The Secret Engine

Part 1

Speed takes Spritle and Chim Chim for a test drive in the Mach Five after Pops fine tunes the carburetor. While driving, they hear on the radio that Tongue Blaggard, head of an unscrupulous, worldwide organization with thousands of men, has escaped from So No Long Prison and feared to be hiding in High Tax Town. Just then, Speed rounds a curve and spots an old bearded man, Mr. Klepto, Jr., and his granddaughter in an old but well cared for Model T. It has begun to rain and Speed offers to help the old man who, though he can barely manage the chore, is too stubborn to accept help. A half hour later, he finally has the top up - but the rain has stopped. Speed, Spritle, Chim Chim and Mr. Klepto's grand-daughter can't help laughing which greatly annoys Mr. Klepto.

Back at the racetrack, Fireball Rust is coaching Speed and other drivers in the finer points of professional racing. They practice like the races at Le Mans (sp?). That is, they run to their cars, jump in and take off. Rust tells Speed to do it. As he runs Speed falls then trips again trying to hop into the Mach Five. As the other racers get a good laugh out of it, Racer X is watching from the side. he does some fancy acrobatics, runs over to the Mach Five, hops in and takes off. He stops by his car, flips over to it and zooms away. Rusty says that's the way to do it and that no one is better than Racer X at it.

Leaving the track, Speed, Spritle and Chim Chim come across Mr. Klepto, Jr. and his granddaughter on the road changing a flat tire. As Mr. Klepto again refuses help, he says that Speed does know the joys of driving since Speed's car has an automatic transmission. Speed shows him that that's not so and offers him a ride. Mr. Klepto admits to being impressed with the Mach Five. This results in a dinner invitation. At his house, we see that Mr. Klepto has adopted many, many children even though he is not rich. His grand-daughter is the only child related to him by blood.

Outside, Blaggard is driving by and spots Klepto's Model T and wonders if it's the one owned by Lightfingers Klepto many years ago. They steal the car and bring it back to Blaggard's large, underground hideout. When Mr. Klepto sees that his car is stolen, he tells Speed how it belonged to his father, Lightfingers. Even though his father was a criminal, Mr. Klepto loved him. Fortyfive years ago, his father was doublecrossed by his men and killed. His last words to his son, Mr. Klepto, were, "The car..." Mr. Klepto says that the car means very much to him and is a playmate of the children. Speed vows to help find the old Model T.

Back at home, Pops and Sparky are sad because they haven't had a single customer in their new business, Pops Motors. But Mom cheers them up saying that life is wonderful and would be perfect if only Rex would come back home. Rex is eavesdropping by the garage door and says to himself that he wants to come home but first wants to make Speed the best driver in the world. He drives off.

In her helicopter, Trixie spots Mr. Klepto's Model T by the road. To help Pops' business, Trixie convinces Pops to do the first customer for free - which just happens to be Mr. Klepto. Then, as word gets out, all Model T owners in the are swamp Pops and Sparky with business, but they all have the same problem. This puzzles Speed who suspects it has something to do with Mr. Klepto's father, Lightfingers. Back at the Klepto's house, Speed digs up the old Model T engine and sees that it is engine number 9870000 (there are also more characters, S3N2, towards the bottom - South 3, North 2, maybe? Like a pirate map??).

We then learn that in prison Blaggard learned from one of Lightfingers Klepto's doublecrossing men that Lightfinger's engine will lead them to a billion dollars hidden somewhere in Misty Valley. As an obvious trap, Speed puts a flag with number 9870000 on the Mach Five and drives around, but Speed's plan works too well. Some of Blaggard's men spot the flag, notify Blaggard and an all out pursuit ensues. Speed loses one car and then the next as well. But a helicopter and more cars, including a troop carrying truck, are now following Speed and Mr. Klepto. At the same time Racer X is trying to come to their rescue but is unsure how to cross the mountainous terrain between him and Speed.

But making a difficult situation still more difficult, the chopper sends down a ramp which is used by many motorcycles to come aground. They all have machine guns mounted on their windscreens. Speed zooms away doing his best to outrun Blaggard's small army.

Speed hits "B" on the steering wheel to engage the special belted tires so that the Mach Five can race up a mountain. He is then able to confront the bad guys head on causing many motorcycle crashes. Racer X has now arrived and helps get rid of some more bad guys. Speed thinks he's got the situation under control and leaps out of his car. He grabs a guy asking him who sent him. But just then the large helicopter hovers lower and tells Speed to look behind him. There is a huge hulk of a man, maybe 10 feet tall, named Tiny standing there. He knocks out Speed and Mr. Klepto and they're taken to Blaggard's hideout. After they come to and Blaggard threatens to have Tiny hit Mr. Klepto when he refuses to divulge where the Model T engine 9870000 is, Speed says he destroyed it but remember the numbers. He offers Blaggrd 1/3 of the money if he'll take them to Misty Valley to find it. Mr. Klepto, who sees this as his money left him by his father, offers to give Speed enough to be able to enter the Multipeak Race.

Blaggard agress to bring Speed and Klepto to Misty Valley. He even lets Speed call Pops at home to give an excuse as to why he'll be away all night. After telling Pops he'll be on a long drive with a friend, he says to tell Trixie that he can't afford the ring for $650 and she'll just have to forget about it. This is a secret code. On their way to Misty Valley, Speed tries to contact Trixie by radio but someone has taken some of the radio tubes (yes, tubes) and he can't. Because Misty Valley is so far away, they all have to stop at an abandoned lodge for the night. While all of Blaggard's guys are snoring heavily, Speed tries to sneak out and contact the police on his radio (I don't know how he got it working again), but Blaggard comes out to see what he's up to. Blaggard sees all the buttons on the steering wheel and asks about them. He pushes"G" and the homing robot shoots out and the panel on the console opens. Having a grand old time, Blaggard uses the joystick to control the bird-shaped robot and crashes it into the ground before bringing it airborne again. Then he hits the "H" button next to the joystick which, unknown to him, sends the robot home to the Racer family.

Late that night at the Racer family's, Trixie bangs on the door wanting to give Speed a piece of her mind for standing her up and not going to the party that night. At the same time, Spritle is up for a midnight snack because, he tells Mom, the homing robot woke him up. Pops and Trixie realize something must be wrong. Thinking about the message from Speed to Trixie, about the $650 ring, our brilliant little Trixie says, "Pops! Add a couple of zeros to it and that's the red zone on the Mach Five's tachometer. That must mean Speed is in danger!!" [This is without doubt the best line of the episode.] Oh, what a keen mind she has. Pops also notices that the robot has no note inside but has red clay on it. Later we find that Trixie realized the red clay could come from Misty Valley; shades of Sherlock Holmes... :-)

Next morning, a dirty but very pretty blond girl, Lana, who is native to the mountains, is picked up by Blaggard's men to be their guide. After flirting a bit with Speed we find out she's none other than Trixie in disguise! (Good thing Speed didn't flirt back, huh?) She knocks the bad guy in the car with them out of the Mach Five and tells Speed to go to the village ahead because Pops is waiting there for them. Speed uses the Mach Five's rotary saws to cut through the forest and escape Blaggard's men. At the village, they see Pops but soon discover that it is Blaggard dressed as Pops. Pops is tied up in the closet. Spritle and Chim Chim, however have stowed away in Trixie's helicopter out front and sneak out; but in doing so, Spritle's clothes are torn to shreds making him look like a little Tarzan.

Blaggard then forces Speed to take them to the spot indicated by the numbers on the engine. They know they've found it because there's a big "X" on a boulder there! At that point, Blaggard decides it's ok to kill the Speed, Pops and Trixie. But Chim Chim comes to the rescue leading a large group of monkies to attack the bad guys. During it all, Pops yells, "Spritle you're liable to catch the sniffles dressed like that!" After all, who's worried about the bullets?? Anyway, as Speed flips Tiny into a mountainside, rocks crash down, covering Tiny. Blaggard shows up with a flame thrower, but Racer X hits all the bad guys with his car just in time. Blaggard, somehow unhurt, flees in his car. As Speed pursues in the Mach Five, Blaggard first drops "erl" (as he pronounces "oil"), then lights it on fire, then drives on top of the water, but nothing stops Speed. As Blaggard gets to the other side of the lake, Speed surfaces. Blaggard has his chopper come down and pick him up, but Speed uses the homing robot to knock the briefcase of money out his hands. Blaggard and Speed run down to the case, and open it. When they do, the money turns to dust before their eyes.

Later, Inspector Detector makes his first appearance in the series and congratulates Speed on capturing a dangerous criminal. The reward money is $100,000. Speed decides to give it all to Mr. Klepto, Jr. who wants to open a home for children needing one. Pops says they'll all work hard to get money to send Speed to the Multipeak Race. Racer X watches all this from a hilltop.