The unnamed No. 1 Car is a vehicle featured in the original 1967 Speed Racer series. It was driven by Rex Racer before he ran away from home.
Appearance[]
The car is red with two white racing stripes running down the middle right-hand side of it. Overlapping one of the stripes on the bonnet is a white circle with the car's racing number (#1), which is also on the sides. Also on the car are side exhaust pipes, similar to 1960s-era sports cars such, as the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the AC/Shelby Cobra. A single-seater, the driver's cockpit is off-set to the left-hand side of the vehicle.
Background[]
It was featured in a flashback sequence in the two-part episode Challenge of the Masked Racer, where Pops Racer explained to Speed the story of how his brother Rex ran away from home.
When Rex was 18 years old, he entered a race at the Sunnydowns track without asking Pops' permission, and used the car, which the latter had spent years building. Rex drove the car to victory, but just as he had crossed the finish line, his lack of experience and single-minded determination to win led to him losing control of the car and crashing it.
Trivia[]
- At one point in the flashback scene of part 1 with a top-down view of #1 and a number of opposing cars, the camera zoomed on two generic race cars numbered 8 and 30 instead of #1.
- The car's overall design, right down the side exhaust pipes, greatly resembled the race car driven by Ace in Pilot Ace, the manga series which laid the groundwork for Speed Racer.
- The car's backstory would be retold in Vol. 1 of WildStorm Comics' Speed Racer presents Racer X, with it being reimagined and named the Mach 1.
- In the manga, Rex drove an open-wheeled race car that is numbered 9.
Gallery[]
