Anybody have (or can design) a Knight Rider 12 LED Schematic?

Question

A really tough question/challenge for those electronic savvy people out there:

I have 12 SUPER Bright LED's and a 12-Volt power source. Is there a circuit schematic available online that will let me use all 12 LED's and light them up like that famous Knight Rider car (KITT) from the '80's?

Notes:
---the LED's require about 5 Volts for max light intensity, but a little less is acceptable, so we can say 2V to 5V
---I have access to random IC's (LM555CN/NE555N/74154N) just to name a few, plus numerous resistors/capacitors/diodes (or buying is always an option)
---I have a good understanding of circuits, but I am in the early stages of being able to design them. So any kind of schematic will do (as long as it is clear)
---To make this an more challenging question, the preferred display involves the LED's to turn on (as it cycles) and to FADE off (just like the show's car)

Thanks in advanced
–O.

Answer 1

It's called an LED Chaser. Here you go. All you need.

http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/chaser.asp

Answer 2

you should run the LED at around 2.4V (typical for a red LED)and approx at 25-30mA this will give you a better lifetime. As far as the other stuff its fairly simple. use a microcontroller(uC) to 'spit' out bytes to control the pattern through shift registers. This way u can control each LED individually . What you also do is have a transistor as well to control the current for the LED for brightness control. As far as the fade on and off, thats just programming. So your basic stuff your gonna need is a 5v regulator. a micrcontroller does not have to be huge. Shift registers. and a few resistors and caps. u dont really need a clock u can generate a signal from the uC as well as a latch line