Inazuman’s Raijingo flew at Mach 3 and had a mouth — Guess the Tokusatsu Car

The 1973 series Inazuman featured one of the most memorable cars in tokusatsu history. Called the Raijingo, the convertible sports car had a reptilian mouth from which it could fire missiles. But perhaps more impressively, it could transform into a plane and carry its hero through the sky at Mach 3. This is one of the toughest cars we’ll likely every present in our “Guess the Tokusatsu Car” series, but see if you can take a stab at it.

The original Inazuman aired from October 2, 1973 to March 26, 1974. The 25-episode series told the story of a student named Goro who is drawn into a battle between psychic armies. He joins the Youth Alliance, in which psychic teens use their powers to protect humanity, fighting against the evil psychics of the New Human Empire, who want to enslave humanity. Using his powers Goro can transform into the hero Inazuman, using the Raijingo as his trusty steed.

The show debuted during a time when topics like UFOs and psychic powers were sweeping Japan. However, the Inazuman show didn’t quite have the ratings enjoyed by rival tokusatsu programs like Kamen Rider. The OPEC oil crisis hit Japan during the middle of the series as well, skyrocketing production costs.

In its followup Inazuman F, which aired from April 9 to September 24, 1974, the Raijingo was originally going to be cut out of the show. But, toys of the car had become unexpectedly popular, forcing producers to keep it in the program. Even today, there are fans re-creating the Raijingo with skins in Gran Turismo.

According to the show’s lore, Inazuman can summon the Raijingo anywhere on Earth. Its mouth can open and close to perform biting attacks, and its jaws hide a bank of four missile launchers and a massive tunnel-boring drill within. At the rear, it can release a smokescreen, and it can also transform into a plane or dive underwater. That’s quite the skill set, but can you guess what the base car is? As always, we’ll post the answer in the comments after readers have had a chance to guess.