?
I would say that it is the entire car, because it is like everything: you can do it economically or you can do it well, choosing the most appropriate parts. There are very few of us who do it well because it is crazy. You can put in a button panel that is faithful to the series car and it costs you 300 euros. But you can also buy a similar keypad that is from a slot machine and costs 30 euros. This is the difference.
But if I had to highlight something in particular...
On the outside, the front bumper, which is made with a mold of the original series. And as for the interior, the seats, which are upholstered with a reproduction of the original fabric, and the dashboard, which is a special piece. People can't believe what they see when they come closer to look at it.
Being such a reliable replica, does the Kitt you drive also talk?
Yes, of course. I have put together some recordings with the voice of the series and he answers the questions I ask him. Kitt also alerts me of any mechanical problems. He has many phases scheduled.
Do you use it often?
Not now. I have enjoyed it a lot, yes, in the past. Almost every weekend I went to rallies with my wife, but when you have children things get complicated. Now I use it very little. Only at charity events like the one held in Montmeló against childhood cancer, at friends' weddings, in some advertisements... I made one for a collection of Planeta-Agostini models. Little thing. It is also true that the car now has much more value than before and I suffer when I leave it parked on the street.
How many kilometers does it have on it?
About 120,000 kilometers. And, one important thing, it doesn't consume as much as people think. About 9 or 10 liters per 100 kilometers. Keep in mind that I only use it to go for a walk, not to go up and down for work. So yes, consumption would be higher and I would leave the money...
Have you ever wanted to buy it?
Yes, more than once. It is a car that has an incredible claim. It is not common to see a car with these characteristics. In addition, it plays with nostalgia and has a brutal advertising claim. It is a car that talks, that has lights everywhere, it has an open top...Visually it is very attractive. They are 5 meters of car, 2 meters of nose, very low and very wide. It's a spectacle when you see it live, nothing like the photos I post on social media.
But nothing, no one will be able to convince him...
I have it in the garage and drive it very rarely. But if I sold it, I know I would immediately regret it. In addition, my father, who passed away in 2019, also participated very actively in the construction of the car and it is something that makes me take even more care of it. That's also why I rarely use it. It would annoy me to get hit or have someone do something to it. At home he is safe.
