DIRECTOR JOHN LASSETER & THE PIXAR TEAM GET THEIR KICKS (AND INSPIRATION) ON ROUTE 66 AS THEY CREATE THEIR NEW ANIMATED FILM CARS

Route 66 is the most famous road in the world. Two thousand four hundred and forty eight miles long, the highway crosses eight states and three time zones as it wends its way from Chicago right to Los Angeles and the shores of the Pacific. Opened in 1926, the Main Street of America as Route 66 soon became known, was the way west for the weary migrants of the Great Depression, the route of troop convoys during World War 2, and the ultimate road trip of the fifties, that prosperous era of gleaming gas-guzzlers, neon-lit motels and friendly mom and pop diners.

Long since bypassed by the multilane freeways that now straddle America, Route 66 is these days enjoying a revival of interest among tourists from around the world and has earned the iconic, all-American status of apple pie or Elvis. Still emblematic of a restless nation’s yearning for the open road and its love affair with the motor car, Route 66 has been celebrated over the years by writers such as Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck and famously crooned about by Nat King Cole in the hit song Get Your Kicks on Route 66. Eighty years after its birth, the veteran Route 66 has now been cast in another starring role, this time in Cars, the latest animated film from Pixar, the do-no-wrong company behind such hit movies as Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Directed by John Lasseter, Cars is the tale of a hotshot animated stock car called Lightning McQueen who’s on his way to a big race when he gets stranded in the sleepy, faded town of Radiator Springs and has to learn a few valuable lessons about taking life at a more leisurely pace. Though you won’t find the fictional Radiator Springs on a map, it’s no coincidence that the town still happens to be home to a colorful collection of wise, funny and eccentric automotive characters who bear an uncanny resemblance to some real-life, human counterparts along the present-day Route 66. Nor is it by chance that Radiator Springs’ faded motels, pokey shops, and peeling paint recall the somewhat forlorn aspect of a hundred other modest little towns along present-day Route 66, all seemingly lost in the same melancholy dream of better days long since gone.

John Lasseter and the crew of Cars took many trips along Route 66 during the production of the film and became fast friends with Route 66 personalities like good ol’ boy Dean Walker, who has the uncanny ability to turn his feet 180 degrees, and the ebullient Dawn Welch, chief dishwasher, chef and proprietor of the Rock Café in Stroud, Oklahoma. Dawn has more than a passing similarity to Sally, the sleek but savvy Porsche who becomes one of Lightning McQueen’s best friends in Cars. And grizzled feet turning Kansas resident Dean Walker, who talks with such a southern drawl you feel you might need an interpreter, was the inspiration for Cars’ rusty but trusty tow truck Mater, who has a special knack for reversing.

At the same time as meeting some of the route’s best-known personalities, production designers Bill Cone and Bob Pauley took close to 10,000 photographs along Route 66, capturing images of abandoned motels and gas stations, multi-colored sunsets and faded advertisements on crumbling brick walls to take back to Pixar as source material for the look of the film. For good measure they even collected multiple soil samples along the way to make sure that even the dust in the film would be of the right hue.

The initial idea for Cars came to John Lasseter while on a road trip with his family shortly after the release of Toy Story 2. “We meandered along so happily and it really made me think about the idea that it’s the journey that’s important in life, not the destination,” says Lasseter today. With the story of the film taking shape in his mind, it was in 2001 that the director hit the road agai

This movie was originally titled "Route 66". The name was changed to CARS so as not to imply a connection with the TV show "Route 66" (1960).

The music that opens the teaser trailer of this movie is the main theme to A Bug's Life (199 .

The other song in the Teaser Trailer is Green Day's "Westbound Sign" from their 1995 album "Insomniac".

The film's animators drew up over 43,000 sketches for designs of the cars.

Mia and Tia are modeled after the first-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata.

The rock formations in the distance beyond Radiator Springs resemble Cadillac Ranch and is actually named Cadillac Ranch on the maps shown during montages. Cadillac Ranch is an art exhibit consisting of 10 Cadillacs half-buried in a line outside Amarillo, Texas, near where Route 66 once ran.

Joe Ranft's final film.

Sarge is a 1946 Willys CJ-2A

Doc Hudson is a 1951 Hudson Hornet

Sheriff is a 1949 Mercury Police Cruiser

Flo isn't based on any single car but shares elements of the 1951 Buick LeSabre, the 1951 Buick XP-300, and the 1956 Dodge Dart--all actual show cars.

Lizzie is a 1913 Ford Model T

One of the bumper stickers on Filmore reads 'Save 2D Animation.'

The neon lights on Flo's V8 Cafe in the movie flash in the proper firing order for a Ford flathead V8.

The King's crash at the end of the movie is a virtual frame-by-frame re-creation of Richard Petty's crash in the 1988 Daytona 500.

The number on the train that Lightning out runs is A113, a reference to California Institute of the Arts, where many Pixar animators studied.

The King is a 1970 Plymouth Superbird, one of Richard Petty's most famous rides. The King's paint scheme is exactly as King Richard's was in the 1970 NASCAR season.

Lightning McQueen's original number was to be 57, director John Lasseter's birth year. It was later changed to 95 to represent the year that Toy Story (1995) was released. The car in the final film who has the number 57 (who wins the race in the first teaser) vaguely resembles McQueen, and is probably an earlier production design for that character.

The tires of Lightning McQueen are Buzzard models manufactured by Lightyear, a reference both to the real Goodyear "Eagle" tires used in NASCAR and character Buzz Lightyear from John Lasseter's previous 'Toy Story' films.

Filmore, the VW Minibus voiced by George Carlin, has license plate '51237'. This is Carlin's birth date - May 12, 1937.

The character Lightning McQueen is a reference to Glenn McQueen, a Pixar animator who died in 2002.

Mater's license plate reads "A113", yet another reference to the animation room at California Institute of the Arts, where many Pixar animators studied. Also, the lights on the train that almost hit Lightning say "A113".

If you look closely at one of the racing cars, it's white, has the Apple logo, and the number is 84. 1984 was the year Apple released the Macintosh, the computer that revolutionized Apple as a company. Pixar was previously owned by Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple.

Even with a farm of computers that ran four times faster than the ones on The Incredibles (2004) each frame of CARS took an average of 17 processor hours to render.

The cars designs were inspired by similar car sculptures displayed through out the central business district of the City of Detroit.

The two race tracks seen in the movie are based on real NASCAR race tracks. The "Motor Speedway of the South" seen in the opening scenes is very similar to Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, Tennessee, while "Los Angeles International Raceway" is virtually identical to the California Speedway in Fontana, California, a Los Angeles suburb.

The King, Strip Weathers is a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird. The Superbird was created to get 'Richard Petty' back into a Plymouth for the 1970 racing season. Richard Petty himself provides the voice.

Ramone is a 1959 Chevrolet Impala or Bel Air two door hardtop, a very popular car with the low riders.