Tobidase! Machine Hiryuu
Japanese title: とびだせ! マシーン飛竜
Alternative titles: Jump Out! Machine Hiryu, Jump, Dragon Car, Take Flight! Machine Hiryu, Tobidase! Machine Hiryu
Type: TV
Source: Original
Episodes: 21
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Oct 5, 1977 to Mar 29, 1978
Broadcast: Wednesdays at 19:30 (JST)
Duration: 25 min per ep
Rating: G - All Ages
Studios: Toei Animation, Tatsunoko Production
Genres: Comedy
Themes: Parody, Racing

The bosses of rival car companies decide to fight each other in the sporting arena by backing different race car teams. Chairman Gapporin hires Okkanabichi the supreme racer, while Chairman Misaki hires Riki Kazama, a relatively untried driver for the flying car known as Machine Hiryu. Mixing elements of Speed Racer with Time Bokan, this Tatsunoko production ticks the same boxes, with Riki's cute girlfriend Nana, mini-mechanic Chuta, the cute ape and pooch, and the comic and glamorous villains lurking in the background. Early work from many big names, including Yoshitaka Amano and Kunio Okawara, is strictly in the studio mould. Manga versions of the story ran in several magazines, such as Terebi Magazine and Terebi Land. Racing fever seemed to have struck the Japanese animation business at this time: compare to the same year's Arrow Emblem.

(Source: The Anime Encyclopedia)