The Ant Hill Mob

The Ant Hill Mob, with their names to identify each of them.

 The Ant Hill Mob are seven gangsters who drive the coincidently numbered seventh car, the Bullet-Proof Bomb.

The Ant Hill Mob.

Names (Wacky Races)

1. Clyde - Leader and most spoken member of the group. Wears a tall black/red fedora and grey/red suit.
2. Ring-A-Ding/Ding-A-Ling - The secondary most spoken member. Wears a floppy red hat and green/crimson suit.
3. Kurby - Wears a dark yellow fedora and orange/yellow suit. 
4. Mac - Wears a tall brown fedora and yellow/brown suit.
5. Danny - Wears a tall green fedora and blue/white suit.
6. Willy - Wears a grey fedora and cream/dark red suit.
7. Rug Bug Benny - White fedora and lime suit, often behind the wheel.

Names (Perils of Penelope Pitstop)

1. Clyde - Remains unchanged except for his new tall hard hat and grey/white suit. His quick, witty decisons are oftern foiled by Dum Dum's stupidty or even by the Hodded Claw, much to Clyde's frustration.
2. Dum Dum (formerly Ring-A-Ding/Ding-A-Ling) - Remains unchanged except his name and wardrobe. Hence his name, he is a scatterbrained numbskull who is often the culprit behind the mob's mishaps.  
3. Zippy (formerly Willy) - A speedster who always zooms into and out of situations, sometimes without thinking. The name is a pun on imitation of fast sound describing the noise it makes.
4. Pockets (formerly Mac) - Carried an amazing number of useful items and tools inside his suit pockets (hence his name). Even ones of ridiculous size.
5. Snoozey (formerly Rug Bug Benny)- Hence his name, he is always asleep and half asleep, even at the wheel. Often, when the gang run to save Penelop, he clings onto one of the mob by his mouth, like a dog.
6. Softey (formerly Kurby) - Hence his name, a crybaby who always expresses tears at sad or happy events. His name comes from the term of gentle, sweet, even easily upset soul.
7. Yak Yak (formerly Danny) - With a distincive "yuk yuk" style giggle, he is always constantly laughing at whatever the situation, at who evers expense. 

Appearance and Characteristics

The Ant Hill Mob are styled after sterotypical 1900's early American gangsters with their Bullet-Proof Bomb to match it. Their wardrobes are in a 1920-30s fedoras and suits.

Clyde's name probably came from car gangster Clyde Barrow while his looks, voice and mannerisms suggest numerous gangster roles played by Edward G. Robinson. This is further reinforced in a dialog where he threatens the boys with, "Youse want I should tell Bonnie on you?", an apparent reference to Barrow accomplice Bonnie Parker. When broadcast in French, his name was changed to "Al Carbone," a play on Al Capone. Ring-A-Ding usually queries Clyde's orders or is the one who causes the plan to go wrong in some way. Clyde also mispronounces his name saying "Ding-A-Ling" instead of "Ring-A-Ding."

Although he is sometimes rude to the rest of the gang, Clyde actually cares for them. In one episode, when the rest of the gang was stuck in the Creepy Coupe, Clyde was menacing the Gruesomes: "Alright, you Creeps, where are my boys?". The gang are pint-sized characters, a reference to the Seven Dwarfs; in one episode, they even disguise themselves as the Seven Dwarfs to escape from a policeman. Their usual method of improving the speed of their car was "getaway" power, which was achieved by extending their feet through the floor of the car and running, the same way Fred Flintstone accelerates his own prehistoric car.

The Ant Hill Mob re-appeared in the spin-off series The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, with Clyde in a silver outfit and his wingmen, with new names, wearing blue outfits and riding in a new living car, Chugga-Boom. The Mob were the protagonists in this series, along with Penelope herself, and were constantly rushing to her rescue. The Ant Hill Mob's personalities are in contrast to their gangster apperance are surprisingly nice guys, hence how they rescue a Boy Scout in the episode Scout Scatter. They eventually become Penelope's guardians in the spin-off series for unknown reasons, they are always devoted and rushing to her safety, even at their own expense.

Portrayals

Clyde was originally voiced by Paul Winchell, and currently by Jim Cummings. Danny, Kurby, Mac, Ring-A-Ding were originally voiced by Don Messick, currently by Rodger Bumpass, Dee Bradley Baker, Clancy Brown, Tom Kenny. Anytime a member spoke, they used the same voice as Ring-A-Ding.

Winchell and Messick reprised their roles for the Perils of Penelope Pitstop, with Winchell now voicing Softey and Messick voicing the others. Yak Yak's vocals were performed by Mel Blanc, and currently by Tom Kenny.

Trivia

• In many episodes there is a goof in which some of mob members suit colours switch, it mainly happens with Danny, Clyde and Mac.

• • Willy's hair colour alternates between black and red in several episodes and in promotional artwork and merchandise.
• In the actual show, Ring-A-Ding usually sits beside Clyde and Willy sits behind them. In promotional artwork and merchandise, it is the other way round.