peed Buggy was a living car with a big heart (albeit mechanical). Built by Tinker, with the assistance of his two friends Mark and Debbie, the foursome traveled the globe competing in races. Speedy – as the little dune buggy was affectionately referred to by his friends – was built for the racetrack, but he and the gang just as often raced into trouble. Wherever they went, they ended up getting mixed up in the criminal plots of over-the-top villains like The Incredible Changing Man, who could alter his size and stretch or reshape his body, and The Ringmaster, who trained and ordered circus animals to commit crimes via sounds created through a control calliope. Sometimes they even ran into trouble during a race, but no matter how badly they were sidetracked or how much time they spent getting back to the race, they were always able to jump back in and win with ease.

Tinker was most often behind the steering wheel, although it made little difference because Speedy could control himself independently. Besides the human characteristics of having eyes for headlamps and a mouth in place of a grille, Speed Buggy could and did, on occasion, use his front tires as arm-like appendages to pick up and hold items. Other tricks he could perform included super-inflating his tires, which allowed him to float on water, or gliding for short distances by extending his fenders… altogether pretty nifty tricks for a racing car. Should Tinker get separated from Speedy, he also had a remote control device that could be used to communicate with Speed Buggy or to navigate him from a distance.

Sixteen episodes of Speed Buggy were made, which continued to air as reruns well past their original broadcast season of 1973. Originally airing on CBS, the series was subsequently picked up by both ABC and NBC, and later by other major networks. Well known for recasting their established characters into new shows, in 1977 Hanna-Barbera made Tinker and Speedy members of the Scooby Doobie team of contestants on the series, Scooby’s All Star Laff-A-Lympics.