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23-403: Mach Five was designed by Mitsuki Nakamura , who was the art director of Tatsunoko Production , which produced the 1967 TV anime series. The initial plan was to keep the original manga design for the anime production, but it was decided to redesign the car, and Nakamura, a car enthusiast , was entrusted with the task. Nakamura scoured photographic materials and designed the car in reference to

46-505: A street legal family vehicle, allowing for it to feature a rear compartment that Spritle and Chim-Chim later use to stow away in the vehicle. The Mach Five is later modified with gadgets and becomes Speed's alternate car for off-track races such as the Casa Cristo 5000, as well as everyday driving like a normal car. The Mach Five originally belonged to Speed's older brother Racer X. Rex, who relinquished ownership of it to Speed before he left

69-450: A mecha designer include Mach Five from Speed Racer , God Phoenix from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Time Mechabuton from Time Bokan . Mach Five, in particular, is regarded as a masterpiece of the first Tatsunoko golden age for its outstanding design sense, and its design was so perfect that it was used almost unchanged in the 2008 live-action film Speed Racer by The Wachowskis , 40 years later. However, his speciality

92-508: A race car version of the Saurus. The series featured single seater sheet metal tub race cars with fiberglass molded bodies replicating the Saurus concept. The car was also used for Nissan Racing School. The successor to the Saurus race car, the Nissan Saurus Jr., is still used for advanced racing classes today. The twin-charged engine of the Saurus made its way into production in 1989 through

115-419: Is Mach GoGoGo , and overseas it is called Speed Racer Y2K , Speed Racer X , or Mach Go Go Go: Restart . The design of Mach Five follows the front part of the previous body shape, but the rear part has been significantly modified. The car was changed from a two-seater to a three-seater with a center cockpit. The new Mach Five functions a little differently than before. Speed Racer: The Next Generation

138-646: The Porsche , Ferrari and Jaguar race cars of the time. The car's special devices and other settings were conceived by Tatsunoko's literary section. Mach Five's design remained timeless and modern half a century after its birth, and passed muster for the Wachowskis ' 2008 live-action film adaptation with few changes 40 years later. Speed Racer (known as Mach GoGoGo in Japan) is the first series produced in Japan in 1967 based on

161-508: The Wachowski siblings , produced by Joel Silver , and released by Warner Bros. Pictures . Mach Five was almost identical in design to the original anime and was used in the film's main races with an actual vehicle. However, the car was rarely driven on real roads, instead it was hung on a crane and the effects were generated by computer graphics . The film portrays the Mach Five as initially

184-573: The 2001 Chevrolet Corvette platform, was to be extensively modified to look like the Mach Five. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California has a mid-engine prototype of the Mach Five in its collection. In 2008, after the premiere of the film Speed Racer at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles , California , the actual racing car used in the film was unveiled. A full-scale replica of

207-568: The Mach 4 is known, as it appears only briefly in the film and is portrayed as a red-colored companion to the 6. Speed's main car for races on the WRL track (Thunderhead, etc.) is the Mach 6. The Mach 6 was destroyed in a fixed race, but was later rebuilt for the film's final race. In 1997, a replica of the Mach Five, which was based on Nissan's entry-level race car, the Saurus , modified and covered with an FRP body,

230-596: The Mach Five was exhibited at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show . It was produced in connection with a project by Japanese chocolate maker Tyrol Choco, in which Mach Five miniature cars were given away through a lottery . Mitsuki Nakamura Mitsuki Nakamura ( 中村 光毅 , Nakamura Mitsuki ) (April 7, 1944 – May 16, 2011) was an art director and mecha designer in the Japanese anime industry. After working for Toei Doga , he joined Tatsunoko Productions , where he drew background art and designed mecha, supporting

253-469: The Racer home. Along with the Mach Five, the movie features the "Mach 4" and the "Mach 6", two different single-seater cars created specifically for stunt races. The designs of the Mach 4 and Mach 6 are vaguely reminiscent of the Mach Five's (as in the original American comics), although the only functions the Mach 6 features are the jump jacks, which are standard equipment in race cars in the movie. Little about

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276-488: The Wind . After graduating from junior high school, Nakamura joined Toei Doga through the help of his school teacher. He gained experience in various jobs as an assistant and then as a member of the colouring staff, where he developed his knowledge of paints and colours. Nakamura, who wanted to paint background art, moved to the newly established Tatsunoko Productions in 1964 through an introduction from Toei. After working on

299-518: The age of 67. Nissan Saurus The Nissan Saurus was a concept car designed by Nissan Motor and unveiled at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show . It was a roadster featuring a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, with bulging fenders and a design reminiscent of the Lotus Seven . Nissan marketed the Saurus as part of a pair along with the Jura minivan concept, introduced as a practical complement to

322-466: The first Tatsunoko golden age. After leaving Tatsunoko, he founded Design Office Mecaman and served as its representative director. Nakamura worked as art director on a number of anime works and has likewise worked as a mechanical designer. He is one of the pioneering mecha designers in the Japanese anime industry and was the first to have his name included in the end credits. His best-known works as

345-529: The first time in Japanese animation history in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman , which began airing in 1972. At the end of 1976, he left Tatsunoko Productions and founded Design Office Mecaman with Kunio Okawara. Initially, Mecaman was planned to be a mecha design company, as Okawara was also a member of the company. However, he soon became independent and the company specialised in background art. Nakamura died of oral cancer on May 16, 2011, at

368-495: The hood. The car has seven special functions, each of which is controlled by a button on the steering wheel assigned to each initial from A to G. The New Adventures of Speed Racer is a remake series produced in the United States in 1993, and has not been released in Japan. Mach Five's design was full redesigned. This was a remake produced in Japan in 1997 and was the second TV series broadcast in Japan. The title in Japan

391-403: The manga. Mach Five is the racing car driven by "Speed Racer" ("Go Mifune" in the Japanese version), whose car was designed, manufactured, and created by "Pops Racer" (Daisuke Mifune), Speed Racer's father. The car is a two-seater, left-hand drive car with no detailed specifications other than that it is powered by a V12 engine . The body is painted white and blue with the letter "M" written on

414-457: The roadster. This approach was very radical for the Japanese market where space for two automobiles was unrealistic for most, so it was safely assumed the Saurus concept was never meant to see production. The Saurus concept made its way into production in a modified form by Nissan's Nismo , Nissan's motor sports division. The Saurus Cup race series debuted 1989 using the Nissan Saurus Jr. ,

437-437: The studio's first TV series Space Ace , his love of cars led him to design cars for the studio's second work, the car racing anime series Speed Racer . He became head of the art section, where he instructs Yoshitaka Amano and Kunio Okawara . At that time, Tatsunoko's art section was not only responsible for art, but also for the design of backgrounds, props , robots and cars, all of which were entrusted to Nakamura, who

460-513: Was not mecha design, but anime background art. Background art plays a very important role in Japanese-style animation expression techniques. This has become increasingly the case in recent years, and Nakamura's art was one of the factors to move in this direction. His representative works as an art director include Science Ninja Team Gatchaman , Mobile Suit Gundam , and Nausicaä of the Valley of

483-555: Was produced in the United States in 2008 as a sequel that takes place about 40 years after the events in the original anime. The series has not been released in Japan. The design is almost the same as the original anime, but, the wheel rims have been changed from the original silver-white to black, and it is animated in CGI like all of the cars in the series. The Mach Five appears in the live-action film adaptation Speed Racer , directed by

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506-529: Was produced to promote the Japanese anime remake. It was unveiled at the time of the TV broadcast in Japan, and later ran again at the Toyota Automobile Museum in 2010. In 2000, a prototype of the Mach Five replica with retractable saw blade was sold at a charity auction on E-Bay in 2000. In 2002, 100 product models of Mach Five replica were planned to be manufactured as road-legal vehicles. The body, built on

529-503: Was trusted by the president, Tatsuo Yoshida . The staff included many aspiring painters who had left art college , some working for a living and some with personalities of their own, and he had to lead them as section head. With the number of animations even increasing, it was impossible for him to do everything on his own. He therefore decided to entrust some of the mechanical design work to Okawara, who had just joined Tatsunoko. Nakamura and Okawara were credited as mechanical designers for

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