Cartoon Junkie Builds Mach 5 From Speed Racer

By Hannah Stevens @hannahshewans

AN EXPERT car customiser has transformed a 94 Corvette into a stunning replica of the Mach 5 from the iconic 1960’s cartoon Speed Racer

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Videographer / Director: John-Paul Steele
Producer: Ruby Coote, Hannah Stevens
Editor: Marcus Cooper

Car customiser Jerry Patrick was a huge fan of the Speedracer cartoon as a child

Jerry Patrick, who owns car replica extraordinaire AKA Junk, has been transforming cars into classic cartoon and movie vehicles for over a decade.

After falling in love with the Mach 5 in the 60’s, 51-year-old Patrick had to fulfil his lifelong dream of driving the real deal.

The Japanese animation originally aired during the late 1960s

He said: “The inspiration behind the Mach 5 was straight off the cartoon.

“Back in 1967-ish when the cartoon came out, I was really enthralled as kid to watch it. And I thought, ‘One day I’m going to be driving a Mach 5’.”

Each Mach 5 takes between 90 and 100 days to perfect

To create the replica Jerry had to sacrifice a beautiful 94 corvette and completely remove the front and back of the car, before putting a new fibre glass body back on it to etch out the long lines of the speed racer.

The car was crafted out of a 94 corvette

But once the AKA Junk team were able to perfect the process, creating more Mach 5’s for clients became a cinch.

Patrick said: “The biggest challenge for the Mach 5 was building the first one.

According to AKA Junk owner Jerry Patrick the car's speed is unlimited

“We started off with a body that was a sculpt from someone else and we had to morph it into what we wanted for our car, which would actually look right. And now we’re actually building our own body.

“So the hardest part is definitely getting that first one squared away and getting everything straight with it.”

Movie car buff Jerry has been customising rides for over a decade

The car enthusiast held nothing back when it came to injecting the sleek machine with some horse power.

Based in Georgia AKA Junk builds TV and movie accurate cars for super fans

He said: “My favourite part about the Mach 5 is the driving. When you hop in the Mach 5 you can just blow all the tyres and have fun with it, like you see in the cartoon.

All the work was done in house including custom red leather seats, paint, wheels and emblems

“It just doesn’t get any better than that! I also get asked sometimes how fast the Mach 5 can go - let’s just say it’s unlimited.”

Jerry avoids running a total on his cars so his wife does not see the real cost of each build

Even though there is plenty of source material, building an exact cartoon replica poses many challenges.

AKA Junk started out doing custom mustangs and camaros before graduating to movie replica cars

Jerry said: “For the Mach 5 logo we had to take a few creative liberties with it, obviously you’re going from a cartoon to a real car, so we made it pop as good as we could.

“It’s still as cartoon accurate as it can be, so at the end of the day we got it as close as we could and I think it turned out awesome.”