What was the inspiration for radiator springs

When is Cars Again, the second movie coming out. I feel a little like Luigi… more Ferrari, please. Awesome guide -we got to see lots of these sites on our trip, and loved seeing their corresponding icons in the movie.

Dawn Welch is a really amazing woman, BTW. She stopped and talked to us for a long time about going to the movie premiere, and her philosophy of life and raising her daughters to treat themselves with respect. Much to admire in her. Too Good! Actually i am from India and wasnt familiar of thsi route. I wondered about ti for few minutes and then it went off from my memory.

Well made movie and a great eye opener for those who are not well aware of the historic route After watching that movie, i became curious to know about Route 66 and its history. The first thing i did next morning is googled and read through its histroy. I just happen to come to your blog and read through it. Looks almost identical. Interesting theory, Jenn. Their tour of the road started in Missouri and worked its way west.

This information was really great, it would be fun to visit some of these places and compare them to the movie. Thanks for the detailed explanation of the movie Cars. Again great job and thanks for taking time for putting this all together for us to enjoy. My grandkids and I are the biggest fans ages 2,3,5,7,7 and I just enjoy this movie and thx! Everytime I watch it, two dozen times by now, I spot something different.

I love the detail. Hey, this is wonderful. Great job! Nothing else like it! I saw the beginning and middle about 5 times — but never the end! Love this site! I drove from middle Tennessee westward earlier this spring and was fascinated by the history of route Near the end of your guide you have a photo of the Diablo canyon bridge stating that it is now closed.

We drove across it and spent over an hour on the other side taking photos. We would love to drive through route 66 one day. My family especially my son have watched the movie CARS numerus times. We have read about the inspriations for the Pixar film and are awaiting our vacation.

Do you know what i like cars movie very it is so funning. He get on that race he run so fast. Than he horsepower the nascar race track and he save that other car that is cool. Been traveling the Mother Road east from Kingman to Amarillo and have seen a number of the items used in the movie.

We are camped in Tucumcari at the moment and looking directly at Radiator Mountain. Great site and a pleasure to use in re-tracing our trip. Just got back from Route 66 Road trip from Victorville Ca into Arizona and at the Sno Cap Cafe behind the cafe itself is where you see all the old cars with eyes painted on their windshields thats in Seligman. And the Sitgreaves Pass comming out of Oatman is an old gas station in cool springs that might have once had a wagon wheel motel by it at one time.

V on travil channel in January hopefully he looked just like Chuck Norris,so you just never know who you might run into on the mother road,and theres so much to see and take photos another favorite place was Winslow Standing on the corner which inspired the eagles hit song Take it Easy when one of the guys car broke down there and eat there at Bobos cafe outstanding prime rib sandwich. I want to go out on road to see more of 66 someday. My favorite charactor has to be Lightning Mc.

But all Mc. Queen cares about is winning,fame,fortune, and all the perks that come with it. Queen gets trapped in a little old forgotten town, Raidiator Springs. There he makes alot of friends from bueatiful Sally to the beloved rusty old Mater. And they show him the racecar that he wants to be. My favorite movie is definetly cars. I have watched cars times in counting.

My whole room is filled with Cars stuff; mostly Lightning Mc. Every store I go to I usually always ask for something cars. Anyway thanks for making this great movie. I love the movie. I am 13 years old and I livein Hartville Missouri. Mater really reminds me of my late Grandpa. He is funny sarcastic and I just love him he is my favorite character!!!!!!!!! Hey Cars fans! I just found this site!

I live in Kingman, AZ and I get to drive the motheroad every day. KellyT — formerly a Sandiegan. I came across a pole that had tyres lobbed over it as in the CARS flick. I believe it was in Tulsa but I may be wrong re the location not the pole. I always felt that they captured Route 66 and the Southwest so beautifully, especially the scene at sunset when Radiator Springs lights up its neon signs for the first time since its heyday. Now we know where to go! I used to live in Dallas,Texas but never new there was a route 66 until i got to miami and saw the movie.

My folks took us kids along Rt. A lot of emphasis on cowboys and Indians. And a few years ago I took in parts of it around Peach Springs and down to Sedona with them again. When my grandsons wanted to watch Cars with me, I figured it would be a stupid Nascar racing cartoon.

Was I wrong! I do hope there is a second Cars movie. Incidentally, I live in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and one of my favorite pastimes is visiting ghost towns in those beautiful hills — there are of them.

And Arizona has excellent ghost towns scattered around — all worth visiting. My wife and I are going on the mother road this summer on our motorcycles. It will be our first real vacation ever. No family to visit or any thing like that. We are taking our 7 year old son with us and we were looking for a way for him to enjoy it.

Mission accomplished!!! This is a great site. I am looking forward to starting a site and doing a pictoral of the trip. See you on the mother road Mark. When I read the building was directly inspired by the old Conoco in Shamrock, TX, the light-bulb came on! My dad lived about 20 miles from the town all my life, and I drove past the gas station several times a year going to visit him. It was like seeing a piece of my childhood memories across the big screen.

This site is very interesting … some day we hope to vacation through route 66 and see some of those sites! I live in the Chicago area and I know where that leaning tower in Niles is…!!! I really hope to one day travel the Mother Road and stop at all the little places along the way! And the similarities between the movie and the real places are just mind blowing! This is such a wonderful site. I am now working in France and am waiting for my 2 year old son to be old enough so we can take a long vacation down Route 66!

He has been watching Cars about 30 times now… he made me pay more details to the movie and fell in love more and more with both the movie and the real Route 66 itself! Our 6 year old daughter likes it so much, she has asked us to vacation on Route 66 this year.

She even has a large plastic jar bank that we all put our change into just for the trip. She decorated it with Route 66 symbols! We are in the planning stages for this trip, and this site is a HUGE help for us.

Wonderful work! Great site and great movie. A beautiful drive through the Vermillion Cliffs in Northern Arizona. I really enjoyed this site. I grew up in Tucumcari and from the first time I saw the movie it reminded me of where I grew up. I have to agree, Tucumcari is much like Radiator Springs. Just watched the Cars Movie with my wife and a Friend on my new 10 ft X20 ft outdoor screen. It Was about the 5th or 6th time to watch it.

Me and my wife did the Route 66 run about three years ago in out Chevy. We had a blast. The trip is decopaged on my theater room wall and everyone that comes over gets a big kick out of it.

This movie has even made the trip more unique. We notice something else each time we watch it. This movie is great and anyone wanting to make the Rt 66 run. Again this movie even makes it better. Hello, I have grandson ,and justin lee bailey love it ,he watching the movie all day, and for him that is somethings , he has not done that with no movie before. We just did our cross country journey. Florida to California.

Via Route 66 for as much as we could. It was amazing and because of this post we were able to plan our trip around seeing some amazing sights from Cars as well as the gorgeous country. Thanks again! I am planning a Route 66 for this summer. I especially love the connections to the real people who influenced the movie.

Thanks for all the effort and love that went into this. What about the Fire Truck Red! Well it sit outside the Grand Canyon Caverns in Arizona. Stop by and see and get some great pics to remember. Keep up the good work! Good Work. This was wonderful!!!!!!!!! I will keep you updated to how it turns out. Radiator Springs may be a made up place, but there are only so many places where it could be located.

If you look at the end of the movie, they have a map. On that map it shows where Highway 40 intersects with Route Radiator Springs is located a very short distance away from the exit on Highway Also, look at the way the roads run together on the map.

I looked only at Arizona because of the cactus in the movie saguaro cactus only grow in that part of the world. Which would make the little town a just west of Flagstaff, if I made my calculations right that is. This movie was presented to me, a senior citizen, by my 22 year old GF and her two children. Every time we watch it, I see something new. I loved it.

While driving from Texas to California, I wanted my son to experience Route He knows about it beacuse we sing the song, so every time we drove into a city named in the song, we would stop and sing. But the places we stopped were all on Route 40, so I decided to take exit along old Route 66 into Seligman. I had never seen Seligman before, but I was immediately struck by the resemblence to Radiator Springs; this was before we actually entered the town, but were out on the outskirts near the tire yard.

While we enjoyed looking at all the fun stuff in Tucumcari, I would suggest a trip to Seligman to get the feel of a town bypassed by the highway like Radiator Springs.

Try to time your visit after a. Both towns are a lot of fun to visit! Thanks for a great blogsite. Tow Mater sits in a car lot on Route 66 in Kingman.

He was along side Route 66 in town during the Fun Run a few weekends ago. I luv cars but i am a big fan fan of all movies bassicly my fav character would have 2 b mater or sarge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My son, Dipo, has a fovourite cars star, Mc Queen. But i very love Matter. He loooks funy and more friendly. On the DVD of Cars. In the bonus material, it is said the team behind the film saw a documentary, on towns, bypassed by the interstate highway.

Does anybody know the name of this documentary? Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. Louis, Missouri. Of course, the latter slogan comes directly from the Blue Swallow. I almost jumped out of my seat when I spotted Budville. Saw CARS for the 1st time last night. Being from Oklahoma and travelling to California as a child on Route 66, many things looked familiar. I saw where someone asked about the statue of Stanley.

I think the statue was to honor the Stanley Steamer! I heard a Cars II is in the making, hope so!!! Now , he has 2years,3months age and can say Mc. Queen,,,Mater,,,just Mate…these are his favorites cars…. We live in Mexico, in the border with Mc. Allen Texas, and I hope that some day can travel by the Route 66, and show this places to my son…. It was , is and will be one of the most favorites movies for Isai my son and me.

Because of this I thought it would be cool to look up and see where the movie makers got thier inspiration. I was able to re-live the adventure while watching the movie. This is likely our last chance as a family to take that Great American Road Trip. Your work on this site will help make it fun to match the actuals with items in the movie.

When I first saw it I saw references to different things and places on Rt Next year we are planning a drive on The Mother Road and I know we will plan on visiting these places. So I had to watch it too as we had been on Route 66 in July Then I found your site because I was so interested to find out about all the places in the movie.

We stayed in a wigwam at the WigWam Motel in Holbrook — in the wigwam that looks onto the wigwam office just like in the movie. Then we travelled along to Peach Springs.

We went to Bryce Canyon where we drove through the arch formation in the rock. Debbie, England UK. I knew of Route 66, but only have been on a small part of it in my life. Im sure that the Lost Dogs Tour coming up next month has helped to make me more knowlegable about Route Thanks for the wonderful article!!! I had the great opputunity to drive from Kingman to Seligman through 66 last week.

A lot of people told me to skip this and take I I refused and am glad that I took this route. I stopped at many places and it was very worth while to spend sometime meeting the locals at Peach Springs, AZ.

Great Article! Ron… Really enjoyed reading it and felt that it should not have an end. Springs is just a little lost town in the movie….. The pictures are awsome and really am looking forward to show this to other friends! This was an awesome site and very informative. I really enjoyed making the connection with the characters of the movie and places and hope to see more sites that provide facts like this one did.

Next road trip will definitely have to be along Route Really have to agree with you about Tucumcari as still being representative of the flavor of Route 66 in its heyday.

A close second might be Grants, NM. Enjoyed your site. I was in Grants for the first time recently, and without any knowledge of this site, and of course after having seen the movie at the drive-in when it came out, my hair stood on end as we drove slowly up Rte Great site! My whole family loves Cars. Still watch it regularly and for every road trip we take. Thank you. One of the greatest things I see coming from the movie cars is its attention it is giving to the kids.

One day it may be many of these kids who restore some of the towns by-pasted by todays rush of the highways. Thank you so much for this! I hope the towns and businesses have enjoyed renewed interest not only from the film, but also from your website.

With my grandson I wathed this movie and he asked my if the towns were really so I showed him your website and he now wants to go and see were Cars was filmed. Great Job on the website. Our Family watched this movie many times and did travel all of Route 66 right before it came out. This helped us piece it all together! This web site will make it more of a CARS trip for my 6 and 3 yr old. It was really interesting and my boys really liked seeing it also.

Really interesting, I am rewatching Cars on Disney right now…your website answered all of my questions and more! Nice work! I just watched Cars for the fist time and I am one who reads the credits as they roll at the end of the movie.

I like car movie. Its very much interesting and its hard to forget the sentimental history of the route We do hope that there will be another movie, about route I drive thru Glenrio on every Route 66 trip. I take pictures each trip to see how much the hungry elements have devoured. I always wanted to take a trip to the US and drive my way across the former Route 66… Since I have no money, I keep watching movies about it. And this is a great way to make myself feel there.

This page is a great discovery for me… thank you. We shot a documentary to promote electric cars along Route 66 back around the same time the movie Cars came out. Today I saw the movie for second time and once again it make me travel thru it from my living room. But is the first time That I tried to find out more information by internet and I found this page…. I will look forward to in future take a trip by route Thanks for the info, again is awesome!! The ghost light is close by too.

Get out there and get your kicks, while you still can. I visited the Mother Road back in and in Jun The story is true. I took a lot of pictures of the surrounding areas. It was gorgeous but deserted. Read your commentaries invites me to enjoy Route The Cars movie invites me to. I know that its a wondwefull trip. I am hoping that there will be a second edition of the cars…Philippines love it so much so as the young and the old..

I am also hoping that through this movie THE CAR , everyone would realize how values can have revolutionary consequences for human life. Awesome post! I visited Route 66 in mai Now, I would like to know, if Radiator Springs really exists and I found your great article. Thanks for it. When we close our eyes, we can feel it like real. Greatings from Germany, Berlin. I would like to invite all of you to this adult-themed costume party. He drove a modified orange Volkswagon Microbus.

His father owned the Cozy-Dog Drive-In and when we stopped at the Cozy Dog Drive-In along our road trip, a woman came outside while I was taking photos and told us to come inside and check out all the memorabilia and meet everyone.

She turned out to be a customer and a member of a ham radio club who regularly meets up at the Cozy Dog Drive-In for coffee. And I would argue it has some inspiration from the beautiful colors of the Painted Desert in the Petrified Forest National Park as well. When Sally and Lightning McQueen go off for a little joy ride through the Cadillac Range, we see all the twists and turns of the road which seems to be inspired by the beautiful Sitgreaves Pass just outside of Oatman, Arizona.

And the different Cars characters are also based upon real-life cars and people found along Route 66 and the movie has inspired some places to turn their cars into Cars characters! The tractors that get loose and roam around in Radiator Springs are based on the wild roaming donkeys of Oatman, Arizona. In Galena, Kansas, a Pixar team member saw this International boom truck at the service station then known as 4 Women on the Route since it was owned by four ladies but is now known as Cars on the Route and Tow Mater was born!

And the Dinoco owner car is based on the Big Texan Cars mounted with longhorn steer horns. And here are a few things that are found in Cars Land only but are based on real-life Route 66 things:. And perhaps my favorite part of both Cars Land and Route 66 — when the beautiful neon lights turn on at night! My favorite place to watch the lights come on in Cars Land is while sipping a glass of wine at the upstairs Alfresco Tasting Bar.

The Meteor City Trading Post has recently been bought by a couple who plan on renovating the dome and bringing it back to life. The real life front of the store looks just like the one in the movie, with lots of old signs and gas pumps decorating the outside. The inside is a gift shop packed with lots of Route 66 souvenirs. It used to be a mining town back in the day.

I dare you to try and find the Shaffer Spring Goldfish Bowl on the side of the mountain…it actually has goldfish in it but beware of the bees! The Burros in Oatman literally roam the streets throughout the day.

Apparently the locals find the Burros a little annoying because they get in the way and wander into the gift shops. I thought it was brilliant though! The public toilets in Oatman are compost toilets for those that may not like little surprises like that! Yet the writing on the brick work in the movie is inspired by the side of a building in Galena, Kansas! Instead it captures the life and soul of over miles of people and places that are very much characters in their own right along Route 66!

Cars is an extremely clever film. A lot of the businesses on the route have embraced their Cars connection. Locations and people that inspired the movie were also given a gift basket from Disney Pixar as a thank you. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Disneyland disneyland. Did you spot them all?

Unique Motels on Route Must See Route 66 Roadside Attractions. It was awesome if you love little quirky places! Have you been to Carsland in Disneyland? If you ever get the chance to go do it at night! I almost cried it was so amazing!

Thanks Crystal! I went to Orlando back in and nearly cried when I met Woody and Buzz haha. You lucky! During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date.

While many different towns throughout the United States upon the Historic Route 66 inspired the Disney movie "Cars," Tucumcari played a big role in some of the most iconic scenes in the Pixar film. Sylvain L. In fact, we even wrote a whole article about the Blue Swallow Motel that you can check out right here.