Car Com Pixar Article
Pixar Cars – Route 66
When the storyline of ‘Cars’ was in the early stages of development, director John Lasseter decided that Route 66, the historic American highway, would be the perfect setting for the movie. As a result, he created a make-believe town called Radiator Springs based on the history of the iconic freeway and apportioned a major part of the movie to be set there.
John’s fascination with Route 66 compelled him to make a trip there to understand the influence of this cultural wonder of America. Together with Michael Wallis, Route 66 expert, and his production team, he traveled the length of the famous highway and interviewed the inhabitants of small towns along the way. And he soon discovered the plight of these folks which he would faithfully portray in the history of Radiator Springs.
Quite some years ago, many towns along Route 66 served as stopovers for travelers, they were bustling with activities and the inhabitants enjoyed great prosperity. However, when the interstate highway was built, the travelers stopped coming and the towns retreated to a state of quietude and oblivion. Many inhabitants are still bitter about it, while there are those that still hold hope that the glory days will return.
As a tribute to Route 66, the Mother Road, and the impact it had on American culture, John developed a few characters based on the everyday people he encountered there. The love interest of Lightning McQueen, Sally Carrera was modeled after restaurant owner, Dawn Welch of Stroud, Oklahoma, whose calm and witty personality defined the character. Tow Mater, the rusty old truck, owed his origins to one or two inhabitants there, Dean Walker of Kansas and Harley Russell of Erick, Oklahoma. Walker is said to be able to turn his feet backwards, which made him the inspiration for Mater’s backwards driving and Russell, a professional musician, has a manner of speech much similar to Mater’s. Other than these two major characters, the Sheriff and Fillmore, the Volkswagen microbus, were also created based on actual folks on Route 66.
Some of the buildings and sceneries in the movie also came from there. Sally’s Cozy Cone Motel was designed based on the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and the cone-shaped Wigwam Motel, in Holbrook, Arizona. Ramone’s Body Art Shop was directly adopted from a gas station and restaurant complex called U-Drop Inn, which is located in Shamrock, Texas. The background of Radiator Springs featured a mountain with the shape a radiator cap and this was influenced by the Tucumcari Mountain in New Mexico. When Sally took McQueen for a ride in the countryside, the winding road through the forest was probably taken from the highways that run through the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. Waterfalls, bridges and other landscapes featured in the movie can also be traced to somewhere along Route 66.
So much of ‘Cars’ is influenced by the historic road that at almost anytime of the movie, there is evidence of it somewhere within a scene. As they say, Route 66 symbolizes the great American road trip, and it is indeed only fitting that it should be the guiding light for this road movie.
