The 1961 animated movie “101 Dalmatians” (originally titled with the number spelt out – but who does that?) saved Disney from a slump after “Sleeping Beauty” didn’t stir the box office.

It also saved Walt on production costs, with the art department making use of “Xerox photography”. That’s where the artist’s drawings are transferred directly to animation cells, without any need to hand ink the images onto the clear top layer.

I’ve been reading up on Dalmatian direction, after a dream I had last night. In it I was standing at a new car dealer, next to my Suzuki Mighty Boy, and I was looking at a new, small, two-seater car – called a Pongo. Today I’ve rediscovered that’s also the name of the protagonist dog in the movie (c’mon.. it’s over 40 years since I saw the movie).

Thanks to A.I online imaging, here’s roughly what the Pongo looked like:

Ignore the empty headlight housings – free A.I. images only go so far. The Pongo in my dream had LED units, including a soft ring around the outside for daytime running lights. These are available for cars now, but the Pongo itself was like the Mighty Boy in the 80s: a cheap, cheaply-made runaround. In my dream I was contrasting the load carrying capacity of the hatchback Pongo with the tiny tray on the back of my Mighty Boy.

Unfortunately, I woke up before getting a test drive of the Pongo. Maybe that’s my brain’s way of keeping my faith with the Mighty Boy and its low seating, “armstrong” windows (crank ’em yourself) and dashboard feature of a large Suzuki logo.

I don’t recall whether the Pongo was ICE or EV. As a runaround it could certainly work well on petrol or electricity. In the A.I image above, the lack of airflow at the front perhaps indicates this is an EV. However, if it’s ICE there’s room for an engine behind those front seats, like a Smart car. Perhaps air feeds through around the headlights?

The Pongo doesn’t seem to have a steering wheel – or is that a hint of a Tesla yoke? If it’s an autonomous car, it gets marked down in my book.

The image shows the Pongo with what seems to be rear-hinged “suicide” doors – or perhaps they fold down, like a welcome mat. I’m trademarking that idea.

The doors have a button on top to release them – hopefully it’s waterproof. Putting buttons on a high horizontal plane, where rain falls, will trigger Range Rover L322 owners and get them checking their window switches on the top of the door cards.

The seats in the Pongo appear to have defibrillator pads in their backs. Perhaps they give you a jolt if you’re a bit too tired to drive? I’m trademarking that, too.

I nearly wrote down the car’s name at 3am, but said it enough times in my head that it was still parked there in the morning. I also easily recalled the Pongo’s styling: round headlights with a smooth front, two seats and a hatchback.

So what prompted this dream? Yesterday I had been on Instagram, looking at the Nissan Pao owned by co-founder of The Autopian website, Jason Torchinsky. All the “Pike” cars have round headlights, but they have rear seating – even the S-Cargo.

If I went back to the dream, could I be tempted to trade in the Mighty Boy for the Pongo? I don’t think I’d trade the Suzuki – but if the Pongo was cheap enough, it might be a reliable daily.

And with talk of buying a Pongo, one of the biggest questions: who makes it? Perhaps Disney does and it’s a monthly subscription. Hmm, I’m leaning more to not adding a Pongo to the fleet.

While searching Lexica for a Pongo approximation, I also asked it for a dalmatian image. Just like Pongo in the movie, the dog needed black ears. Here’s what A.I. served up, as a “realistic” image of a walking dalmatian:

That front leg will have Walt rolling in his grave.

Or, if the stories are true, his cryo-chamber.