The Strangest TV Credit Sequence Ever The Pink Panther Show

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I always enjoyed The Pink Panther, and here I am talking about the TV animations rather than the Blake Edwards movies starring Peter Sellers. The character was created for The Pink Panther film credits of course. The first few movies with Pink Panther in the title dealt with the theft of the Pink Panther Diamond, with a panther supposedly visible within, in the right light. The hillarious credit sequence animations got the Pink Panther his own mostly silent cartoon TV series, (later reboot efforts gave him a voice and proved instantly less inventive). The Panther was effectively the ultimate cool cat, but his casual ease would be disrupted by some disturbance, be it a troublesome neighbour, a fly that won't go away, or a vacuum cleaner with a mind of its own. His efforts to put things right usually blow his cool and things get very destructive. The house trashed to kill a fly episode probably inspired the similar premise of a classic Breaking Bad episode. The Pink Panther Show also featured separate cartoon support features for The Inspector, a thinly disguised version of Clouseau. The music used in his stories was actually Henry Mancini's theme for the Clouseau film A Shot In The Dark. What always really grabbed me was the show's opening and closing credits. In live action split screen, we would see a clips from the cartoons, a montage of real animals and a pink dragster sports car driven badly on country roads. (you can see it wobble quite alarmingly, and it may be a peddle-car). It eventually pulls up outside a theatre where the driver removes his crash helmet to reveal that he is just a child. Just exactly how did he get a job and a driving license and such a unique car? I was jealous. The boy lets the animated Pink Panther and Inspector out of the car (though it is clearly a one-seat vehicle) and they go into the theatre holding hands to watch their own show as if attending a big Hollywood or Broadway premier. As the closing credits roll, The Inspector gets in the car and the boy drives off. The Panther, seemingly forgotten by the others, runs after them trying to catch up. The kid is clearly not very good at his job. I had the Pink Panther dragster as a toy when I was the age the apparent driver was. The car was operated with a thin plastic strip that you used to rev up the engine by pulling it through a slot and then letting the car race off to collide with the furniture. I was totally mystified by the kid in the cartoons though, Youtube featuring the credit sequences, Panther, Inspector, car and all.