List of Cars characters
Encyclopedia
This is a list of characters from the Pixar franchise Cars
consisting of the 2006 film Cars
and the 2011 film Cars 2
.
, and Keith Ferguson
on other occasions) typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by Sally, is a rookie racecar. He is named after Glenn McQueen
, a Pixar Animator who died of melanoma
in October 2002, although the car shares certain traits with actor and race car driver Steve McQueen
. His overall profile was inspired by stock cars and a "more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer", e.g., Lola and Ford GT40
. His number, 95, is a reference to the year Pixar released its first feature-length movie, Toy Story
. His catch-phrase is ka-chow..
In the beginning of the first film, Lightning McQueen is a talented yet overconfident, self-centred rookie race car, especially towards his pit crew. He hopes to be the first rookie to win the Piston Cup race and gain a lucrative endorsement deal from Dinoco Oil in the final race of the season, he had full potential to achieve this but then he finishes in a three-way tie with perennial runner-up Chick Hicks and veteran Strip "The King" Weathers after losing his huge lead on the final lap because of two blown rear tires. McQueen also wanted the Dinoco deal because of his dislike to his somewhat awkward Rust-Eze sponsorship and the rust
y cars within it.
His own choice to force Mack to travel all night to L.A. sets up the predicament he suffers throughout the film. After a chain of events awakens Lightning from sleep and inadvertently releases him from his trailer, he gets lost in Radiator Springs on his way to California. While he is punished for excessive speeding by doing community service to fix the main road, he meets new friends who seek to restore their town to its former glory. It is there he befriends Mater and falls in love with the town attorney and hotelier, Sally Carrera. He changes his look at the end of the movie to help out the townsfolk, and his appreciation for his benefactors is restored. He learns valuable lessons such as true friendship; how greed affects others; keeping promises; teamwork; and that life is about the journey, not the destination. These values lead him to rejuvenate Radiator Springs back to its heyday and relocate to the town forever to make it his racing headquarters.
After Hicks rams Weathers in the final tie-breaker Piston Cup race, McQueen stops on the finish line and reverses to help push Weathers the rest of the way across the finish line, allowing him to complete his last race and retire with dignity, much to the crowd's pleasure, and this proves McQueen's positive change in character from what he learnt in Radiator Springs. McQueen is offered the Dinoco sponsorship, but declines it to remain with the team who gave him his big break.
In the second film, McQueen is now a permanent resident of Radiator Springs and has become a bona fide worldwide celebrity winning four Piston Cups. After his latest win, McQueen expects to relax with Sally, Mater and the other residents of Radiator Springs when he gets himself entered into the first ever World Grand Prix, a three-part race that takes him and his best friend around the world.
McQueen has a fresh custom paint job and real working headlights since he only had stickers in the first film. His tailfins have also been replaced with a spoiler.
McQueen is unaware that the race is all a plot by a group of "lemon" cars to make cars everywhere run on oil until Professor Zundapp, captured by Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell, questions why McQueen was not killed by the death ray and Mater exposes Miles Axlerod as the mastermind behind the plot.
McQueen appears in every episode of Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales as the one who Mater always tells his story to, though Lightning never believes him.
) is a 1980s-era Mack Super-Liner
truck bearing license plate "RUSTEZ3" who inadvertently sets up the predicament suffered by Lightning McQueen throughout the movie. A dedicated member of the Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment Team, having the role of McQueen's driver, Mack pulls Lightning McQueen
's trailer to his races. After McQueen's entire pit team quits, Mack remains as the rookie racer's only friend. Mack often presents a few minor flaws throughout the franchise. McQueen exhorts Mack to drive through the night to his tiebreaker race with Chick Hicks and Strip Weathers in Los Angeles, hoping to reach the venue first and to hang out with the Dinoco team. During the long drive, Mack falls asleep and falls victim to the Delinquent Road Hazards, a group of reckless street racers. The Delinquent Road Hazards knock Mack all over the road, causing one of McQueen's bobble heads to fall off its perch and hit a button, opening his trailer door and dump a sleeping McQueen onto the road.
When Mack awakens, he is unaware that McQueen has gotten lost and has ended up in Radiator Springs. Eventually near to the end, Mack travels to Radiator Springs and, under threat of being fired by McQueen's agent, Harv, transports McQueen to Los Angeles. There he serves as McQueen's pit crew until a group of McQueen's friends from Radiator Springs show up to help. After the race, Mack moves to Radiator Springs with McQueen.
During the end credits; Mack is the prop for a gag, at the drive-in theater watching car versions of other Pixar films (A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Monster's Inc) and while he enjoys the car-versions of other characters his voice actor played (Hamm, The Piggy Bank, P.T Flea, and The Abominable Snowman), he realizes that they are all the same actor and says "They're just using the same actor over and over. What kind of cut-rate production is this?", as a reference to John Ratzenberger voicing at least one character in every Pixar movie. He is also shown at Flo's Cafe in the short film Mater and the Ghostlight
, as well as in the video game based on the film. Mack returns in Cars 2, along with McQueen's trailer but only as a minor character.
John Ratzenberger was given the part in honor of his father, who drove a Mack truck.
, since the official crew chief had recently been fired, is referred to by McQueen as "Chuck", who retorts angrily afterwards, "And my name is not Chuck!" In the credits, he is referred to as "Not Chuck" (a pun) and is voiced by Mike "No Name" Nelson,not to be confused with Michael J. Nelson
. They are used in the film only to leave almost immediately to bring up McQueen's selfishness and inability to work with others, solved at the end of course.
's agent. Never seen on-screen, McQueen speaks to Harv via his speaker phone when McQueen and Mack
are on route to the tiebreaker race and again when Mack is in Radiator Springs to pick up McQueen. Consequently, little is known of Harv's character except that he threatened to fire Mack if he does not get McQueen into his trailer.
Harv is voiced by actor Jeremy Piven
and is based on his character Ari Gold
from the HBO series Entourage
. In the United Kingdom edition of the movie, Harv is voiced by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson
. This equivalent of Harv is implied by Clarkson to be a 1979 Ford Granada Ghia
, while the American version is said to be a 1996 Oldsmobile
.
and Dusty, a 1964 Dodge A100
. Rusty and Dusty are voiced by real-life brothers Tom Magliozzi
and Ray Magliozzi
(respectively) of National Public Radio's Car Talk
. The '63 Dart bears an intentional resemblance to Ray Magliozzi's infamous green Dart, named "The Dartre". They appear 3 times in the film, at the beggining with McQueen looking forward to leaving them, in the middle very briefly being interviewed, and at the end after the race when McQueen realises he is happy with them. In a deleted scene shown on the DVD, these two would have had no association with Lightning McQueen
other than a chance encounter at a truck stop
, where Mack was allowed to stop briefly. According to their respective die-cast, Rusty's license plate states "Rust" and Dusty's sports "Eze". The license plates also show that they are from "R Fair City", a reference to how the brothers refer to their hometown of Cambridge
, Massachusetts on Car Talk, and also the name of one of the cybersites on the PBS
children's TV series Cyberchase
, as Cambridge, Massachusetts is where one of the PBS network's "hub" TV stations, WGBH-TV
, started its existence in the late 1950s.
veteran Richard Petty
. He is based on Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird
; his number, 43, was also Petty's racecar number, and the "Dinoco Blue" color is taken from Petty's Superbird on display at the Richard Petty Museum. He is one of the racecars in the 2005 Piston Cup three-way tie, along with Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen
.
He is Dinoco's "Golden Boy", having won seven Piston Cups (the same number of NASCAR Cup Series championships won by his voice actor), and is hoping for another win in the tie-breaker race. He tells Lightning McQueen
to remember the importance of his team, but the rookie does not pay any attention, being more preoccupied with the thought of taking over the Dinoco sponsorship after Weathers' retirement.
On the final lap of the tie-breaker race, Hicks rams Weathers, sending him into a dangerous rollover crash (reminiscent of Richard Petty's Daytona 500 crash in 1988). When McQueen sees this, he realizes that Weathers' career might end the way Doc Hudson's did. After stopping short of the finishing line, allowing Hicks to win, McQueen pushes Weathers across the finish line to let him finish his last race before retirement, much to the audience's delight. Weathers is last seen visiting the racing museum in Radiator Springs with his wife and another Piston Cup racer, Dale Jr, stating that Hudson was his inspiration.
In the Danish edition of the movie, Weathers is voiced by eight-time 24 Hours of Le Mans
winner Tom Kristensen
. In the Finnish edition of the movie, The King is voiced by Finnish two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen
. In the German edition, he is voiced by Austrian three-time Formula One World Champion Niki Lauda
.
station wagon, she is modeled after the car in which the Petty family used to go to Richard's races during the 1970s. During the races, she sits in a special VIP booth alongside Tex, rooting for her husband. Throughout the film she is constantly shown to support her husband and she worries deeply when he is flipped by Chick Hicks, at the end she kisses Lighting on the cheek to thank him for helping her husband.
and owner of Dinoco. In his packaging as a diecast car, his name is listed as "Tex Dinoco". It is unknown whether Dinoco is Tex's last name, or whether the name was simply added to give the consumer a better idea of who Tex was. In the movie, he has a Hoosier accent. Tex was mainly inspired by the gold Cadillacs with Long Horns that are used at the Big Texan Steak Restaurant in Amarillo, Texas to bring guests for dinner. He is known as Tex Bullhorns on the action figures and is said to be the King's manager also.
. It is seen on top of the Dinoco tent during the races, and Mater gets a ride in it over Radiator Springs at the end of the film, after Lightning had promised Mater the chance to ride in one earlier in the film.
) is "a generic Pixar design, 'a stock 1980s American car'" according to Pixar publicity coordinator Amanda Sorena, but strongly resembles a GM G-body
, with features from both the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the Buick Grand National. He has spent his entire career trailing Strip "The King" Weathers, and is bitter about this fact. His sponsor is the "Hostile Takeover Bank." His pit crew are mean to Guido for being tiny, although his skills are superior to their own. Chick's racing number 86, is a reference to the year 1986, when Pixar Studios were founded. (Of course "86" is also a slang term for destroying or getting rid of something.)
Determined to do whatever it takes to win, Hicks will often ram other cars to cause a wreck (though how he always gets away with this without being penalized is never explained). He hates McQueen, but tends to copy him, and adopts the nickname 'Thunder' which McQueen originally used as a put-down (McQueen: "Because Thunder always comes after Lightning. KA-CHOW!"). Other than hating McQueen, Hicks also hates The King, as Hicks himself always come behind him in second place. Hicks and McQueen also share the same dream of being the new face of Dinoco Oil. While McQueen is presumed missing Chick Hicks makes a deal with Dinoco that if he wins the tie breaker race he will be taking over the Dinoco Sponsorship. Meanwhile Hicks also takes away all of McQueen's fans.
On the final lap of the tie-breaker race, Hicks becomes so determined not to come in behind Weathers again that he rams the older racer so violently that King is sent flying off the track and into a devastating and horrifying roll-over wreck. He expects a huge ovation after McQueen deliberately lets him win the Piston Cup, but the angered crowd and media snub his victory, brand him as a cheater, and is booed off the stage with his trophy in humiliation, much to his anger and apparently Tex Dinoco refused to sponsor him since he tries to offer it to McQueen instead, this is Chick's comeuppance. In many ways, Hicks represents what Lightning McQueen could have become.
Chick reappears in Cars the video game, unrepentant and out to recoup his fan base. The game follows the story of the next Piston Cup season, as well as the adventures of Lightning and his friends (Sally, Mater, Luigi and Sheriff) around Radiator Springs. Doc and Lightning first spot Chick spying on Lightning's practice sessions. Later he ineffectively taunts Lightning before the first race of the season until Doc warns him off, then falls in with a gang of New York-based greaser cars in Carburetor County to challenge McQueen. Later, the DRH gang jumps Mack on the interstate and steal McQueen's racing gear, but finger Chick as the one who hired them after they are caught by Sheriff. Angry over another foiling, Chick blows up at Lightning, but accepts his challenge for a 4-race showdown, the Radiator Springs Grand Prix (three races around Carburetor County), and the final Piston Cup Race in Los Angeles.
Hicks is seen again in the Cars Race-O-Rama
video game, in which he tries to take revenge for his humiliation back at the Piston Cup race and recruit rookies for him to groom in his mold by closing down McQueen's racing academy and opening up his own in Radiator Springs. His catchphrase is ca-chick-a.
), is a rusty tow truck
living in Radiator Springs. He was inspired by a 1951 International Harvester
tow truck but bears more of a resemblance to a 1955–57 Chevrolet
or GMC; the actual inspiration may be the 1955–56 version since the hood which Mater recovers at the end of the film after a twenty-year absence lacks the "gunsights" of the 1957 model. His license plate reads "A113
." Mater runs "Tow Mater Towing and Salvage." Along with the first film, he also stars in an animated short, Mater and the Ghostlight
, and acts as an announcer in the Cars video game. He speaks with a thick Southern accent with a bit of hillbilly twang
and uses incorrect syntax. Mater is also the (self-proclaimed) world champion backwards driver. He attributes his skill to his rear-view mirrors and his own philosophy: "Don't need to know where I'm going, just need to know where I've been." In the first film, Mater befriends and supports Lightning throughout his adventure in Radiator Springs, Mater is important to the film for teaching Lighning the means of friendship. He travels to L.A.
for the tie-breaking race. At it, when McQueen is spun out, he races backwards after being spun out, implying that he learned to drive backwards from Mater. In the end, McQueen gives Mater an opportunity to fly in a Dinoco helicopter like he always wanted.
In the second film, Mater is thrilled to join McQueen on a trip around the world after getting him into the first annual World Grand Prix, leaving Radiator Springs for the second time. When McQueen and his pit crew arrive in Tokyo, Mater learns that the world outside of Radiator Springs is quite different and he's also mistaken for an American spy, leading him into an adventure of espionage. Caught between helping McQueen and his new role as a spy, Mater gets involved in a chase across the globe between British spies and international villains. In this film, the "Tow Mater" logo on his side has been replaced with McQueen's 95.
At the end of Cars 2, Mater figures out that the World Grand Prix is all a plot orchestrated by Miles Axlerod to force cars everywhere into using the richest oil in the world. This exposition leads Axlerod and his henchmen to be arrested and Mater is knighted by the Queen as a result. His catchphrase is dad-gum.
) is a royal blue 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera
. Her California license plate number is 301PCE. She also appears in the Cars video game
, in which she is a playable character. Sally, Lightning McQueen
's love interest, is the snazzy town attorney of Radiator Springs. She came to the town several years before, when, in her own words, "I never felt – happy. So I left California then just drove and drove, and finally broke down right here (Wheel Well Motel). Doc fixed me up, Flo took me in – well, they all did – and I never left." Sally then fell in love with the town, and the land around it, and settled down in the town. Sally runs the Cozy Cone Motel. Later, she and Lightning reopened the Wheel Well Hotel. She calls McQueen "Stickers," first as a way to tease him (because of his fake headlights), and later as a friendly nickname. In the UK cars magazine Top Gear
, Sally was included in the magazine's list of the 10 sexiest cars in the world. Sally reappears in Cars 2 with her and McQueen now in a relationship, but her role in the film is drastically limited as she only appears in the beginning and end of the film.
in his last non-documentary film and by Corey Burton
in the video games), also known as "Dr. Hudson" or simply "Doc", is Radiator Springs' local physician. His license plate reads 51HHMD (a reference to his year and track number (51) model (Hudson Hornet) and profession (medical doctor)). Doc's stickers say "twin H power", which was an optional dealer-installed dual carburetor intake manifold, with twin 1-barrel carburetors and air filters. It was standard on 1952 model Hornets. Doc was once known as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet
(#51), one of the most famous racecars to have ever lived; he won three Piston Cups, and still holds the record for most wins in a single season (27, a reference to real-life Hornets winning 27 NASCAR
races in 1952). All that changed for the famous Hornet when a terrible crash on the track during the final lap of the 1954 Piston Cup championship race saw him put out for the season. Upon his return, he was received with a complete absence of fanfare and told that he was a has-been who had been passed up for the next rookie in line. He kept a newspaper article on the career-ending crash as a reminder never to return to the life that nearly killed him.
Jaded by the racing scene, he left that world, apparently taking out time to study medicine. The famous No.51 disappeared into obscurity, leaving many wondering where he had gone. He instead opted for a simple navy blue paint job and the life of a physician in the tiny town of Radiator Springs, the "shining Gemstone
" of the Mother Road – Route 66
. He runs Doc's Clinic as a "doctor of internal combustion". As times changed and the town got bypassed in favor of Interstate 40
, Doc stayed on, even when the population had dwindled to a meager dozen or so residents. He is respected, well-loved, and serves not only as the town's physician, but as its judge as well. However, nobody in the town had any idea of his past as a racer; he was just an ordinary Hudson Hornet
to them.
Upon meeting the young hotshot Lightning McQueen
, Doc saw far too much of his past in the rookie. He was less than happy when McQueen discovers his past. After McQueen finished fixing the road he damaged and decided to stay for a while, Doc was unable to bear having him around any longer and called the news and press to immediately take him away to the Piston Cup, declaring that it is best for everyone. But seeing how disheartened everyone was by his unplanned departure, Doc realized that McQueen had become more important to them than he thought. He eventually admits the truth to everyone about his Racecar days and he took back his old No. 51 colors to become McQueen's pit crew chief, bringing nearly the entire town (except Sally, Red, and Lizzy who watch the race on TV) to the Piston Cup to support Lightning as his pit crew (and in an ironic twist of fate, finally received that long awaited fanfare for his return). By the end of the film, Doc opts to keep his racing colors, and becomes a trainer as well as a friend to the young McQueen. Just like McQueen, Doc learned some lessons: friendship, promises, how greed affects others, and that secrets cannot be kept forever. A racing museum subsequently opens in Radiator Springs and is named after him.
The car is based on the real-life Fabulous Hudson Hornet
in NASCAR competition driven by Herb Thomas
and Marshall Teague
. Newman, a racing enthusiast and former driver, drew upon his experiences for the grumpy old race car's personality. Paul Newman died from lung cancer
in September 2008. Pixar decided having Doc Hudson appear in Cars 2 would be inappropriate, and based on a conversation between Lightning and Mater, Doc passed away prior to the second film. However, Doc's memory lives on, as the Piston Cup was renamed after him. During the Japan leg of the World Grand Prix, the commentators note that Doc was widely considered to be one of the best dirt-track racers in the world.
) is a 1949 Mercury
police car
, bearing Carburetor County license plate 001. Sheriff is painted in the classic law enforcement black and white, with a single red light dome, two sirens
, and curb feeler
s. Sheriff was the first resident of Radiator Springs to appear in the first film and also the first to meet Lightning McQueen
during a police chase when McQueen was speeding through the town, trying to find Mack. Upon catching McQueen, who had become ensnared in power lines and fencing, Sheriff borrows a line used by actor Joe Higgins, who played a sheriff in early 1970s Dodge
commercials: "Boy, you're in a heap of trouble." At one point in the film when Sally gives McQueen some gasoline, Sheriff worried that McQueen would try to escape the town, noticing McQueen's expression, while looking in the direction of the Interstate. Sheriff then turns on his gumball. Lightning chooses to accompany Sally, rather than making an escape attempt, resulting in Sheriff switching off his emergency lighting. This suggests the beginning of trust in Lightning by Sheriff. He later befriends Lightning McQueen, even offering him a police escort to California and even giving a few sniffles when he thought Lightning had left after finishing fixing the road (though he denied it claiming he was glad Lightning was gone), and joins his pit crew for the championship race.
Sheriff reappears in the second film
, seeing Lightning and his race crew off to the World Grand Prix. When Mater goes missing, flo mentions that Sheriff has Scotland Yard
scouring London for Mater. During the climax of the film, Sheriff arrives along with the other Radiator Springs resident as new members of McQueen's pit crew in England, and is informed by Mater of the lemons cars' plot to kill McQueen in order to turn all vehicles in the world against alternate energy and rely on gasoline for profit. Sheriff also partakes in the final melee against the Lemon cars.
) is a 1959 Fiat 500
. He is a Scuderia Ferrari
fan, and has followed racing his entire life. His license plate reads 445-108, which is the latitude and longitude for the main Ferrari
factory in Maranello
, Italy. Luigi owns a tire shop, Casa Della Tires, which is known for its "Leaning Tower of Tires," a tower of several tires shaped like the Leaning Tower of Pisa
. His assistant is an Italian forklift truck
named Guido. Inside his shop are many framed pictures of World Sportscar Championship
endurance racing Ferraris from various points in history. At first, Luigi and Guido do not respect Lightning McQueen
when he comes to Radiator Springs (owing to the substantial havoc that he inflicted upon the town when he first arrived), because he is not a Ferrari ("Luigi follow only the Ferraris"), but later on they learn to show courtesy to McQueen, fitting him with whitewalls. During the big race, Luigi and Guido work as part of Lightning's pit crew, changing the tires so fast that his works embarrass other teams. In the end, McQueen directs a group of Italian sports cars – a Ferrari (voiced by Michael Schumacher
) and two Maserati Quattroporte
s – to his shop, having recommended it. The presence of a celebrity Ferrari in their store causes both Luigi and Guido to faint from shock and happiness.
For the Italian version of the film, Luigi was voiced by comedian Marco Della Noce; one of Della Noce's most popular characters was "Oriano Ferrari", a parody character meant to represent the leader of Ferrari's pit stop crew.
In Cars 2, Luigi is a part of Lightning's pit crew, in charge of the racer's tires. In Japan, he is naturally overjoyed to see so many Ferraris at a party prior to the first race of the World Grand Prix. He also hesitantly begins to explain to Mater what a rendezvous is, but he and Guido do not believe Mater when he believes he has a date ("Guido don't believe you!" "Guido still don't believe you!") Luigi and Guido are overjoyed to be back in their home of Italy, and rejoin their large group of family and friends. A little more is discussed of Luigi's past with Guido: Luigi's Uncle Topolino mentions that Luigi and Guido often fought when they worked for him (over things like which Ferrari was the best, and which one of them looked more like a Ferrari, etc.) but they always made up after their fights. Luigi joins his friends in a melee against Professor Zundapp's Lemons at the film's climax, and finally believes Mater's claims of a girlfriend when Holley Shiftwell confirms the fact in person at Radiator Springs.
) is an early fifties Isetta
forklift, who works at Luigi's Casa Della Tires, and is Luigi's best friend. The only language Guido can speak and understand fluently is Italian, though he appears to understand English, and even speaks a few phrases, including "Pit stop" but pronounced "Peet stop!" His dream is to perform a pit stop
for a real racecar. Near the end of the movie, as a member of Lightning's new pit crew, he performed the fastest pit stop in Piston Cup history, changing all four tires in four seconds, shocking Chick Hicks' pit crew (and making their moustaches/grills fall off in the process) who had earlier made fun of him.
In order to preserve the "language barrier" gags between Guido and the other characters in the Italian dub, his lines (and the other cars' lines in Italian) have been rendered with the Emiliano-Romagnolo
accent spoken in the town of Modena
, Italy, home of the Ferrari
car manufacturer and racing team. Alex Zanardi
, an Italian race driver who is a native of Bologna, the largest city in the Emilia-Romagna region (and thus presumably familiar with that dialect), voiced Guido for the Italian version. Coincidentally, or as a pun by the authors, the name "Guido" is a perfect homonym
for the Italian inflected verb meaning "I drive". In Cars 2, Guido serves the same purpose he served in the first film's climax in Lightning's pit crew throughout the film. He also removed all tires from some of the Lemons when the malicious cars surrounded Lightning and Mater, but is unable to remove the bomb from Mater's nose (engine). Guido dryly does not believe Mater when he says he has a date ("Non ti credo"), but has a literally jaw-dropping moment when he sees that Mater was telling the truth about his new girlfriend Holley Shiftwell.
) is a 1959 Chevrolet Impala Lowrider
who owns the Ramone's Paint and Body Art store, where he paints himself and other cars, including Lightning McQueen
later in the film. His license plate reads "L0WNSL0", which is a reference to his catchphrase, "Low and slow." He is married to Flo, whose restaurant is next door to his store. Ramone is usually depicted as purple with a yellow and orange flame job, but throughout the film he changes his paint job every morning to keep his skills sharp, owing to a lack of customers. This situation changes after Radiator Springs becomes vibrant again.
In a deleted scene that told the story of how Ramone and Flo fell in love, the only customer Ramone has refused to paint was his future wife Flo. When she asked him, "Whassamatta, you too good to paint me?" he promptly and smoothly replies, "No way, you too good for me to paint," and saying that he could not touch a classic like Flo, which made her heart melt. The story took place in Radiator Springs of 1974.
Ramone reappears in Cars 2, making a few appearances in the Radiator Springs scenes, though he joins everyone else to help McQueen in England. In the melee scene, Ramone disables one of the lemon cars by spray painting into the car's eyes, blinding him.
) is the owner of Radiator Springs only gas diner, "Flo's V-8 Cafe" and is married to Ramone, the town's body artist. (The story of their romance is told in the previous paragraph.) Her license plate reads "SHOGRL", the same as the license plates applied to many Motorama
show cars, and an obvious pun on the term "showgirl
". A shot of Flo's rear end during the cruising scene shows a secondary plate above her license plate which reads "Motorama 1957." According to a deleted scene, she is indeed a Motorama showcar and came to Radiator Springs during a national tour. She appears to be inspired by three early- to mid-fifties show cars: the 1951 Le Sabre
(front-end lines, the basic hood shape, lights mounted near the corners, and front-quarter trim), the 1951 Buick XP-300 (side trim), and the 1956/57 Chrysler Dart (cockpit, deck lid, and tailfins).
Flo reappears in Cars 2, as she arrives to help Lightning and Mater battle the lemons (who were sent to kill Lightning by Miles Axlerod). Later she and Sally are seen swooning over Francesco.
in Cars
, Cars: The Video Game
, Mater and the Ghostlight
, and Cars Toons
(via archives), Brian George
in Cars Mater-National
, Mark Silverman in Cars Race-O-Rama
and Lloyd Sherr
in Cars 2
and Cars 2: The Video Game
following Carlin's death in 2008) is a Volkswagen Type 2
microbus of late 1950s/early 1960s vintage as evidenced by his pointed front turn signals and small rear window. Fillmore's license plate reads "51237", which is a reference to May 12, 1937, the birthdate of George Carlin. He is a stereotypical hippie
, with his license plate positioned to resemble a soul patch
. His name is a reference to the Fillmore East
, a venue that was an epicenter for rock performances throughout the 1960s and 1970s (The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix
all made notable live recordings there, to name a few). He owns an organic fuel
shop (Fillmore's Organic Fuel) which features several flavors, and believes gasoline companies are lying to the public. In the morning, when next-door neighbor Sarge plays Reveille
and raises the Flag of the United States
, Fillmore interrupts Sarge's bugle reveille
with Jimi Hendrix
's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner
." This is much to Sarge's irritation, as he shouts at Fillmore:
Despite this, he is friends with Sarge, and the two can be seen chatting throughout the film.
He has a sticker on his rear that says "I brake for Jackalopes". The jackalope
is a mythical creature which features in the theatrical short "Boundin'
" shown with The Incredibles
. He has appeared in every Disney Cars game so far. As voiced by George Carlin, Fillmore's voice is similar to "Al Sleet, the hippy-dippy weatherman", a part of Carlin's comedy routine in the 1970s.
Fillmore reappears in Cars 2, joining McQueen's pit crew for the World Grand Prix and has a smaller role compared to the previous film. He is the only original character that had to be re-cast due to George Carlin's death, and was replaced by Lloyd Sherr in this film. Fillmore initially supports Allinol as it supposedly does not use oil, even convincing McQueen it is safe after several accidents involving other cars using Allinol. However, for the final race, McQueen's Allinol is replaced at the last minute by Fillmore's organic fuel. This is what prevents Lightning from being killed in the race. Apparently, Fillmore knew all about the fuel switch, as he revealed it to Lightning.
) is a Willys Jeep. A veteran with a military green paint job and a slightly stylized Sergeant Major (E-9) insignia on his sides, he appears to be a World War II
era Willys MB
. His license plate reads "41WW2", which indicates the date the Willys MB entered the service of the U.S. Army (1941 World War II). He runs a surplus store, named "Sarge's Surplus Hut", next door to Fillmore and acts as part of Lightning's pit crew, gassing him up during the race. Near the end of the film, it is revealed he later opens an Army Camp to train SUVs and 4x4s in rugged and dirt terrain, including T.J. Hummer, Murphy, Frank "Pinky" Pinkerton, and Charlie Cargo.
Sarge reappears in Cars 2, using assistance from the British Army to aid in the melee against the lemons. Prior to the final leg of the World Grand Prix, he secretly switches McQueen's supply of Allinol (the alternative fuel developed by race founder Sir Miles Axlerod) for Fillmore's organic fuel blend. Like Fillmore he became suspicious of the fuel after the incidents in Japan and Italy. The change saves McQueen from being destroyed as part of Axlerod's plot to discredit alternative fuels.
), a 1923 Ford Model T
coupe, is the widow of Radiator Springs' founder, Stanley, and the elderly owner of a roadside souvenir and accessory shop (Radiator Springs Curios). Her license plate, "MT23", is a reference to her model and year. Her name is derived from Tin Lizzie, one of the Model T's popular nicknames. She appears to have gone somewhat senile, and has a crush on Lightning McQueen
. When she is shown teasing Luigi and Guido in the film, stating that "the new road makes your place look like a dump." Luigi angrily says that she is a crazy, devilish old woman; but despairs at the truth of her words. She appears extremely motherly.
Lizzie reappears in Cars 2.
) is a mid-1960s closed-cab pumper bearing Carburetor County license plate "002." He is shy and emotional, often bursting into tears and/or hiding whenever he is upset. He spends most of his time gardening and washing things, such as the statue of Stanley next to his fire station
. It was stated by Mater that Red hated McQueen for accidentally killing his flowers, but it is clear that Red had forgiven McQueen and warmed up to him, especially since he burst into tears and fled when he thought McQueen left without saying goodbye (which he did not, but was, unfortunately, forced to do later). In the movie, Red never spoke (not counting his sobs and gasps). Joe Ranft
died in a car accident in August 2005, 11 months before the movie was released.
Red reappears in Cars 2 with no voice actor. He only makes a small appearance at the airport crying as he sees 'Team McQueen' taking off for Tokyo, also in the battle against the lemons, where he arrives just in time to blast some of the lemons away with his fire hose.
, a steam-driven automobile. A statue of Stanley stands outside the town hall, and although it was broken off its pedestal and dragged through the streets on a wire by Lightning McQueen, it was fortunately undamaged, and another mishap placed the statue right back where it was. Although dead, Stanley continues to exert an influence on the town, particularly over Lizzie, who often talks to his statue in memory of him. At one point, the statue is sent flying through the air ("Fly away, Stanley. Be free!" - Fillmore) but returns to the pedestal luckily.
Stanley reappears in Cars 2 where he was shown to be less old and broken, possibly renovated.
) is a generic orange combine harvester
that resembles a bull, and the guardian of the tractors. After Lightning McQueen
's first encounter with Frank during a night of tractor tipping with Mater, Lightning starts dreaming that he, The King, and Chick Hicks (the last of whom does not even survive) are beaten by Frank in the tie-breaker race after beginning to feel that he is being distracted by his time in Radiator Springs. When he wins big smoke comes out of his horns which makes him look more like a moose. He is last seen with the tractors at the drive-in theatre scenes. He is also seen in the short Mater and the Ghostlight
when Mater races past him, waking him up. Frank seems to be the soothing master of the tractors and the leader of the herd.
, and a former Piston Cup Racer. His character is based on former NASCAR racer and Fox Sports
commentator Darrell Waltrip
, who also provides the character's voice. Cartrip utters, "Boogity boogity boogity!" as the tiebreaker race starts; the real-life Waltrip is also known to use the phrase at the start of every NASCAR
race on Fox. He also says "I'm so excited, they're gonna have to tow me out of the booth!" Cartrip appears in the Cars video game as the sole announcer; he is also a playable character in the Piston Cup VS. and Arcade mode. On his side it says, "Boogity boogity boogity" and on the back of him it says, "DWstore.com" (the online store for the three NASCAR on FOX
analysts). These do not appear in the video game. The car is based on a real-life 1977 Monte Carlo Waltrip drove with DiGard Racing, although it does not have the actual number (#88) or livery (a green and white Gatorade livery) from its three years used on the circuit. The most famous of those cars was the infamous "Bertha," known for its weight-reduction ruse by crew chief Gary Nelson and Buddy Parrott where up to 45 kg of buckshot was added to a box near the battery, and on parade laps, Waltrip pressed a lever to drop the buckshot on track to lighten the car. With 16 of Waltrip's 84 career wins, it is displayed at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama. Darrell would later return in the second film as one of the three announcers of the World Grand Prix.
, the renowned NBC
sportscaster and journalist and his name, like Darrell Cartrip's, is a play on that of his voice actor. The character's name is obviously a reference to the Oldsmobile Cutlass
. Cutlass is actually supposed to resemble a 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora
, even though the Aurora was never offered in a 2 door model. He never returned for the video game, nor Cars 2.
), are identical twin 1992 Mazda Miata (The names are a play on "Miata".) sisters who are Lightning McQueen
's self-proclaimed biggest fans in the first film. After McQueen's disappearance, the twins are devastated that McQueen apparently will not make it to the race. Chick Hicks then swoops in and consoles them, loading them up with his own merchandise and a free Hostile Takeover Bank-sponsored paint job. Mia and Tia accept the offer, not because they are Chick's fans, but because the color green complements their eyes. By the end of the movie, they are McQueen's fans once more, turning against Hicks after he deliberately causes Strip "The King" Weathers to wreck in the tie-breaker race. In the end of the first film, Mia and Tia eventually move to Radiator Springs and work as waitresses at Flo's V8 Cafe, as seen during the end credits. In Lightning McQueen's daydream about the Dinoco Sponsorship, the twins are Dinoco blue, except for the scene in the penthouse, where they are painted gold. In a deleted scene on the Cars DVD, the twins are waitresses at a truck stop at which McQueen stops.
When they first meet Lightning, Mia and Tia flash their pop-up headlights
at him, similar to groupies pulling up their shirts to flash celebrities.
Mia and Tia also appear in Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales because of his crazy doings. They also make a cameo appearance near the end of the second film, watching along with other residents of Radiator Springs, as the racecars from the World Grand Prix race out on their new Radiator Springs Grand Prix.
) and Minny (voiced by Edie McClurg
) are husband and wife. In the first film, they are lost and pass through Radiator Springs while trying to find their way back to Interstate 40. Minny also mentions that Van did the same when they were heading up to the "Crazy Days" (a parody of Derby Days) in Shakopee
. Van refuses to ask directions, claiming not to need them due to having a GPS
. Both of them are equipped with car alarm
s, which they arm after their encounter with Lightning McQueen when he begs them to call for help. After the end of the credits, we find out that Van and Minny have ended up somewhere lost in the desert, having never asked for directions, and Van has almost been driven to insanity
. Their names combined is a pun on "minivan
". Van is a 2003 Ford Windstar
and Minny appears to be a 1996 Dodge Caravan
. Minny speaks with a pronounced Minnesota accent.
Van and Minny reappear near the end of the second film. While Minny is mesmerized by Mater's spy story, Van does not believe one word of it until British agent Holley Shiftwell arrives to confirm it, which surprises Van a lot.
that intentionally cause trouble on the highway: Boost (Purple Neon/Silver 1994 Mitsubishi Eclipse
), DJ (Blue 2004 Scion xB
), Wingo (Green and purple 2000 Nissan Silvia S15) and Snot Rod (Orange 1970 Plymouth Barracuda
). They get their group name from what Sheriff called McQueen when he ordered Mater to tow him to traffic court. They catch Mack nodding off to sleep on the way to California, and amuse themselves by nudging him onto the rumble strips along the shoulder. The resulting vibration causes Mack's trailer door to open and a sleeping McQueen to roll out of the trailer. When the chronically-sniffly Snot Rod sneezes, Mack is startled awake, and accelerates away, leaving the still-sleeping McQueen behind near Radiator Springs, thus making the Hazards mostly responsible for McQueen's disappearance. However, in an act of poetic justice, during the end credits the Hazards are seen speeding on the outskirts of Radiator Springs just as the Sheriff arrives and places them in the impound lot. It is then later revealed that Doc Hudson himself sentenced the Hazards to messy roadwork towing Bessie for their actions. In the Italian dub, three of the Hazards are voiced by F1 drivers: Giancarlo Fisichella (Boost), Emanuele Pirro (Wingo) and Jarno Trulli
(DJ). Boost, DJ and Wingo make a cameo appearance at the start of Tokyo Mater, drifting along the main road of Radiator Springs before Sherrif gives chase to them.
; a news reporter who shows up in Cars
three times.
, is a talk show host. He resembles the latest generation of the Lincoln Town Car
. He remarks "I don't know what's going to be harder to find; Lightning McQueen
or a crew chief who'll work for him!"
) is a starstruck, very rusty old car. Everybody knows his name because his license plate holder and license plate say "Hello, my name is" and "FRED", respectively. He is the prop for the recurring gag in the film; when McQueen says his name, he shouts, "He knows my name! He knows my name" and, in his excitement, his front bumper (which happens to be his lower jaw) falls off. Later, when he is unable to gain access to the tie-breaker race and Mario Andretti
(who would be waved through the gate on sight as a celebrity) likewise reads his license plate, Fred says, "Mario Andretti knows my name! You gotta let me in now!" He is seen again in the end credits as a resident of Radiator Springs spinning around in a circle with rust falling out from under him. When he stops, his front bumper falls off again. He also shows up in Mater National and Race-O-Rama
.
that Sarge teaches in his boot camp during the end of the movie. Unlike the other SUVs in the boot camp, TJ refuses to go off road, fearing that he will get dirt on his rims, but Sarge forces him to do so. His name may be a play on the action character T.J. Hooker.
. His only line is "Lightning McQueen must be found at all costs!" The name and vehicle is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger
's then-current position as California governor
, the first three Terminator
films he starred on, and the fact that he was one of the first Hummer H1
owners.
is a 2006 Ferrari F430
sports car voiced by Schumacher himself. He is a Ferrari in reference to his recent championships with Ferrari F1. He appears at Luigi's shop at the end of the movie after being told by Lightning McQueen that "this is the best place in the world to buy tires", and asks to order a few sets of tires for himself and a pair of Maserati
Quattroportes
who accompany him. After Luigi faints from the excitement of having "a real Michael Schumacher Ferrari in his store", Schumacher speaks to Guido in Italian, and Guido subsequently faints. The Italian phrase he speaks is, "I hope that your friend recovers, I was told that you are fantastic."
) is a 1979 Peterbilt
352 that Lightning McQueen mistook for Mack. He has the words "Recycled Batteries" on his side." His only line in the movie is a response to McQueen: "Mack? I ain't no Mack, I'm a Peterbilt, for dang sake! And turn on your lights, ya dang moron!"
laying machine that is used to fix roads. When Lightning McQueen
accidentally destroys the road with the statue of Stanley, the residents of Radiator Springs sentence him to fix the road with her. She is later seen at the end of the movie when the Delinquent Road Hazards have to fix the road with her as punishment for speeding. Sometimes Bessie boils over and splats tar onto the car(s) pulling her. Bessie is a "non-living" vehicle, it cannot move by itself, and it has no voice actor in the film.
driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., is a 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Piston Cup racecar that closely resembles Earnhardt's No. 8 NASCAR stock car that was driven until 2008
. The stock car's Budweiser
stickers were replaced by Dale Earnhardt Inc. stickers to avoid advertising beer in the first film. Junior was first seen in the race at the beginning of the first film where he was approaching the track and is later seen in the pits. He was seen again during the "McQueen's Missing" scene saying that he hoped that Lightning was okay, then at the tie-breaker Junior is seen wishing The King good luck in his last race. Junior was last seen at the Radiator Springs racing museum with The King and his wife Lynda, admitting to being amazed by Doc Hudson's many season winnings during the 1950s. Junior does not appear in the video game.
Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti voices his eponymous character, who is a former racecar that believes every day is a great day for racing. He is based on the 1967 Holman Moody
Ford Fairlane
that the real Andretti drove to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500. In the Spanish edition of the movie, Andretti is voiced by Formula One
champion, Fernando Alonso
.
) is a British secret agent who recruits Mater
, whom he mistakes for a cleverly disguised American agent, to help in his mission. Though charming and eloquent, it’s his stealth maneuvering, intelligence and years in the field that enable him to thwart unexpected attacks from bad guys, making quick daredevil escapes. Finn’s design is sleek and timeless, but he’s also prepared for any tricky situation with an arsenal of ultra-cool gadgets and weaponry, including front and rear grappling hooks, a missile launcher, deployable magnetic explosives and a holographic disguise emitter. As a seasoned professional in the game of international espionage, Finn believes there is a conspiracy brewing during the World Grand Prix. His clandestine work surrounding the global exhibition race puts him on a collision course with Mater. Caine depicted his character Finn based on his previous role Harry Palmer
from the The IPCRESS File
and its sequels.
Originally, Finn was supposed to appear in the first Cars movie. In a sequence that never went beyond the storyboarding stage, Lightning
and Sally visited a drive-in theater where a James Bond-type film about a superspy car named Finn McMissile was playing. The design of Finn is inspired by several cars, the roofline and doors of the Volvo P1800
(possibly inspired by Roger Moore
's ownership of one while filming The Saint TV espionage series in the early 1960s), the grill and fenders of the BMW 507
, and some major elements of the iconic James Bond Aston Martin DB5
, he also resembles a 1970's Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. The look of the car has been slightly modified; Finn has a different grill that looks like a suave mustache, but like Bond, he does have plenty of gadgets. His small tailfins were inspired by a 1958 British sports car called the Peerless—one of the few British cars with fins. Finn is fluent in many languages, most notably French and Italian. He is outfitted with a plethora of gadgets, including: two (Front) bumperette grappling hooks, a left headlight spy camera, a right headlight missile launcher, side mirror digital read-outs, a deployable glass cutter, front wheel hub magnetic explosives launcher; (side) side vent deployable machine guns, (rear) wheel hub deployable surveillance probes, rear bumperette grappling hooks, a rear turn signal oil blaster, an undercarriage mounted quad harpoon gun, a hydrofoil for oversea travel, a roof-deployed holographic disguise emitter, and submarine-mode for underwater escapes. Finn made a cameo in Toy Story 3
on a poster in Andy's room. His license plate is 314 FMCM, which includes a reference to his initials. The number 314 indicates Caine's birthday, March 14.
His belief about the World Grand Prix turns out to be true, as it was all just a setup by Miles Axlerod to make alternate fuel seem dangerous and make cars run on his own fuel (which Finn encountered earlier on in the film) with no choice.
) is a British spy-in-training who aids Finn McMissile in his mission. She is also Mater
's love interest in the film. Holley Shiftwell is a beautiful young British desk agent, turned spy-in-training who’s stationed in Tokyo. Well-educated and sharp, she knows every trick in the book—or rather, she relies on every trick in the spy manual. She’s armed with the latest state-of-the-art spy equipment imaginable, from hidden cameras and concealed weapons to a telescoping utility arm and a holographic pop-up display. Holley is a highly motivated agent, but is fresh out of the academy, so her experience is based on lessons learned in school rather than real-life situations. When seasoned international spy Finn McMissile requires Holley’s technical expertise for his latest top-secret field operation, she finds herself pursuing a rendezvous with the most unlikely candidate—Mater, an innocent caught up in the intrigue, who is mesmerized by the beauty of his newest friend.
Holley's name is a reference to Holley Performance Products
, Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance carburetors and fuel systems located in Bowling Green, KY. Her design has a close resemblance to the Jaguar XJR-15
. Her license plate is HS1201, which includes her initials. The number 1201 is Emily Mortimer's birthday (December 1). Holley is equipped with gadgets including: (front) projection lamps above headlights that emit a heads-up display, headlight cameras; a (side) right wheel concealed gun and an electro-shock device, a telescoping utility arm, (undercarriage) mounted dual trackball platforms for controlling the heads-up display, and retractable wings for flight.
) is a state-of-the-art British twin-engine spy jet. He is 176 feet long with a 157-foot wingspan (53 and 48 meters respectively) and is shown to possess afterburners, though no aspect of his airframe is suited to supersonic flight, In addition, he has VTOL
(vertical-takeoff and landing) capabilities. Outfitted with all the latest in high-tech spy equipment, including cloaking technology, defensive weaponry and afterburners, Siddeley is Finn’s steadfast partner-in-fighting-crime around the globe. His tail has A113
painted on it, a recurring gag in the Pixar films. His name is a reference to the British aerospace company, Hawker Siddeley.
) is considered by many as the greatest American spy in the world. He's the one McMissile and Shiftwell were supposed to meet before he ran into Mater, which leads to the mistake of the spy cars thinking Mater is Redline. Recruited after the Cold War for both his brains and brawn, Torque is a tough-as-nails Detroit muscle car with a mastery of disguises. In his latest deep-cover operation, he obtained vital information about the plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix. In the beginning of the film, he is seen by McMissile (as a lemon) talking to the professor about the camera. So Rod plans a rendezvous with his British counterparts to share his discoveries at the World Grand Prix welcome reception in Tokyo, Japan. But with the bad guys hot on his tailpipe, Rod is forced to ditch the intel early and with the first party guest he sees – a rusty American tow truck named Mater. He is later captured and killed by the enemy's weapon, a magnetic pulse gun disguised as a TV camera (Allinol explodes when it reacts with a magnetic pulse). Torque is a visual portmanteau of a Dodge Challenger
and a Ford Mustang
. His license plate is a Michigan plate and reads "M1911A1," a reference to the handgun used historically by the United States Armed Forces
.
threewheeler, a type of car notorious for its poor handling and tendency to roll over in even gentle turns.
) is a former oil baron who has sold off his fortune after supposedley converted himself into an electric vehicle. He claims to have devoted his life to finding the renewable, clean-burning energy source of the future—ultimately discovering what he believes is the fuel everyone should be using. Axlerod created the World Grand Prix, to promote his new wonder-fuel, Allinol. Axlerod later reveals that he owns the largest untapped oil reserves in the world. His "alternative fuel" is actually ordinary gasoline engineered to ignite if hit with electro-magnetic pulses from weapons disguised as television cameras. Axlerod's plans to use oil for world domination are eventually exposed. Axlerod plans to use Professor Zündapp and the lemon cars to kill McQueen in the final race, but the EMP weapon fails to finish him off because Sarge switched McQueen's Allinol for Filmore's organic fuel. As a backup, Axlerod has Zündapp and the lemon cars implant a bomb on Mater's air filter. Mater confronts Axlerod about the conspiracy and forces him to deactivate the bomb with a voice command, proving that he was the one who set it. Axlerod's engine turns out to be the Rover V8 in the photo obtained by McMissile and Shiftwell (described by Mater as "the worst engine ever made"), and he is exposed as a fraud and arrested. "Sir Miles", and "Sir Tow", had been more correct; first names only, as knighthood stipulates.
Axlerod is styled after a first generation Range Rover and has a Rover V8 engine (a Buick design). Mater remarks after seeing the engine on the spy picture that the owner must be very happy since he has all the spare parts. Those spare parts are labeled "British Weyland", which is a parody on British Leyland, with a "W" instead of an "L" in the logo. British Leyland produced both the Rover V-8 engine and the Range Rover models. His last name, a portmanteau of "axle" and "rod", is a reference to Mr. Izzard's stand-up routine about the invention of the wheel and axle.
) is an internationally wanted weapons designer in a small, sophisticated German package. He is a brilliant, but mad monocle-wearing scientist who is plotting to sabotage the World Grand Prix. Professor Zündapp is willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate all obstacles and keep the “project” on schedule. He is modeled as a Zündapp Janus 250
and has a broken roof rack
that evokes the look of a comb over
. Though at first, Professor Zündapp appears to be the main villain, but is eventually exposed as a subordinate of Miles Axlerod, the true villain who recruited him to invent an electro-magnetic pulse weapon to use on the racers that used Allinol in order to turn all vehicles against alternative energy and rely on gasoline. He eventually implants a bomb on Mater to kill McQueen to continue on with the plan (due to the fact that McQueen is using Allinol for the final race, despite of Allinol being called into question by the public), but he is captured by Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell.
) is a dented, rusty orange AMC Gremlin
. After years of being dismissed for his design, even being called a "lemon," Grem has a big chip on his fender that has led him to the underworld of international espionage. As a henchman for a villainous boss Professor Zündapp, Grem and his partner-in-crime Acer are trying to sabotage the World Grand Prix and the famous race cars competing in it. When Grem and Acer mistake Mater for an American agent with important top-secret information, the ruthless lemons set out on a round-the-globe chase to stop Mater from foiling their evil scheme.
In the final fight in London they are just about to intercept Mater and McQueen when diverted forcibly by a flying Holley into a pub where they crash into the bar causing the patrons' drink to spill all over. Confronted by a very angry clientele, they are last seen being smashed into a pulp by them. Presumably the very battered thugs are arrested along with Zundapp and Axlerod.
), a beat-up green AMC Pacer
, joined forces with fellow “lemon” cars as henchmen for the devious Professor Zündapp, whose clandestine mission is to wreak havoc at the highly visible World Grand Prix. Acer must hunt down the American and British secret agents who have stolen crucial information about Professor Zündapp's underhanded plot—his primary target just happens to be Mater, who’s been mistaken for a spy. Acer tries very hard to be a tough guy, but he’s over-eager compared to his no-nonsense accomplice Grem. (See paragraph above for Acer's fate.)
) grew up in the shadow of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy where he and his friends would sneak onto the track and race the famous banking on the circuit (in real life, last raced in 1967). He was an instant winner on the amateur circuit and soon became an international Formula Racer champion. The ladies love Francesco’s open wheels, youngsters look up to his winning spirit and fellow racers envy his speed. But Francesco’s biggest fan is Francesco himself, as evidenced by his racing number. As the most famous race car in Europe, No.1 Francesco is a favorite to win the World Grand Prix, which also makes him Lightning McQueen’s chief rival. Francesco often refers to himself in the third person
.
He resembles a modern Formula One
car and is painted in the colors of the Italian flag.
) is an American Corvette C6 Le Mans Sports car and the #24 race car of the World Grand Prix.
The character does not appear in international versions of Cars 2. In two scenes (one where Lightning meets him at the party in Tokyo, and another when that scene appears in Mater's nightmare), Gorvette is replaced by a completely different character, voiced by a regionally better known racer than Jeff Gordon. Most of them use the same body shape as Max Schnell.
) is a British/Grenadan McLaren MP4-12C
World Sports Touring Champion and is the #2 contender in the World Grand Prix and represents Great Britain
and Grenada
.
) is the aunt of Luigi. She resembles a 1950s Renault
(or maybe Alfa Romeo
) Dauphine
.
) is the uncle of Luigi. He is a Fiat 500 "Topolino" from 1948 or earlier. ("Topolino", which translates as "Little Mouse", is Mickey Mouse
's Italian name.) The cover on his top resembles a hair style, similar to Luigi's.
.
) is a classic Rolls Royce Phantom
car watching the race from Buckingham Palace
. She later knights Mater for his bravery in foiling Axlerod's plot. The rack on her roof is made to look like a crown. Throughout the film, it is known that Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for creating Allinol.
) is a fishing vessel
that is based on the F/V Northwestern
, a boat captained by Hansen and featured in the American reality TV series Deadliest Catch
. Crabby is painted and designed like the Northwestern. He is seen in the beginning of the film with Finn McMissile aboard him. Finn has paid Crabby to bring him to a certain location in the ocean so he can look for a car, a request that greatly puzzles Crabby. Once they reach the spot, Tony Trihull (see below) intercepts Crabby and threatens him with a missile launcher
, forcing him to turn back. Crabby apologizes to Finn as he heads home, not knowing that Finn has already slipped off board and hitched onto Tony to continue his mission.
) is a large combat ship (modeled after the USS Independence (LCS-2)
) who works for Professor Zündapp. He first appears in the beginning when he notices Crabby and Finn in the oil reserve, ordering Crabby to leave. When Crabby refuses, Tony threatens him with a missile battery (based on the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
). As a result, Crabby leaves, but Finn hitches a ride on the back of Tony, without him knowing. He later appears again near the end of the film in London when Professor Z tries to escape from being caught by Finn McMissile, yelling for the Professor to hurry and get aboard him. When Finn McMissile stops the Professor, Tony uses a magnetic device pulling the Professor to him. McMissile then shoots out several mini-bombs out of his wheels that cling on to Tony's magnet, resulting in a huge explosion destroying Tony. Trihull has heavy metal teeth, evidently inspired by the legendary James Bond villain Jaws
.
) is the head lemon of the "Hugo" family, being referred to as "the boss" by fellow Hugos. He and his Hugos work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Victor uses Ivan, a blue tow truck (which Mater masquerades as to infiltrate the lemons' meeting), as his own personal transportation that tows him place to place instead of having to drive on his own. He attends the meeting with the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Pacer, Trunkov) in Porto Corsa with Professor Z to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Near the end of the film, Victor is arrested in London with his fellow lemons. Victor is modeled after the Yugo
car, with some adjustments: the logo V on his front bumper and two separate headlights on each side. His name is the same as that of a famous writer
.
) is the head lemon of the "Pacer" family. He and his Pacers work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Tubbs and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Trunkov, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Tubbs is seen smiling at the idea and cannot wait. Tubbs last name "Pacer" is the model of his car. During the final fight in London, Tubbs tries to fight against McQueen to kill him, only to be stopped by Mater, who then uses his tow cable to swing Tubbs on the other side of the intersection, where Ramone violently throws in his spray paint on Tubbs. Without hesistation, Pacer and some of the lemons are forced to retreat, only to be halted and arrested by the British Army (thanks to a tipoff from Sarge).
) is the head lemon of the "Trunkov" family. He and his Trunkovs work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Vladimir and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Pacer, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Vladimir is seen smiling at the idea. Near the end of the film, Vladimir and the lemons surround Mater, McQueen and the British agents in an intersection, confirming them of the lemons' intent to kill McQueen, saying that it's nothing peronsal. He is eventually arrested by Sheriff in London with fellow lemons. Vladimir is modeled after a ZAZ-968M Zaporozhets car, with the some adjustments: the logo T on his front bumper, that stands for his last name; Trunkov.
) is a blue tow truck who serves as Victor Hugo's mode of transportation, towing him around. He resembles Mater greatly, in fact, Mater disguises as Ivan in order to infiltrate a lemon
crime meeting. The real Ivan was previously tazed by Holley. He later awoke and captured Holley. In the end, he is defeated with his lemon allies in London by being arrested.
.
/ABC
sportscaster Brent Musburger
, who provides the character's voice.
1963 Jaguar Coombs Lightweight E-Type
, is a worldwide racing luminary originally from Royal Leamington Spa, England. His 30-year career in professional racing spans the globe and all types of motorsports. Now David shares that priceless knowledge as an announcer, where he’s also well known for providing comic relief during race broadcasts. A former champion with 20 starts at the 24 Heures du Mans, his storytelling comes from personal experience. Anything but your ordinary television sportscaster, David cannot wait to enlighten and entertain the World Grand Prix audiences. His character is based on the real life former British racing driver and current Speed Channel
commentator David Hobbs, who provides the character's voice.
, and a former Piston Cup Racer. His character is based on former NASCAR
racer and Fox Sports commentator Darrell Waltrip
, who also provides the character's voice.
Cars (franchise)
Cars is the second film series created by Pixar and distributed by Disney after Toy Story. Cars was released on June 9, 2006 and Cars 2 was released on June 24, 2011. Both films were directed by John Lasseter, the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios...
consisting of the 2006 film Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...
and the 2011 film Cars 2
Cars 2
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...
.
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen WilsonOwen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
, and Keith Ferguson
Keith Ferguson
Keith James Ferguson is an American voice actor, well known as the voice of Blooregard Q. Kazoo on the Cartoon Network animated series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends...
on other occasions) typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by Sally, is a rookie racecar. He is named after Glenn McQueen
Glenn McQueen
Glenn John McQueen was a Canadian supervisor of digital animation and supervising character animator at Pixar and PDI.-Private life:...
, a Pixar Animator who died of melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
in October 2002, although the car shares certain traits with actor and race car driver Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
. His overall profile was inspired by stock cars and a "more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer", e.g., Lola and Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
. His number, 95, is a reference to the year Pixar released its first feature-length movie, Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
. His catch-phrase is ka-chow..
In the beginning of the first film, Lightning McQueen is a talented yet overconfident, self-centred rookie race car, especially towards his pit crew. He hopes to be the first rookie to win the Piston Cup race and gain a lucrative endorsement deal from Dinoco Oil in the final race of the season, he had full potential to achieve this but then he finishes in a three-way tie with perennial runner-up Chick Hicks and veteran Strip "The King" Weathers after losing his huge lead on the final lap because of two blown rear tires. McQueen also wanted the Dinoco deal because of his dislike to his somewhat awkward Rust-Eze sponsorship and the rust
Rust
Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides. In colloquial usage, the term is applied to red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture...
y cars within it.
His own choice to force Mack to travel all night to L.A. sets up the predicament he suffers throughout the film. After a chain of events awakens Lightning from sleep and inadvertently releases him from his trailer, he gets lost in Radiator Springs on his way to California. While he is punished for excessive speeding by doing community service to fix the main road, he meets new friends who seek to restore their town to its former glory. It is there he befriends Mater and falls in love with the town attorney and hotelier, Sally Carrera. He changes his look at the end of the movie to help out the townsfolk, and his appreciation for his benefactors is restored. He learns valuable lessons such as true friendship; how greed affects others; keeping promises; teamwork; and that life is about the journey, not the destination. These values lead him to rejuvenate Radiator Springs back to its heyday and relocate to the town forever to make it his racing headquarters.
After Hicks rams Weathers in the final tie-breaker Piston Cup race, McQueen stops on the finish line and reverses to help push Weathers the rest of the way across the finish line, allowing him to complete his last race and retire with dignity, much to the crowd's pleasure, and this proves McQueen's positive change in character from what he learnt in Radiator Springs. McQueen is offered the Dinoco sponsorship, but declines it to remain with the team who gave him his big break.
In the second film, McQueen is now a permanent resident of Radiator Springs and has become a bona fide worldwide celebrity winning four Piston Cups. After his latest win, McQueen expects to relax with Sally, Mater and the other residents of Radiator Springs when he gets himself entered into the first ever World Grand Prix, a three-part race that takes him and his best friend around the world.
McQueen has a fresh custom paint job and real working headlights since he only had stickers in the first film. His tailfins have also been replaced with a spoiler.
McQueen is unaware that the race is all a plot by a group of "lemon" cars to make cars everywhere run on oil until Professor Zundapp, captured by Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell, questions why McQueen was not killed by the death ray and Mater exposes Miles Axlerod as the mastermind behind the plot.
McQueen appears in every episode of Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales as the one who Mater always tells his story to, though Lightning never believes him.
Mack
Mack (voiced by John RatzenbergerJohn Ratzenberger
John Deszo Ratzenberger is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers.-Early life:...
) is a 1980s-era Mack Super-Liner
Mack Super-Liner
The Mack Super-Liner is a class 8 heavy-duty truck that was introduced by Mack Trucks in 1977, to replace the Mack RW model. Its production lasted for fifteen years until it was discontinued in 1993. The model designation is RW...
truck bearing license plate "RUSTEZ3" who inadvertently sets up the predicament suffered by Lightning McQueen throughout the movie. A dedicated member of the Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment Team, having the role of McQueen's driver, Mack pulls Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
's trailer to his races. After McQueen's entire pit team quits, Mack remains as the rookie racer's only friend. Mack often presents a few minor flaws throughout the franchise. McQueen exhorts Mack to drive through the night to his tiebreaker race with Chick Hicks and Strip Weathers in Los Angeles, hoping to reach the venue first and to hang out with the Dinoco team. During the long drive, Mack falls asleep and falls victim to the Delinquent Road Hazards, a group of reckless street racers. The Delinquent Road Hazards knock Mack all over the road, causing one of McQueen's bobble heads to fall off its perch and hit a button, opening his trailer door and dump a sleeping McQueen onto the road.
When Mack awakens, he is unaware that McQueen has gotten lost and has ended up in Radiator Springs. Eventually near to the end, Mack travels to Radiator Springs and, under threat of being fired by McQueen's agent, Harv, transports McQueen to Los Angeles. There he serves as McQueen's pit crew until a group of McQueen's friends from Radiator Springs show up to help. After the race, Mack moves to Radiator Springs with McQueen.
During the end credits; Mack is the prop for a gag, at the drive-in theater watching car versions of other Pixar films (A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Monster's Inc) and while he enjoys the car-versions of other characters his voice actor played (Hamm, The Piggy Bank, P.T Flea, and The Abominable Snowman), he realizes that they are all the same actor and says "They're just using the same actor over and over. What kind of cut-rate production is this?", as a reference to John Ratzenberger voicing at least one character in every Pixar movie. He is also shown at Flo's Cafe in the short film Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 Pixar computer-animated short created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006 in Australia and in the United States on November 7, 2006...
, as well as in the video game based on the film. Mack returns in Cars 2, along with McQueen's trailer but only as a minor character.
John Ratzenberger was given the part in honor of his father, who drove a Mack truck.
Not Chuck and McQueen's pit crew
Lightning McQueen's pit crew are generic forklifts who only appear at the start of the film, never to be acknoledged again. They quit after McQueen did not go to the pits for tires, which nearly cost him the season's final race. One of them, presumably the acting crew chiefPit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is where a racing vehicle stops in the pits during a race for refuelling, new tires, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, or any combination of the above...
, since the official crew chief had recently been fired, is referred to by McQueen as "Chuck", who retorts angrily afterwards, "And my name is not Chuck!" In the credits, he is referred to as "Not Chuck" (a pun) and is voiced by Mike "No Name" Nelson,not to be confused with Michael J. Nelson
Michael J. Nelson
Michael John Nelson is a U.S. comedian and writer, most famous for his work on the cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 . Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's 11-year run, and spent half of that time playing the on-air host, also named Mike Nelson...
. They are used in the film only to leave almost immediately to bring up McQueen's selfishness and inability to work with others, solved at the end of course.
Harv
Harv is Lightning McQueenLightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
's agent. Never seen on-screen, McQueen speaks to Harv via his speaker phone when McQueen and Mack
Mack Trucks
Mack Trucks is an American truck-manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. A wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Véhicules Industriels since 1990, Mack Trucks is currently a subsidiary of AB Volvo. The company's headquarters are located in Greensboro, North Carolina...
are on route to the tiebreaker race and again when Mack is in Radiator Springs to pick up McQueen. Consequently, little is known of Harv's character except that he threatened to fire Mack if he does not get McQueen into his trailer.
Harv is voiced by actor Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....
and is based on his character Ari Gold
Ari Gold (Entourage)
Ariel "Ari" Gold is a fictional character on the comedy-drama television series Entourage. He was played by Jeremy Piven.-Biography:Ari Gold is Vincent Chase's neurotic movie agent. He is a product of the public school system. He was an undergrad at Harvard University before earning his J.D./M.B.A....
from the HBO series Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
. In the United Kingdom edition of the movie, Harv is voiced by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...
. This equivalent of Harv is implied by Clarkson to be a 1979 Ford Granada Ghia
Ford Granada (Europe)
The March 1972 released Granada succeeded the British Ford Zephyr, and the German P7-series as Ford's European executive car offering. At first, lower models in the range were called the Ford Consul, but from 1975 on they were all called Granadas. The car soon became popular for taxi, fleet and...
, while the American version is said to be a 1996 Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
.
Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze
The Rust-eze Brothers, Rusty and Dusty, are the spokescars and owners of Rust-Eze, the team that sponsors Lightning and that gave him his "big break", they are somewhat awkward. Rusty is a 1963 Dodge DartDodge Dart
The Dodge Dart is an automobile built by the Dodge division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1960-1976 in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart was introduced as a lower-priced, shorter wheelbase, full-size Dodge in 1960 and 1961, became a...
and Dusty, a 1964 Dodge A100
Dodge A100
The A100 line was a model range of American compact vans and trucks manufactured and marketed from 1964–1970 by Chrysler Corporation for the Dodge brand in the United States and the Fargo brand in Canada....
. Rusty and Dusty are voiced by real-life brothers Tom Magliozzi
Tom Magliozzi
Thomas Louis "Click Tappet" Magliozzi is an American radio talk show host. He and his younger brother Ray Magliozzi, also known collectively as Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers, are the hosts of National Public Radio's Car Talk. -Biography:Thomas Louis...
and Ray Magliozzi
Ray Magliozzi
Raymond F. "Clack Tappet" Magliozzi is a co-host of NPR's winning weekly radio show, Car Talk. They are known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers"...
(respectively) of National Public Radio's Car Talk
Car Talk
Car Talk is a radio talk show broadcast weekly on National Public Radio stations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its subjects are automobiles and repair, and it often takes humorous turns...
. The '63 Dart bears an intentional resemblance to Ray Magliozzi's infamous green Dart, named "The Dartre". They appear 3 times in the film, at the beggining with McQueen looking forward to leaving them, in the middle very briefly being interviewed, and at the end after the race when McQueen realises he is happy with them. In a deleted scene shown on the DVD, these two would have had no association with Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
other than a chance encounter at a truck stop
Truck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...
, where Mack was allowed to stop briefly. According to their respective die-cast, Rusty's license plate states "Rust" and Dusty's sports "Eze". The license plates also show that they are from "R Fair City", a reference to how the brothers refer to their hometown of Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts on Car Talk, and also the name of one of the cybersites on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
children's TV series Cyberchase
Cyberchase
Cyberchase is an American educational television series for children age 6-12, that teaches children discrete mathematics. The show airs on Public Broadcasting Service and PBS Kids GO! in the United States. Seasons one through five were produced by Thirteen/WNET New York and Nelvana...
, as Cambridge, Massachusetts is where one of the PBS network's "hub" TV stations, WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
, started its existence in the late 1950s.
Strip "The King" Weathers
Strip "The King" Weathers is a Dinoco Blue veteran racecar and racing legend voiced by NASCARNASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
veteran Richard Petty
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...
. He is based on Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird
Plymouth Superbird
The short-lived Plymouth Road Runner Superbird was a highly modified version of the Plymouth Road Runner with well known graphics and horn. It was the factory's follow up stock car racing design for the 1970 season to the Dodge Charger Daytona of 1969, and incorporated many engineering changes and...
; his number, 43, was also Petty's racecar number, and the "Dinoco Blue" color is taken from Petty's Superbird on display at the Richard Petty Museum. He is one of the racecars in the 2005 Piston Cup three-way tie, along with Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
.
He is Dinoco's "Golden Boy", having won seven Piston Cups (the same number of NASCAR Cup Series championships won by his voice actor), and is hoping for another win in the tie-breaker race. He tells Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
to remember the importance of his team, but the rookie does not pay any attention, being more preoccupied with the thought of taking over the Dinoco sponsorship after Weathers' retirement.
On the final lap of the tie-breaker race, Hicks rams Weathers, sending him into a dangerous rollover crash (reminiscent of Richard Petty's Daytona 500 crash in 1988). When McQueen sees this, he realizes that Weathers' career might end the way Doc Hudson's did. After stopping short of the finishing line, allowing Hicks to win, McQueen pushes Weathers across the finish line to let him finish his last race before retirement, much to the audience's delight. Weathers is last seen visiting the racing museum in Radiator Springs with his wife and another Piston Cup racer, Dale Jr, stating that Hudson was his inspiration.
In the Danish edition of the movie, Weathers is voiced by eight-time 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
winner Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen is a Danish racing driver. He has won many championships in auto racing but his most famous achievement is being the only person to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans eight times, six of which were consecutive...
. In the Finnish edition of the movie, The King is voiced by Finnish two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen
Mika Häkkinen
Mika Pauli Häkkinen is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One World Champion...
. In the German edition, he is voiced by Austrian three-time Formula One World Champion Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years.- Early years in racing :Born in Vienna,...
.
Lynda Weathers / Mrs. The King
"Mrs. The King", as Mater calls her, is The King's wife and a part of his side story. She is voiced by Richard Petty's real-life wife, Lynda Petty. A 1974 Chrysler Town and CountryChrysler Town and Country (pre-1990)
The Chrysler Town & Country was a station wagon manufactured by Chrysler Corporation and sold under its flagship brand from 1941–1989. The model was also sold as a sedan, coupé, and convertible from 1947–1950 and as a convertible from 1982–1986....
station wagon, she is modeled after the car in which the Petty family used to go to Richard's races during the 1970s. During the races, she sits in a special VIP booth alongside Tex, rooting for her husband. Throughout the film she is constantly shown to support her husband and she worries deeply when he is flipped by Chick Hicks, at the end she kisses Lighting on the cheek to thank him for helping her husband.
Tex Dinoco
Tex Dinoco, voiced by Humpy Wheeler, is a gold 1975 Cadillac Coupe de VilleCadillac Coupe de Ville
The Coupe de Ville was a model of the Cadillac marque of General Motors from 1949 through 1993.- Early History :The name "de Ville" is from the French de la ville or de ville meaning "of the town"...
and owner of Dinoco. In his packaging as a diecast car, his name is listed as "Tex Dinoco". It is unknown whether Dinoco is Tex's last name, or whether the name was simply added to give the consumer a better idea of who Tex was. In the movie, he has a Hoosier accent. Tex was mainly inspired by the gold Cadillacs with Long Horns that are used at the Big Texan Steak Restaurant in Amarillo, Texas to bring guests for dinner. He is known as Tex Bullhorns on the action figures and is said to be the King's manager also.
Dinoco Transport Helicopter
The Dinoco Transport Helicopter is a helicopter based on a Bell 430Bell 430
-External links:*...
. It is seen on top of the Dinoco tent during the races, and Mater gets a ride in it over Radiator Springs at the end of the film, after Lightning had promised Mater the chance to ride in one earlier in the film.
Chick Hicks
Chick Hicks (voiced by Michael KeatonMichael Keaton
Michael John Douglas , better known by the stage name Michael Keaton, is an American actor known for his early comedic roles, most notably his performance as the title character of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice . Keaton is also famous for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Tim Burton's...
) is "a generic Pixar design, 'a stock 1980s American car'" according to Pixar publicity coordinator Amanda Sorena, but strongly resembles a GM G-body
GM G platform (RWD)
The General Motors G platform was an automobile platform designation used for mid-sized rear wheel drive cars first from 1969-1972 and again from 1982 to 1988....
, with features from both the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the Buick Grand National. He has spent his entire career trailing Strip "The King" Weathers, and is bitter about this fact. His sponsor is the "Hostile Takeover Bank." His pit crew are mean to Guido for being tiny, although his skills are superior to their own. Chick's racing number 86, is a reference to the year 1986, when Pixar Studios were founded. (Of course "86" is also a slang term for destroying or getting rid of something.)
Determined to do whatever it takes to win, Hicks will often ram other cars to cause a wreck (though how he always gets away with this without being penalized is never explained). He hates McQueen, but tends to copy him, and adopts the nickname 'Thunder' which McQueen originally used as a put-down (McQueen: "Because Thunder always comes after Lightning. KA-CHOW!"). Other than hating McQueen, Hicks also hates The King, as Hicks himself always come behind him in second place. Hicks and McQueen also share the same dream of being the new face of Dinoco Oil. While McQueen is presumed missing Chick Hicks makes a deal with Dinoco that if he wins the tie breaker race he will be taking over the Dinoco Sponsorship. Meanwhile Hicks also takes away all of McQueen's fans.
On the final lap of the tie-breaker race, Hicks becomes so determined not to come in behind Weathers again that he rams the older racer so violently that King is sent flying off the track and into a devastating and horrifying roll-over wreck. He expects a huge ovation after McQueen deliberately lets him win the Piston Cup, but the angered crowd and media snub his victory, brand him as a cheater, and is booed off the stage with his trophy in humiliation, much to his anger and apparently Tex Dinoco refused to sponsor him since he tries to offer it to McQueen instead, this is Chick's comeuppance. In many ways, Hicks represents what Lightning McQueen could have become.
Chick reappears in Cars the video game, unrepentant and out to recoup his fan base. The game follows the story of the next Piston Cup season, as well as the adventures of Lightning and his friends (Sally, Mater, Luigi and Sheriff) around Radiator Springs. Doc and Lightning first spot Chick spying on Lightning's practice sessions. Later he ineffectively taunts Lightning before the first race of the season until Doc warns him off, then falls in with a gang of New York-based greaser cars in Carburetor County to challenge McQueen. Later, the DRH gang jumps Mack on the interstate and steal McQueen's racing gear, but finger Chick as the one who hired them after they are caught by Sheriff. Angry over another foiling, Chick blows up at Lightning, but accepts his challenge for a 4-race showdown, the Radiator Springs Grand Prix (three races around Carburetor County), and the final Piston Cup Race in Los Angeles.
Hicks is seen again in the Cars Race-O-Rama
Cars Race-O-Rama
Cars Race-O-Rama is a racing game that was released on October 12, 2009. Cars Race-o-Rama is the sequel to Cars Mater-National, which was released on October 27, 2007. The PSP and DS versions of the game were created by Tantalus Media in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia...
video game, in which he tries to take revenge for his humiliation back at the Piston Cup race and recruit rookies for him to groom in his mold by closing down McQueen's racing academy and opening up his own in Radiator Springs. His catchphrase is ca-chick-a.
Tow Mater
Tow Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable GuyLarry the Cable Guy
Daniel Lawrence Whitney , better known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American comedian, actor, and former radio personality....
), is a rusty tow truck
Tow truck
A tow truck is a vehicle used to transport motor vehicles to another location , or to recover vehicles which are no longer on a drivable surface.Towing services are generally provided by an emergency road service operator...
living in Radiator Springs. He was inspired by a 1951 International Harvester
International Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
tow truck but bears more of a resemblance to a 1955–57 Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
or GMC; the actual inspiration may be the 1955–56 version since the hood which Mater recovers at the end of the film after a twenty-year absence lacks the "gunsights" of the 1957 model. His license plate reads "A113
A113
A113 is an inside joke present as an Easter egg in animated films created by alumni of CalArts, referring to the classroom number used by graphic design and character animation students at the school that was used by John Lasseter and Brad Bird among others. Brad Bird first used it for a license...
." Mater runs "Tow Mater Towing and Salvage." Along with the first film, he also stars in an animated short, Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 Pixar computer-animated short created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006 in Australia and in the United States on November 7, 2006...
, and acts as an announcer in the Cars video game. He speaks with a thick Southern accent with a bit of hillbilly twang
Southern American English
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
and uses incorrect syntax. Mater is also the (self-proclaimed) world champion backwards driver. He attributes his skill to his rear-view mirrors and his own philosophy: "Don't need to know where I'm going, just need to know where I've been." In the first film, Mater befriends and supports Lightning throughout his adventure in Radiator Springs, Mater is important to the film for teaching Lighning the means of friendship. He travels to L.A.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
for the tie-breaking race. At it, when McQueen is spun out, he races backwards after being spun out, implying that he learned to drive backwards from Mater. In the end, McQueen gives Mater an opportunity to fly in a Dinoco helicopter like he always wanted.
In the second film, Mater is thrilled to join McQueen on a trip around the world after getting him into the first annual World Grand Prix, leaving Radiator Springs for the second time. When McQueen and his pit crew arrive in Tokyo, Mater learns that the world outside of Radiator Springs is quite different and he's also mistaken for an American spy, leading him into an adventure of espionage. Caught between helping McQueen and his new role as a spy, Mater gets involved in a chase across the globe between British spies and international villains. In this film, the "Tow Mater" logo on his side has been replaced with McQueen's 95.
At the end of Cars 2, Mater figures out that the World Grand Prix is all a plot orchestrated by Miles Axlerod to force cars everywhere into using the richest oil in the world. This exposition leads Axlerod and his henchmen to be arrested and Mater is knighted by the Queen as a result. His catchphrase is dad-gum.
Sally Carrera
Sally Carrera (voiced by Bonnie HuntBonnie Hunt
Bonnie Lynne Hunt is an American actress, comedian, writer, director, television producer and daytime television host.- Early life :...
) is a royal blue 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera
Porsche 996
The Porsche 996 is the internal designation for the Porsche 911 model manufactured and sold between 1998 and 2005. It has since been replaced by the Type 997...
. Her California license plate number is 301PCE. She also appears in the Cars video game
Cars (video game)
Cars is a video game based on and considered a sequel to the film of the same name. It is available Mac, Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS....
, in which she is a playable character. Sally, Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
's love interest, is the snazzy town attorney of Radiator Springs. She came to the town several years before, when, in her own words, "I never felt – happy. So I left California then just drove and drove, and finally broke down right here (Wheel Well Motel). Doc fixed me up, Flo took me in – well, they all did – and I never left." Sally then fell in love with the town, and the land around it, and settled down in the town. Sally runs the Cozy Cone Motel. Later, she and Lightning reopened the Wheel Well Hotel. She calls McQueen "Stickers," first as a way to tease him (because of his fake headlights), and later as a friendly nickname. In the UK cars magazine Top Gear
Top Gear (magazine)
Top Gear is an automobile magazine published by BBC Worldwide, and named after the BBC's Top Gear television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published monthly at a price of £3.95. The major presenters of the television series—Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson—are...
, Sally was included in the magazine's list of the 10 sexiest cars in the world. Sally reappears in Cars 2 with her and McQueen now in a relationship, but her role in the film is drastically limited as she only appears in the beginning and end of the film.
Doc Hudson
Doc Hudson (voiced by Paul NewmanPaul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
in his last non-documentary film and by Corey Burton
Corey Burton
Corey Burton is an American voice actor, perhaps best known as Count Dooku, Ziro the Hutt and Cad Bane in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Brainiac in the DC animated universe and Spike Witwicky and Shockwave in the Transformers universe...
in the video games), also known as "Dr. Hudson" or simply "Doc", is Radiator Springs' local physician. His license plate reads 51HHMD (a reference to his year and track number (51) model (Hudson Hornet) and profession (medical doctor)). Doc's stickers say "twin H power", which was an optional dealer-installed dual carburetor intake manifold, with twin 1-barrel carburetors and air filters. It was standard on 1952 model Hornets. Doc was once known as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet
Fabulous Hudson Hornet
The Fabulous Hudson Hornet was a famous NASCAR Grand National and AAA stock car produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company. Marshall Teague and Herb Thomas each drove in a Hudson Hornet that they nicknamed the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet"....
(#51), one of the most famous racecars to have ever lived; he won three Piston Cups, and still holds the record for most wins in a single season (27, a reference to real-life Hornets winning 27 NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
races in 1952). All that changed for the famous Hornet when a terrible crash on the track during the final lap of the 1954 Piston Cup championship race saw him put out for the season. Upon his return, he was received with a complete absence of fanfare and told that he was a has-been who had been passed up for the next rookie in line. He kept a newspaper article on the career-ending crash as a reminder never to return to the life that nearly killed him.
Jaded by the racing scene, he left that world, apparently taking out time to study medicine. The famous No.51 disappeared into obscurity, leaving many wondering where he had gone. He instead opted for a simple navy blue paint job and the life of a physician in the tiny town of Radiator Springs, the "shining Gemstone
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
" of the Mother Road – Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...
. He runs Doc's Clinic as a "doctor of internal combustion". As times changed and the town got bypassed in favor of Interstate 40
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 is the third-longest major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90 and I-80. Its western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California; its eastern end is at a concurrency of U.S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington, North Carolina...
, Doc stayed on, even when the population had dwindled to a meager dozen or so residents. He is respected, well-loved, and serves not only as the town's physician, but as its judge as well. However, nobody in the town had any idea of his past as a racer; he was just an ordinary Hudson Hornet
Hudson Hornet
The Hudson Hornet is an automobile that was produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan between 1951 and 1954. The Hornet was also built by American Motors Corporation in Kenosha, Wisconsin and marketed under the Hudson brand between 1955 and 1957.The first-generation Hudson...
to them.
Upon meeting the young hotshot Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
, Doc saw far too much of his past in the rookie. He was less than happy when McQueen discovers his past. After McQueen finished fixing the road he damaged and decided to stay for a while, Doc was unable to bear having him around any longer and called the news and press to immediately take him away to the Piston Cup, declaring that it is best for everyone. But seeing how disheartened everyone was by his unplanned departure, Doc realized that McQueen had become more important to them than he thought. He eventually admits the truth to everyone about his Racecar days and he took back his old No. 51 colors to become McQueen's pit crew chief, bringing nearly the entire town (except Sally, Red, and Lizzy who watch the race on TV) to the Piston Cup to support Lightning as his pit crew (and in an ironic twist of fate, finally received that long awaited fanfare for his return). By the end of the film, Doc opts to keep his racing colors, and becomes a trainer as well as a friend to the young McQueen. Just like McQueen, Doc learned some lessons: friendship, promises, how greed affects others, and that secrets cannot be kept forever. A racing museum subsequently opens in Radiator Springs and is named after him.
The car is based on the real-life Fabulous Hudson Hornet
Fabulous Hudson Hornet
The Fabulous Hudson Hornet was a famous NASCAR Grand National and AAA stock car produced by the Hudson Motor Car Company. Marshall Teague and Herb Thomas each drove in a Hudson Hornet that they nicknamed the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet"....
in NASCAR competition driven by Herb Thomas
Herb Thomas
Herbert Watson Thomas was a NASCAR pioneer who was one of the series' most successful drivers in the 1950s.-Background:...
and Marshall Teague
Marshall Teague
Marshall Teague was an American race car driver.He was nicknamed by NASCAR fans as the "King of the Beach" for his performances at the Daytona Beach Road Course....
. Newman, a racing enthusiast and former driver, drew upon his experiences for the grumpy old race car's personality. Paul Newman died from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
in September 2008. Pixar decided having Doc Hudson appear in Cars 2 would be inappropriate, and based on a conversation between Lightning and Mater, Doc passed away prior to the second film. However, Doc's memory lives on, as the Piston Cup was renamed after him. During the Japan leg of the World Grand Prix, the commentators note that Doc was widely considered to be one of the best dirt-track racers in the world.
Sheriff
Sheriff (voiced by Michael WallisMichael Wallis
Michael Wallis is a journalist and popular historian of the Western United States. He has written seventeen books, including Route 66: The Mother Road, about the historic highway U.S. Route 66...
) is a 1949 Mercury
Mercury (automobile)
Mercury was an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company launched in 1938 by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, to market entry-level luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles, similar to General Motors' Buick brand, and Chrysler's namesake brand...
police car
Police car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
, bearing Carburetor County license plate 001. Sheriff is painted in the classic law enforcement black and white, with a single red light dome, two sirens
Siren (noisemaker)
A siren is a loud noise making device. Most modern ones are civil defense or air raid sirens, tornado sirens, or the sirens on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. There are two general types: pneumatic and electronic....
, and curb feeler
Curb feeler
Curb feelers or curb finders are springs or wires installed on a vehicle which act as "whiskers" to warn drivers that they are too close to the curb or other obstruction.The devices are fitted low on the body, close to the wheels...
s. Sheriff was the first resident of Radiator Springs to appear in the first film and also the first to meet Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
during a police chase when McQueen was speeding through the town, trying to find Mack. Upon catching McQueen, who had become ensnared in power lines and fencing, Sheriff borrows a line used by actor Joe Higgins, who played a sheriff in early 1970s Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
commercials: "Boy, you're in a heap of trouble." At one point in the film when Sally gives McQueen some gasoline, Sheriff worried that McQueen would try to escape the town, noticing McQueen's expression, while looking in the direction of the Interstate. Sheriff then turns on his gumball. Lightning chooses to accompany Sally, rather than making an escape attempt, resulting in Sheriff switching off his emergency lighting. This suggests the beginning of trust in Lightning by Sheriff. He later befriends Lightning McQueen, even offering him a police escort to California and even giving a few sniffles when he thought Lightning had left after finishing fixing the road (though he denied it claiming he was glad Lightning was gone), and joins his pit crew for the championship race.
Sheriff reappears in the second film
Cars 2
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...
, seeing Lightning and his race crew off to the World Grand Prix. When Mater goes missing, flo mentions that Sheriff has Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
scouring London for Mater. During the climax of the film, Sheriff arrives along with the other Radiator Springs resident as new members of McQueen's pit crew in England, and is informed by Mater of the lemons cars' plot to kill McQueen in order to turn all vehicles in the world against alternate energy and rely on gasoline for profit. Sheriff also partakes in the final melee against the Lemon cars.
Luigi
Luigi (voiced by Tony ShalhoubTony Shalhoub
Anthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
) is a 1959 Fiat 500
Fiat 500
The Fiat 500 is a car produced by the Fiat company of Italy between 1957 and 1975, with limited production of the Fiat 500 K estate continuing until 1977. The car was designed by Dante Giacosa....
. He is a Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
fan, and has followed racing his entire life. His license plate reads 445-108, which is the latitude and longitude for the main Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
factory in Maranello
Maranello
Maranello is a town and comune in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, 18 km from Modena, with a population of 16,841 as of 2009. It is best known as the home of Ferrari S.p.A. and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team...
, Italy. Luigi owns a tire shop, Casa Della Tires, which is known for its "Leaning Tower of Tires," a tower of several tires shaped like the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa...
. His assistant is an Italian forklift truck
Forklift truck
A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials. The modern forklift was developed in the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark and the hoist company Yale & Towne Manufacturing...
named Guido. Inside his shop are many framed pictures of World Sportscar Championship
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
endurance racing Ferraris from various points in history. At first, Luigi and Guido do not respect Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
when he comes to Radiator Springs (owing to the substantial havoc that he inflicted upon the town when he first arrived), because he is not a Ferrari ("Luigi follow only the Ferraris"), but later on they learn to show courtesy to McQueen, fitting him with whitewalls. During the big race, Luigi and Guido work as part of Lightning's pit crew, changing the tires so fast that his works embarrass other teams. In the end, McQueen directs a group of Italian sports cars – a Ferrari (voiced by Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
) and two Maserati Quattroporte
Maserati Quattroporte
The Maserati Quattroporte is a luxury four-door saloon made by Maserati in Italy. The name translated from Italian literally means "four doors". There have been five generations of the car, each separated by a period of roughly five years....
s – to his shop, having recommended it. The presence of a celebrity Ferrari in their store causes both Luigi and Guido to faint from shock and happiness.
For the Italian version of the film, Luigi was voiced by comedian Marco Della Noce; one of Della Noce's most popular characters was "Oriano Ferrari", a parody character meant to represent the leader of Ferrari's pit stop crew.
In Cars 2, Luigi is a part of Lightning's pit crew, in charge of the racer's tires. In Japan, he is naturally overjoyed to see so many Ferraris at a party prior to the first race of the World Grand Prix. He also hesitantly begins to explain to Mater what a rendezvous is, but he and Guido do not believe Mater when he believes he has a date ("Guido don't believe you!" "Guido still don't believe you!") Luigi and Guido are overjoyed to be back in their home of Italy, and rejoin their large group of family and friends. A little more is discussed of Luigi's past with Guido: Luigi's Uncle Topolino mentions that Luigi and Guido often fought when they worked for him (over things like which Ferrari was the best, and which one of them looked more like a Ferrari, etc.) but they always made up after their fights. Luigi joins his friends in a melee against Professor Zundapp's Lemons at the film's climax, and finally believes Mater's claims of a girlfriend when Holley Shiftwell confirms the fact in person at Radiator Springs.
Guido
Guido (voiced by Guido QuaroniGuido Quaroni
Guido Quaroni is an Italian voice actor and Supervising Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios. He was one of the developers of solidThinking, a NURBS based 3D modeling and rendering software....
) is an early fifties Isetta
Isetta
The Isetta is an Italian-designed microcar built in a number of different countries, including Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Produced in the post-World War II years, a time when cheap short-distance transportation was most needed, it became one of the most...
forklift, who works at Luigi's Casa Della Tires, and is Luigi's best friend. The only language Guido can speak and understand fluently is Italian, though he appears to understand English, and even speaks a few phrases, including "Pit stop" but pronounced "Peet stop!" His dream is to perform a pit stop
Pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is where a racing vehicle stops in the pits during a race for refuelling, new tires, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, or any combination of the above...
for a real racecar. Near the end of the movie, as a member of Lightning's new pit crew, he performed the fastest pit stop in Piston Cup history, changing all four tires in four seconds, shocking Chick Hicks' pit crew (and making their moustaches/grills fall off in the process) who had earlier made fun of him.
In order to preserve the "language barrier" gags between Guido and the other characters in the Italian dub, his lines (and the other cars' lines in Italian) have been rendered with the Emiliano-Romagnolo
Emiliano-Romagnolo
Emiliano-Romagnolo is a Romance language mostly spoken in Emilia-Romagna, Italy and San Marino. It belongs to the Northern Italian group within Romance languages , which is included in the wider group of western Romance languages...
accent spoken in the town of Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
, Italy, home of the Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
car manufacturer and racing team. Alex Zanardi
Alex Zanardi
Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi is an Italian racing driver and paracyclist.He won two CART championship titles in North America during the late 1990s. He also had a less successful career as a Formula One driver...
, an Italian race driver who is a native of Bologna, the largest city in the Emilia-Romagna region (and thus presumably familiar with that dialect), voiced Guido for the Italian version. Coincidentally, or as a pun by the authors, the name "Guido" is a perfect homonym
Homonym
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
for the Italian inflected verb meaning "I drive". In Cars 2, Guido serves the same purpose he served in the first film's climax in Lightning's pit crew throughout the film. He also removed all tires from some of the Lemons when the malicious cars surrounded Lightning and Mater, but is unable to remove the bomb from Mater's nose (engine). Guido dryly does not believe Mater when he says he has a date ("Non ti credo"), but has a literally jaw-dropping moment when he sees that Mater was telling the truth about his new girlfriend Holley Shiftwell.
Ramone
Ramone (voiced by Cheech MarinCheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
) is a 1959 Chevrolet Impala Lowrider
Lowrider
]A lowrider is a style of car originated by Chicano communities that sits lower to the ground than most other cars. Many lowriders have their suspension systems modified so that their ride can change height at the flip of a switch...
who owns the Ramone's Paint and Body Art store, where he paints himself and other cars, including Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
later in the film. His license plate reads "L0WNSL0", which is a reference to his catchphrase, "Low and slow." He is married to Flo, whose restaurant is next door to his store. Ramone is usually depicted as purple with a yellow and orange flame job, but throughout the film he changes his paint job every morning to keep his skills sharp, owing to a lack of customers. This situation changes after Radiator Springs becomes vibrant again.
In a deleted scene that told the story of how Ramone and Flo fell in love, the only customer Ramone has refused to paint was his future wife Flo. When she asked him, "Whassamatta, you too good to paint me?" he promptly and smoothly replies, "No way, you too good for me to paint," and saying that he could not touch a classic like Flo, which made her heart melt. The story took place in Radiator Springs of 1974.
Ramone reappears in Cars 2, making a few appearances in the Radiator Springs scenes, though he joins everyone else to help McQueen in England. In the melee scene, Ramone disables one of the lemon cars by spray painting into the car's eyes, blinding him.
Flo
Flo (voiced by Jenifer LewisJenifer Lewis
Jenifer Jeanette Lewis is an American film and television actress and singer.-Early life:Lewis was born in Kinloch, Missouri, to a nurse's aid mother and a factory worker father. She attended college at Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri...
) is the owner of Radiator Springs only gas diner, "Flo's V-8 Cafe" and is married to Ramone, the town's body artist. (The story of their romance is told in the previous paragraph.) Her license plate reads "SHOGRL", the same as the license plates applied to many Motorama
Motorama
The General Motors Motorama was an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy prototypes, concept vehicles and other special or halo models. Motorama grew out of Alfred P. Sloan's...
show cars, and an obvious pun on the term "showgirl
Showgirl
A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...
". A shot of Flo's rear end during the cruising scene shows a secondary plate above her license plate which reads "Motorama 1957." According to a deleted scene, she is indeed a Motorama showcar and came to Radiator Springs during a national tour. She appears to be inspired by three early- to mid-fifties show cars: the 1951 Le Sabre
Le Sabre concept car
The General Motors Le Sabre was a 1951 concept car. Possibly the most important show car of the 1950s, it introduced aircraft-inspired design elements such as the wrap-around windshield and tail fins, which became common on automotive designs during the second half of the decade.-History:The Le...
(front-end lines, the basic hood shape, lights mounted near the corners, and front-quarter trim), the 1951 Buick XP-300 (side trim), and the 1956/57 Chrysler Dart (cockpit, deck lid, and tailfins).
Flo reappears in Cars 2, as she arrives to help Lightning and Mater battle the lemons (who were sent to kill Lightning by Miles Axlerod). Later she and Sally are seen swooning over Francesco.
Fillmore
Fillmore (voiced by George CarlinGeorge Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
in Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...
, Cars: The Video Game
Cars (video game)
Cars is a video game based on and considered a sequel to the film of the same name. It is available Mac, Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS....
, Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 Pixar computer-animated short created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006 in Australia and in the United States on November 7, 2006...
, and Cars Toons
Cars Toons
Mater's Tall Tales is an American animated short television series by Pixar featuring the characters Mater and Lightning McQueen from the film Cars. The series' first broadcast was on October 27, 2008, on Toon Disney, Disney Channel and ABC Family...
(via archives), Brian George
Brian George
Brian George is a British-Israeli actor and voice actor for Indian accents, who typically plays guest roles for characters of South Asian descent. Perhaps his most famous role is as Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt on Seinfeld.-Early life:...
in Cars Mater-National
Cars Mater-National
Cars Mater-National is a title for video game consoles and handhelds released on October 30, 2007 by Play THQ. It is the sequel to the Cars video game based on the Cars film from Pixar...
, Mark Silverman in Cars Race-O-Rama
Cars Race-O-Rama
Cars Race-O-Rama is a racing game that was released on October 12, 2009. Cars Race-o-Rama is the sequel to Cars Mater-National, which was released on October 27, 2007. The PSP and DS versions of the game were created by Tantalus Media in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia...
and Lloyd Sherr
Lloyd Sherr
Lloyd Sherr , also known by his stage name Max Raphael, is an American voice actor. Sherr has been credited in many forms of media, most notably as narrator of the History Channel show Modern Marvels, for which his voice has become a trademark of the History Channel.Sherr has also narrated other...
in Cars 2
Cars 2
Cars 2 is a 2011 American computer-animated action film produced by Pixar, and it is the sequel to the 2006 film, Cars. In the film, race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage...
and Cars 2: The Video Game
Cars 2 (video game)
Cars 2: The Video Game is a third-person racing game developed by Avalanche Software. It is based on the film Cars 2, the sequel to the 2006 film Cars. Originally announced at E3 in 2011, the game was released by Disney Interactive on major platforms in North America on June 21, 2011, and in...
following Carlin's death in 2008) is a Volkswagen Type 2
Volkswagen Type 2
The Volkswagen Type 2, officially known as the Transporter or Kombi informally as Bus or Camper , was a panel van introduced in 1950 by German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model – following and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 , it was given the factory...
microbus of late 1950s/early 1960s vintage as evidenced by his pointed front turn signals and small rear window. Fillmore's license plate reads "51237", which is a reference to May 12, 1937, the birthdate of George Carlin. He is a stereotypical hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
, with his license plate positioned to resemble a soul patch
Soul patch
The soul patch is a small patch of facial hair just below the lower lip and above the chin. It came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was a style of facial hair common among African American men, most notably jazzmen. It became popular with beatniks, artists, and those who frequented...
. His name is a reference to the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
, a venue that was an epicenter for rock performances throughout the 1960s and 1970s (The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
all made notable live recordings there, to name a few). He owns an organic fuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
shop (Fillmore's Organic Fuel) which features several flavors, and believes gasoline companies are lying to the public. In the morning, when next-door neighbor Sarge plays Reveille
Reveille
"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
and raises the Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
, Fillmore interrupts Sarge's bugle reveille
Reveille
"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
with Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
." This is much to Sarge's irritation, as he shouts at Fillmore:
- Sarge: "Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?!"
- Fillmore: "Respect the classics, man. It's Hendrix!"
Despite this, he is friends with Sarge, and the two can be seen chatting throughout the film.
He has a sticker on his rear that says "I brake for Jackalopes". The jackalope
Jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail . The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope". It is also known as Lepus...
is a mythical creature which features in the theatrical short "Boundin'
Boundin'
Boundin' is a 2003 Pixar short film, shown at the start of the film The Incredibles. The film was written, directed, narrated and featured the musical composition and performance of PIXAR animator Bud Luckey.-Plot:...
" shown with The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
. He has appeared in every Disney Cars game so far. As voiced by George Carlin, Fillmore's voice is similar to "Al Sleet, the hippy-dippy weatherman", a part of Carlin's comedy routine in the 1970s.
Fillmore reappears in Cars 2, joining McQueen's pit crew for the World Grand Prix and has a smaller role compared to the previous film. He is the only original character that had to be re-cast due to George Carlin's death, and was replaced by Lloyd Sherr in this film. Fillmore initially supports Allinol as it supposedly does not use oil, even convincing McQueen it is safe after several accidents involving other cars using Allinol. However, for the final race, McQueen's Allinol is replaced at the last minute by Fillmore's organic fuel. This is what prevents Lightning from being killed in the race. Apparently, Fillmore knew all about the fuel switch, as he revealed it to Lightning.
Sarge
Sarge (voiced by Paul DooleyPaul Dooley
-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
) is a Willys Jeep. A veteran with a military green paint job and a slightly stylized Sergeant Major (E-9) insignia on his sides, he appears to be a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era Willys MB
Willys MB
The Willys MB US Army Jeep and the Ford GPW, were manufactured from 1941 to 1945. These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles. Over the years, the World War II Jeep later evolved into the "CJ" civilian...
. His license plate reads "41WW2", which indicates the date the Willys MB entered the service of the U.S. Army (1941 World War II). He runs a surplus store, named "Sarge's Surplus Hut", next door to Fillmore and acts as part of Lightning's pit crew, gassing him up during the race. Near the end of the film, it is revealed he later opens an Army Camp to train SUVs and 4x4s in rugged and dirt terrain, including T.J. Hummer, Murphy, Frank "Pinky" Pinkerton, and Charlie Cargo.
Sarge reappears in Cars 2, using assistance from the British Army to aid in the melee against the lemons. Prior to the final leg of the World Grand Prix, he secretly switches McQueen's supply of Allinol (the alternative fuel developed by race founder Sir Miles Axlerod) for Fillmore's organic fuel blend. Like Fillmore he became suspicious of the fuel after the incidents in Japan and Italy. The change saves McQueen from being destroyed as part of Axlerod's plot to discredit alternative fuels.
Lizzie
Lizzie (voiced by Katherine HelmondKatherine Helmond
Katherine Marie Helmond is an American film, theater and television actress, who played Emily Dickinson on Meeting of Minds, as well as such fictional characters as Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves...
), a 1923 Ford Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
coupe, is the widow of Radiator Springs' founder, Stanley, and the elderly owner of a roadside souvenir and accessory shop (Radiator Springs Curios). Her license plate, "MT23", is a reference to her model and year. Her name is derived from Tin Lizzie, one of the Model T's popular nicknames. She appears to have gone somewhat senile, and has a crush on Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
. When she is shown teasing Luigi and Guido in the film, stating that "the new road makes your place look like a dump." Luigi angrily says that she is a crazy, devilish old woman; but despairs at the truth of her words. She appears extremely motherly.
Lizzie reappears in Cars 2.
Red
Red (voiced by Joe RanftJoe Ranft
Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist and voice actor who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies....
) is a mid-1960s closed-cab pumper bearing Carburetor County license plate "002." He is shy and emotional, often bursting into tears and/or hiding whenever he is upset. He spends most of his time gardening and washing things, such as the statue of Stanley next to his fire station
Fire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
. It was stated by Mater that Red hated McQueen for accidentally killing his flowers, but it is clear that Red had forgiven McQueen and warmed up to him, especially since he burst into tears and fled when he thought McQueen left without saying goodbye (which he did not, but was, unfortunately, forced to do later). In the movie, Red never spoke (not counting his sobs and gasps). Joe Ranft
Joe Ranft
Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist and voice actor who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies....
died in a car accident in August 2005, 11 months before the movie was released.
Red reappears in Cars 2 with no voice actor. He only makes a small appearance at the airport crying as he sees 'Team McQueen' taking off for Tokyo, also in the battle against the lemons, where he arrives just in time to blast some of the lemons away with his fire hose.
Stanley
Stanley is Lizzie's late husband and was the founder of Radiator Springs. Stanley was probably a Stanley SteamerStanley Steamer
The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was a manufacturer of steam-engine vehicles; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced.-Early history:...
, a steam-driven automobile. A statue of Stanley stands outside the town hall, and although it was broken off its pedestal and dragged through the streets on a wire by Lightning McQueen, it was fortunately undamaged, and another mishap placed the statue right back where it was. Although dead, Stanley continues to exert an influence on the town, particularly over Lizzie, who often talks to his statue in memory of him. At one point, the statue is sent flying through the air ("Fly away, Stanley. Be free!" - Fillmore) but returns to the pedestal luckily.
Stanley reappears in Cars 2 where he was shown to be less old and broken, possibly renovated.
Frank
Frank (voiced by Frank WelkerFrank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
) is a generic orange combine harvester
Combine harvester
The combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. The name derives from the fact that it combines three separate operations, reaping, threshing, and winnowing, into a single process. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn ,...
that resembles a bull, and the guardian of the tractors. After Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
's first encounter with Frank during a night of tractor tipping with Mater, Lightning starts dreaming that he, The King, and Chick Hicks (the last of whom does not even survive) are beaten by Frank in the tie-breaker race after beginning to feel that he is being distracted by his time in Radiator Springs. When he wins big smoke comes out of his horns which makes him look more like a moose. He is last seen with the tractors at the drive-in theatre scenes. He is also seen in the short Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight
Mater and the Ghostlight is a 2006 Pixar computer-animated short created for the DVD of Cars, which was released on October 25, 2006 in Australia and in the United States on November 7, 2006...
when Mater races past him, waking him up. Frank seems to be the soothing master of the tractors and the leader of the herd.
Darrell Cartrip
Darrell Cartrip is an announcer for the Piston Cup races in the first film. He is a 1977 Chevrolet Monte CarloChevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American-made two-door coupe introduced for model year 1970, and manufactured over six generations through model year 2007. It was marketed as a personal-luxury coupe through most of its history, with the last model version being classified as a full-sized coupe...
, and a former Piston Cup Racer. His character is based on former NASCAR racer and Fox Sports
NASCAR on Fox
NASCAR on Fox is the Emmy-winning branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts of NASCAR races airing on the Fox network since 2001. The production has been in high-definition since 2005.-Background:...
commentator Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
, who also provides the character's voice. Cartrip utters, "Boogity boogity boogity!" as the tiebreaker race starts; the real-life Waltrip is also known to use the phrase at the start of every NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
race on Fox. He also says "I'm so excited, they're gonna have to tow me out of the booth!" Cartrip appears in the Cars video game as the sole announcer; he is also a playable character in the Piston Cup VS. and Arcade mode. On his side it says, "Boogity boogity boogity" and on the back of him it says, "DWstore.com" (the online store for the three NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR on Fox is the Emmy-winning branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts of NASCAR races airing on the Fox network since 2001. The production has been in high-definition since 2005.-Background:...
analysts). These do not appear in the video game. The car is based on a real-life 1977 Monte Carlo Waltrip drove with DiGard Racing, although it does not have the actual number (#88) or livery (a green and white Gatorade livery) from its three years used on the circuit. The most famous of those cars was the infamous "Bertha," known for its weight-reduction ruse by crew chief Gary Nelson and Buddy Parrott where up to 45 kg of buckshot was added to a box near the battery, and on parade laps, Waltrip pressed a lever to drop the buckshot on track to lighten the car. With 16 of Waltrip's 84 career wins, it is displayed at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama. Darrell would later return in the second film as one of the three announcers of the World Grand Prix.
Bob Cutlass
Bob Cutlass is an announcer for the Piston Cup races and friend of Darrell Cartrip. He is voiced by Bob CostasBob Costas
Robert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...
, the renowned NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sportscaster and journalist and his name, like Darrell Cartrip's, is a play on that of his voice actor. The character's name is obviously a reference to the Oldsmobile Cutlass
Oldsmobile Cutlass
The Oldsmobile Cutlass is a line of automobiles made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. The Cutlass began as a unibody compact car, but saw its greatest success as a body-on-frame intermediate car....
. Cutlass is actually supposed to resemble a 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora
Oldsmobile Aurora
The Oldsmobile Aurora was a full-size sports sedan made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors and launched in 1995. The Aurora rode on the same Cadillac-derived G platform as the 2-door Buick Riviera....
, even though the Aurora was never offered in a 2 door model. He never returned for the video game, nor Cars 2.
Mia and Tia
Mia, (voiced by Lindsey Collins), and Tia, (voiced by Elissa KnightElissa Knight
Elissa Knight is an American employee at Pixar Animation Studios and voice actress. As a voice actress, her first major role was in the 2008 film WALL-E as a robot named EVE.-Biography:...
), are identical twin 1992 Mazda Miata (The names are a play on "Miata".) sisters who are Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
's self-proclaimed biggest fans in the first film. After McQueen's disappearance, the twins are devastated that McQueen apparently will not make it to the race. Chick Hicks then swoops in and consoles them, loading them up with his own merchandise and a free Hostile Takeover Bank-sponsored paint job. Mia and Tia accept the offer, not because they are Chick's fans, but because the color green complements their eyes. By the end of the movie, they are McQueen's fans once more, turning against Hicks after he deliberately causes Strip "The King" Weathers to wreck in the tie-breaker race. In the end of the first film, Mia and Tia eventually move to Radiator Springs and work as waitresses at Flo's V8 Cafe, as seen during the end credits. In Lightning McQueen's daydream about the Dinoco Sponsorship, the twins are Dinoco blue, except for the scene in the penthouse, where they are painted gold. In a deleted scene on the Cars DVD, the twins are waitresses at a truck stop at which McQueen stops.
When they first meet Lightning, Mia and Tia flash their pop-up headlights
Hidden headlamps
Hidden headlamps, also commonly known as pop-up headlamps or headlights, are an automotive styling feature that conceals an automobile's headlamps when they are not in use...
at him, similar to groupies pulling up their shirts to flash celebrities.
Mia and Tia also appear in Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales because of his crazy doings. They also make a cameo appearance near the end of the second film, watching along with other residents of Radiator Springs, as the racecars from the World Grand Prix race out on their new Radiator Springs Grand Prix.
Van and Minny
Van (voiced by Richard KindRichard Kind
Richard John Kind is an American actor known for his roles in the sitcoms Mad About You and Spin City .- Early life :...
) and Minny (voiced by Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...
) are husband and wife. In the first film, they are lost and pass through Radiator Springs while trying to find their way back to Interstate 40. Minny also mentions that Van did the same when they were heading up to the "Crazy Days" (a parody of Derby Days) in Shakopee
Shakopee, Minnesota
Shakopee is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Scott County. Located on the south bank bend of the Minnesota River, Shakopee and nearby suburbs comprise the southwest portion of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the thirteenth largest...
. Van refuses to ask directions, claiming not to need them due to having a GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
. Both of them are equipped with car alarm
Car alarm
A car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the vehicle itself, its contents, or both. Car alarms work by emitting high-volume sound when the conditions necessary for triggering are met, as well as by flashing some of the vehicle's...
s, which they arm after their encounter with Lightning McQueen when he begs them to call for help. After the end of the credits, we find out that Van and Minny have ended up somewhere lost in the desert, having never asked for directions, and Van has almost been driven to insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
. Their names combined is a pun on "minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....
". Van is a 2003 Ford Windstar
Ford Windstar
The Ford Windstar is a minivan that was produced and sold by the Ford Motor Company from the 1995 to 2003 model years. This front-wheel drive minivan was the second minivan designed by the company, serving as a replacement for the rear-wheel drive Aerostar minivan. The two were sold concurrently...
and Minny appears to be a 1996 Dodge Caravan
Dodge Caravan
The Dodge Caravan is a family minivan manufactured by Chrysler Group LLC and sold under its Dodge brand. Along with its nameplate variant, the Plymouth Voyager, the Caravan was introduced for the 1984 model year. In 1987, the Dodge Grand Caravan long-wheelbase model was introduced and sold...
. Minny speaks with a pronounced Minnesota accent.
Van and Minny reappear near the end of the second film. While Minny is mesmerized by Mater's spy story, Van does not believe one word of it until British agent Holley Shiftwell arrives to confirm it, which surprises Van a lot.
Delinquent Road Hazards
The Delinquent Road Hazards are a group of four modified tuner carsCar tuning
Car tuning is both an industry and a hobby, in which an automobile is modified in order to improve its performance, handling and appearance. As most vehicles leave the factory set up for average driver expectations and average conditions, tuning has become a way to personalize the characteristics...
that intentionally cause trouble on the highway: Boost (Purple Neon/Silver 1994 Mitsubishi Eclipse
Mitsubishi Eclipse
The Mitsubishi Eclipse was a coupe that was in production since 1989 for left hand drive traffic markets. According to Mitsubishi, the car was named after an 18th century English racehorse which won 26 races, and has also been sold as the Eagle Talon and the Plymouth Laser captive imports through...
), DJ (Blue 2004 Scion xB
Scion xB
The Scion xB is a vehicle made by Toyota for the United States market and sold under their youth-oriented Scion brand. It is a box-shaped, 5-door compact hatchback.-First generation :...
), Wingo (Green and purple 2000 Nissan Silvia S15) and Snot Rod (Orange 1970 Plymouth Barracuda
Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda is a 2-door car that was manufactured by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1964-1974.The first-generation Barracuda, a fastback A-body coupe based on the Plymouth Valiant, had a distinctive wraparound back glass and was available from 1964-1966.The...
). They get their group name from what Sheriff called McQueen when he ordered Mater to tow him to traffic court. They catch Mack nodding off to sleep on the way to California, and amuse themselves by nudging him onto the rumble strips along the shoulder. The resulting vibration causes Mack's trailer door to open and a sleeping McQueen to roll out of the trailer. When the chronically-sniffly Snot Rod sneezes, Mack is startled awake, and accelerates away, leaving the still-sleeping McQueen behind near Radiator Springs, thus making the Hazards mostly responsible for McQueen's disappearance. However, in an act of poetic justice, during the end credits the Hazards are seen speeding on the outskirts of Radiator Springs just as the Sheriff arrives and places them in the impound lot. It is then later revealed that Doc Hudson himself sentenced the Hazards to messy roadwork towing Bessie for their actions. In the Italian dub, three of the Hazards are voiced by F1 drivers: Giancarlo Fisichella (Boost), Emanuele Pirro (Wingo) and Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert...
(DJ). Boost, DJ and Wingo make a cameo appearance at the start of Tokyo Mater, drifting along the main road of Radiator Springs before Sherrif gives chase to them.
Kori Turbowitz
Kori Turbowitz (voiced by San Francisco Bay Area DJ Sarah Clark) is a 1997 Ford PumaFord Puma
The Ford Puma was a small sports coupé produced by the Ford Motor Company from 1997 to 2001 http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/owners-reviews/search.aspx?range=438#fuel=P&Body=Coupe&transmission=M, for sale in Europe...
; a news reporter who shows up in Cars
CARS
Cars, or automobiles, motor cars, are wheeled motor vehicles used for transporting passengers.Cars or CARS may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Cars , a Disney/Pixar film series...
three times.
Jay Limo
Jay Limo, like his voice actor Jay LenoJay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, is a talk show host. He resembles the latest generation of the Lincoln Town Car
Lincoln Town Car
The Lincoln Town Car is a full-size luxury sedan that was sold by the upscale Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company; it was produced from 1981 to the 2011 model years...
. He remarks "I don't know what's going to be harder to find; Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
or a crew chief who'll work for him!"
Albert Hinkey
Albert Hinkey (voiced by Douglas "Mater" Keever) is an RV that proclaims that he is Lightning's "biggest" fan ("biggest" being a pun because he is such a large vehicle). He is seen in the background of races. He has another friend that is a fan of Lightning also that is voiced by Larry Benton.Fred
Fred (voiced by Andrew StantonAndrew Stanton
Andrew Stanton is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional voice actor based at Pixar Animation Studios. His film work includes writing and directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E; both films earned him the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.-Life and career:Stanton was...
) is a starstruck, very rusty old car. Everybody knows his name because his license plate holder and license plate say "Hello, my name is" and "FRED", respectively. He is the prop for the recurring gag in the film; when McQueen says his name, he shouts, "He knows my name! He knows my name" and, in his excitement, his front bumper (which happens to be his lower jaw) falls off. Later, when he is unable to gain access to the tie-breaker race and Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
(who would be waved through the gate on sight as a celebrity) likewise reads his license plate, Fred says, "Mario Andretti knows my name! You gotta let me in now!" He is seen again in the end credits as a resident of Radiator Springs spinning around in a circle with rust falling out from under him. When he stops, his front bumper falls off again. He also shows up in Mater National and Race-O-Rama
Cars Race-O-Rama
Cars Race-O-Rama is a racing game that was released on October 12, 2009. Cars Race-o-Rama is the sequel to Cars Mater-National, which was released on October 27, 2007. The PSP and DS versions of the game were created by Tantalus Media in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia...
.
TJ Hummer
TJ Hummer is a vain Hummer H1Hummer H1
The Hummer H1 is a civilian off-road vehicle based on the M998 Humvee, which was created by AM General. The vehicle was produced from 1992 through 2006, and was the first of what became the Hummer line...
that Sarge teaches in his boot camp during the end of the movie. Unlike the other SUVs in the boot camp, TJ refuses to go off road, fearing that he will get dirt on his rims, but Sarge forces him to do so. His name may be a play on the action character T.J. Hooker.
Sven "The Governator"
Sven "The Governator" is a HummerHummer
Hummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were...
. His only line is "Lightning McQueen must be found at all costs!" The name and vehicle is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
's then-current position as California governor
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
, the first three Terminator
Terminator (franchise)
The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....
films he starred on, and the fact that he was one of the first Hummer H1
Hummer H1
The Hummer H1 is a civilian off-road vehicle based on the M998 Humvee, which was created by AM General. The vehicle was produced from 1992 through 2006, and was the first of what became the Hummer line...
owners.
Michael Schumacher
Michael SchumacherMichael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
is a 2006 Ferrari F430
Ferrari F430
The Ferrari F430 is a sports car that was produced by the Italian automaker Ferrari from 2004 to 2009, as a successor to the 360. It debuted at the 2004 Paris Motor Show...
sports car voiced by Schumacher himself. He is a Ferrari in reference to his recent championships with Ferrari F1. He appears at Luigi's shop at the end of the movie after being told by Lightning McQueen that "this is the best place in the world to buy tires", and asks to order a few sets of tires for himself and a pair of Maserati
Maserati
Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...
Quattroportes
Maserati Quattroporte
The Maserati Quattroporte is a luxury four-door saloon made by Maserati in Italy. The name translated from Italian literally means "four doors". There have been five generations of the car, each separated by a period of roughly five years....
who accompany him. After Luigi faints from the excitement of having "a real Michael Schumacher Ferrari in his store", Schumacher speaks to Guido in Italian, and Guido subsequently faints. The Italian phrase he speaks is, "I hope that your friend recovers, I was told that you are fantastic."
Jerry Recycled Batteries
Jerry (voiced by Joe RanftJoe Ranft
Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist and voice actor who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies....
) is a 1979 Peterbilt
Peterbilt
Peterbilt Motors Company is an American manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty Class 5 through Class 8 trucks headquartered in Denton, Texas. Founded in 1939 Peterbilt operates manufacturing facilities in Denton, Texas , and Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec...
352 that Lightning McQueen mistook for Mack. He has the words "Recycled Batteries" on his side." His only line in the movie is a response to McQueen: "Mack? I ain't no Mack, I'm a Peterbilt, for dang sake! And turn on your lights, ya dang moron!"
Bessie
Bessie is a tarmacTarmac
Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...
laying machine that is used to fix roads. When Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
accidentally destroys the road with the statue of Stanley, the residents of Radiator Springs sentence him to fix the road with her. She is later seen at the end of the movie when the Delinquent Road Hazards have to fix the road with her as punishment for speeding. Sometimes Bessie boils over and splats tar onto the car(s) pulling her. Bessie is a "non-living" vehicle, it cannot move by itself, and it has no voice actor in the film.
"Junior" #8
"Junior" #8, voiced by NASCARNASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., is a 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American-made two-door coupe introduced for model year 1970, and manufactured over six generations through model year 2007. It was marketed as a personal-luxury coupe through most of its history, with the last model version being classified as a full-sized coupe...
Piston Cup racecar that closely resembles Earnhardt's No. 8 NASCAR stock car that was driven until 2008
2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season began on February 9, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout, followed by pole qualifying on Sunday, February 10, 2008 for the 50th Daytona 500 on February 17...
. The stock car's Budweiser
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)
Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
stickers were replaced by Dale Earnhardt Inc. stickers to avoid advertising beer in the first film. Junior was first seen in the race at the beginning of the first film where he was approaching the track and is later seen in the pits. He was seen again during the "McQueen's Missing" scene saying that he hoped that Lightning was okay, then at the tie-breaker Junior is seen wishing The King good luck in his last race. Junior was last seen at the Radiator Springs racing museum with The King and his wife Lynda, admitting to being amazed by Doc Hudson's many season winnings during the 1950s. Junior does not appear in the video game.
Mario AndrettiMario AndrettiMario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
#11
Mario Andretti voices his eponymous character, who is a former racecar that believes every day is a great day for racing. He is based on the 1967 Holman MoodyHolman Moody
Holman Moody was an auto racing team, racecar manufacturer, and marine engine manufacturer. The team built virtually all of the factory Ford racecars of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It owned racecars that competed in NASCAR, drag racing, ocean boat racing, rallys, and sports car racing. The team...
Ford Fairlane
Ford Fairlane (North American)
The Ford Fairlane was an automobile model sold between 1955 and 1970 by the Ford Motor Company in North America. The name was taken from Henry Ford's estate, Fair Lane, near Dearborn, Michigan....
that the real Andretti drove to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500. In the Spanish edition of the movie, Andretti is voiced by Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
champion, Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
.
Finn McMissile
Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael CaineMichael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
) is a British secret agent who recruits Mater
Mater (Cars)
Sir Tow Mater or better known as Mater is the deuteragonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars and the main protagonist in its sequel...
, whom he mistakes for a cleverly disguised American agent, to help in his mission. Though charming and eloquent, it’s his stealth maneuvering, intelligence and years in the field that enable him to thwart unexpected attacks from bad guys, making quick daredevil escapes. Finn’s design is sleek and timeless, but he’s also prepared for any tricky situation with an arsenal of ultra-cool gadgets and weaponry, including front and rear grappling hooks, a missile launcher, deployable magnetic explosives and a holographic disguise emitter. As a seasoned professional in the game of international espionage, Finn believes there is a conspiracy brewing during the World Grand Prix. His clandestine work surrounding the global exhibition race puts him on a collision course with Mater. Caine depicted his character Finn based on his previous role Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer is the name of the protagonist of a number of films based on the main character from the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in the films based on three of the first four of the published novels featuring this character, and also later in two films not...
from the The IPCRESS File
The Ipcress File (film)
The Ipcress File is a 1965 British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine, Guy Doleman, and Nigel Green. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and James Doran was based on Len Deighton's 1962 novel, The IPCRESS File. It has won critical acclaim and a BAFTA award for best...
and its sequels.
Originally, Finn was supposed to appear in the first Cars movie. In a sequence that never went beyond the storyboarding stage, Lightning
Lightning McQueen
Lightning McQueen, typically referred to by his surname McQueen, and occasionally called "Stickers" by his girlfriend Sally , is an anthropomorphic racecar and the main protagonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars, and the deuteragonist of its sequel Cars 2...
and Sally visited a drive-in theater where a James Bond-type film about a superspy car named Finn McMissile was playing. The design of Finn is inspired by several cars, the roofline and doors of the Volvo P1800
Volvo P1800
-History:The project was started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had been a disaster, with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer Petterson, who in the 1940s was responsible for...
(possibly inspired by Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
's ownership of one while filming The Saint TV espionage series in the early 1960s), the grill and fenders of the BMW 507
BMW 507
The BMW 507 is a roadster produced by BMW from 1956 to 1959. Initially intended to be exported to the United States at a rate of thousands per year, it ended up being too expensive, resulting in a total production figure of 252 cars and heavy losses for BMW....
, and some major elements of the iconic James Bond Aston Martin DB5
Aston Martin DB5
The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin. Released in 1963, it was an evolution of the final series of DB4. The DB series was named honouring David Brown ....
, he also resembles a 1970's Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. The look of the car has been slightly modified; Finn has a different grill that looks like a suave mustache, but like Bond, he does have plenty of gadgets. His small tailfins were inspired by a 1958 British sports car called the Peerless—one of the few British cars with fins. Finn is fluent in many languages, most notably French and Italian. He is outfitted with a plethora of gadgets, including: two (Front) bumperette grappling hooks, a left headlight spy camera, a right headlight missile launcher, side mirror digital read-outs, a deployable glass cutter, front wheel hub magnetic explosives launcher; (side) side vent deployable machine guns, (rear) wheel hub deployable surveillance probes, rear bumperette grappling hooks, a rear turn signal oil blaster, an undercarriage mounted quad harpoon gun, a hydrofoil for oversea travel, a roof-deployed holographic disguise emitter, and submarine-mode for underwater escapes. Finn made a cameo in Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
on a poster in Andy's room. His license plate is 314 FMCM, which includes a reference to his initials. The number 314 indicates Caine's birthday, March 14.
His belief about the World Grand Prix turns out to be true, as it was all just a setup by Miles Axlerod to make alternate fuel seem dangerous and make cars run on his own fuel (which Finn encountered earlier on in the film) with no choice.
Holley Shiftwell
Holley Shiftwell (voiced by Emily MortimerEmily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
) is a British spy-in-training who aids Finn McMissile in his mission. She is also Mater
Mater (Cars)
Sir Tow Mater or better known as Mater is the deuteragonist in the 2006 animated Pixar film Cars and the main protagonist in its sequel...
's love interest in the film. Holley Shiftwell is a beautiful young British desk agent, turned spy-in-training who’s stationed in Tokyo. Well-educated and sharp, she knows every trick in the book—or rather, she relies on every trick in the spy manual. She’s armed with the latest state-of-the-art spy equipment imaginable, from hidden cameras and concealed weapons to a telescoping utility arm and a holographic pop-up display. Holley is a highly motivated agent, but is fresh out of the academy, so her experience is based on lessons learned in school rather than real-life situations. When seasoned international spy Finn McMissile requires Holley’s technical expertise for his latest top-secret field operation, she finds herself pursuing a rendezvous with the most unlikely candidate—Mater, an innocent caught up in the intrigue, who is mesmerized by the beauty of his newest friend.
Holley's name is a reference to Holley Performance Products
Holley Performance Products
Holley Performance Products is an automotive performance company based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Holley, when based in Michigan, was one of the major producers of carburetors, being supplied as standard equipment on many Detroit-built automobiles....
, Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance carburetors and fuel systems located in Bowling Green, KY. Her design has a close resemblance to the Jaguar XJR-15
Jaguar XJR-15
The Jaguar Sport XJR-15 is a RMR layout sports car produced by British automaker Jaguar between 1990 and 1992. Only 50 were made, each selling for US$960,165...
. Her license plate is HS1201, which includes her initials. The number 1201 is Emily Mortimer's birthday (December 1). Holley is equipped with gadgets including: (front) projection lamps above headlights that emit a heads-up display, headlight cameras; a (side) right wheel concealed gun and an electro-shock device, a telescoping utility arm, (undercarriage) mounted dual trackball platforms for controlling the heads-up display, and retractable wings for flight.
Siddeley
Siddeley (voiced by Jason IsaacsJason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs is an English actor born in Liverpool, who is best known for his performance as the villain Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, the brutal Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot and as lifelong criminal Michael Caffee in the internationally broadcast American television series...
) is a state-of-the-art British twin-engine spy jet. He is 176 feet long with a 157-foot wingspan (53 and 48 meters respectively) and is shown to possess afterburners, though no aspect of his airframe is suited to supersonic flight, In addition, he has VTOL
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
(vertical-takeoff and landing) capabilities. Outfitted with all the latest in high-tech spy equipment, including cloaking technology, defensive weaponry and afterburners, Siddeley is Finn’s steadfast partner-in-fighting-crime around the globe. His tail has A113
A113
A113 is an inside joke present as an Easter egg in animated films created by alumni of CalArts, referring to the classroom number used by graphic design and character animation students at the school that was used by John Lasseter and Brad Bird among others. Brad Bird first used it for a license...
painted on it, a recurring gag in the Pixar films. His name is a reference to the British aerospace company, Hawker Siddeley.
Leland Turbo
Leland Turbo (also voiced by Jason Isaacs) was a British agent who appears in the film's beginning. He sends a video message to Finn McMissile about what he sees in Professor Zundapp's oil rig. However, he is found by the lemons and was crushed into a cube. He appears to be based on a Jaguar E-TypeJaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
Rod “Torque” Redline
Rod “Torque” Redline (voiced by Bruce CampbellBruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
) is considered by many as the greatest American spy in the world. He's the one McMissile and Shiftwell were supposed to meet before he ran into Mater, which leads to the mistake of the spy cars thinking Mater is Redline. Recruited after the Cold War for both his brains and brawn, Torque is a tough-as-nails Detroit muscle car with a mastery of disguises. In his latest deep-cover operation, he obtained vital information about the plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix. In the beginning of the film, he is seen by McMissile (as a lemon) talking to the professor about the camera. So Rod plans a rendezvous with his British counterparts to share his discoveries at the World Grand Prix welcome reception in Tokyo, Japan. But with the bad guys hot on his tailpipe, Rod is forced to ditch the intel early and with the first party guest he sees – a rusty American tow truck named Mater. He is later captured and killed by the enemy's weapon, a magnetic pulse gun disguised as a TV camera (Allinol explodes when it reacts with a magnetic pulse). Torque is a visual portmanteau of a Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
and a Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
. His license plate is a Michigan plate and reads "M1911A1," a reference to the handgun used historically by the United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
.
Tomber
Tomber (voiced by Michel Michelis) is Finn McMissile's underground informant. Having been saved from a long sentence in a Moroccan impound lot by McMissile, Tomber has since become an auto-parts dealer. He specializes in rare parts, such as the ones needed to keep a certain Rover V8 going.. Mater and Tomber get along from their first meeting, both respecting the other's knowledge of cars and specific parts. Tomber (French for "Tumbling") is a Reliant RegalReliant Regal
The Reliant Regal was a small three-wheeled car manufactured from 1953 until 1973 by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England. As it was a three-wheeler, and it was fairly lightweight, the vehicle could be driven on a motorcycle licence in the United Kingdom...
threewheeler, a type of car notorious for its poor handling and tendency to roll over in even gentle turns.
Miles Axlerod
Sir Miles Axlerod (voiced by Eddie IzzardEddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
) is a former oil baron who has sold off his fortune after supposedley converted himself into an electric vehicle. He claims to have devoted his life to finding the renewable, clean-burning energy source of the future—ultimately discovering what he believes is the fuel everyone should be using. Axlerod created the World Grand Prix, to promote his new wonder-fuel, Allinol. Axlerod later reveals that he owns the largest untapped oil reserves in the world. His "alternative fuel" is actually ordinary gasoline engineered to ignite if hit with electro-magnetic pulses from weapons disguised as television cameras. Axlerod's plans to use oil for world domination are eventually exposed. Axlerod plans to use Professor Zündapp and the lemon cars to kill McQueen in the final race, but the EMP weapon fails to finish him off because Sarge switched McQueen's Allinol for Filmore's organic fuel. As a backup, Axlerod has Zündapp and the lemon cars implant a bomb on Mater's air filter. Mater confronts Axlerod about the conspiracy and forces him to deactivate the bomb with a voice command, proving that he was the one who set it. Axlerod's engine turns out to be the Rover V8 in the photo obtained by McMissile and Shiftwell (described by Mater as "the worst engine ever made"), and he is exposed as a fraud and arrested. "Sir Miles", and "Sir Tow", had been more correct; first names only, as knighthood stipulates.
Axlerod is styled after a first generation Range Rover and has a Rover V8 engine (a Buick design). Mater remarks after seeing the engine on the spy picture that the owner must be very happy since he has all the spare parts. Those spare parts are labeled "British Weyland", which is a parody on British Leyland, with a "W" instead of an "L" in the logo. British Leyland produced both the Rover V-8 engine and the Range Rover models. His last name, a portmanteau of "axle" and "rod", is a reference to Mr. Izzard's stand-up routine about the invention of the wheel and axle.
Professor Zündapp
Professor Zündapp (voiced by German actor Thomas KretschmannThomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
) is an internationally wanted weapons designer in a small, sophisticated German package. He is a brilliant, but mad monocle-wearing scientist who is plotting to sabotage the World Grand Prix. Professor Zündapp is willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate all obstacles and keep the “project” on schedule. He is modeled as a Zündapp Janus 250
Zündapp Janus
Zündapp Janus was the name of a microcar model made by Zündapp in Germany between 1957 and 1958. Originally Zündapp made motorcycles, but in 1954 decided to make a more weatherproof vehicle. They looked at designs from Kroboth, Brütsch, and Fuldamobil before settling for a design by Dornier...
and has a broken roof rack
Roof rack
A roof rack is a set of bars secured to the roof of a motor car. It is used to carry bulky items such as luggage, bicycles, canoes, kayaks, skis, or various carriers and containers.There is a long history of the use of roof racks and their designs...
that evokes the look of a comb over
Comb over
A comb over or combover is a hairstyle worn by bald or balding men in which the hair on one side of the head is grown long and then combed over the bald area to minimize the display of baldness. A variation of the comb over where baldness is concealed by long hair combed in three separate...
. Though at first, Professor Zündapp appears to be the main villain, but is eventually exposed as a subordinate of Miles Axlerod, the true villain who recruited him to invent an electro-magnetic pulse weapon to use on the racers that used Allinol in order to turn all vehicles against alternative energy and rely on gasoline. He eventually implants a bomb on Mater to kill McQueen to continue on with the plan (due to the fact that McQueen is using Allinol for the final race, despite of Allinol being called into question by the public), but he is captured by Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell.
Grem
Grem (voiced by Joe MantegnaJoe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
) is a dented, rusty orange AMC Gremlin
AMC Gremlin
The AMC Gremlin is a two-door subcompact car produced in the United States and Canada by the American Motors Corporation between 1970 and 1978. AMC reduced its development and manufacturing costs by adapting a shortened Hornet platform with a Kammback-type tail...
. After years of being dismissed for his design, even being called a "lemon," Grem has a big chip on his fender that has led him to the underworld of international espionage. As a henchman for a villainous boss Professor Zündapp, Grem and his partner-in-crime Acer are trying to sabotage the World Grand Prix and the famous race cars competing in it. When Grem and Acer mistake Mater for an American agent with important top-secret information, the ruthless lemons set out on a round-the-globe chase to stop Mater from foiling their evil scheme.
In the final fight in London they are just about to intercept Mater and McQueen when diverted forcibly by a flying Holley into a pub where they crash into the bar causing the patrons' drink to spill all over. Confronted by a very angry clientele, they are last seen being smashed into a pulp by them. Presumably the very battered thugs are arrested along with Zundapp and Axlerod.
Acer
Acer (voiced by Peter JacobsonPeter Jacobson
Peter S. Jacobson is an American film and television actor.-Life and career:Jacobson was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Chicago news anchor Walter Jacobson. He is a graduate of Brown University and Juilliard...
), a beat-up green AMC Pacer
AMC Pacer
The AMC Pacer is a two-door compact automobile produced in the United States by the American Motors Corporation between 1975 and 1980.Its initial design idea was started in 1971. The car's unusual rounded shape with massive glass area greatly contrasted with the three-box architecture with "square,...
, joined forces with fellow “lemon” cars as henchmen for the devious Professor Zündapp, whose clandestine mission is to wreak havoc at the highly visible World Grand Prix. Acer must hunt down the American and British secret agents who have stolen crucial information about Professor Zündapp's underhanded plot—his primary target just happens to be Mater, who’s been mistaken for a spy. Acer tries very hard to be a tough guy, but he’s over-eager compared to his no-nonsense accomplice Grem. (See paragraph above for Acer's fate.)
Francesco Bernoulli
Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John TurturroJohn Turturro
John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
) grew up in the shadow of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy where he and his friends would sneak onto the track and race the famous banking on the circuit (in real life, last raced in 1967). He was an instant winner on the amateur circuit and soon became an international Formula Racer champion. The ladies love Francesco’s open wheels, youngsters look up to his winning spirit and fellow racers envy his speed. But Francesco’s biggest fan is Francesco himself, as evidenced by his racing number. As the most famous race car in Europe, No.1 Francesco is a favorite to win the World Grand Prix, which also makes him Lightning McQueen’s chief rival. Francesco often refers to himself in the third person
Illeism
Illeism is the act of referring to oneself in the third person instead of the more appropriate first person.Illeism is sometimes used in literature as a stylistic device...
.
He resembles a modern Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
car and is painted in the colors of the Italian flag.
Jeff Gorvette
Jeff Gorvette (voiced by Jeff GordonJeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is a professional NASCAR driver. He is the driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet Impala. He is a four-time Sprint Cup Series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the...
) is an American Corvette C6 Le Mans Sports car and the #24 race car of the World Grand Prix.
The character does not appear in international versions of Cars 2. In two scenes (one where Lightning meets him at the party in Tokyo, and another when that scene appears in Mater's nightmare), Gorvette is replaced by a completely different character, voiced by a regionally better known racer than Jeff Gordon. Most of them use the same body shape as Max Schnell.
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (voiced by Lewis HamiltonLewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
) is a British/Grenadan McLaren MP4-12C
McLaren MP4-12C
The McLaren MP4-12C is a sports car designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It is the first production car wholly designed and built by McLaren since the McLaren F1. The car's final design was unveiled on 8 September 2009, and it is set to be launched in 2011...
World Sports Touring Champion and is the #2 contender in the World Grand Prix and represents Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
.
Mama Topolino
Mama Topolino (voiced by Vanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
) is the aunt of Luigi. She resembles a 1950s Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
(or maybe Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
) Dauphine
Renault Dauphine
Renault Dauphine is a rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in one body style — a three-box, four-door sedan — as the successor to the Renault 4CV, with over two million examples marketed worldwide during its production from 1956-1967....
.
Uncle Topolino
Uncle Topolino (voiced by Franco NeroFranco Nero
Franco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
) is the uncle of Luigi. He is a Fiat 500 "Topolino" from 1948 or earlier. ("Topolino", which translates as "Little Mouse", is Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
's Italian name.) The cover on his top resembles a hair style, similar to Luigi's.
Prince Wheeliam
Prince Wheeliam is the grandson of the Queen of the United Kingdom. He is an avid racing fan. He cannot believe his luck that the final race of the one-of-a-kind World Grand Prix is happening on the streets of London. Though he must remain impartial when by his grandmother’s side, he is privately rooting for his fellow Brits Lewis Hamilton and Nigel Gearsley to cross the finish line first. Wheeliam is based on Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. He is a Bentley Continental GTBentley Continental GT
-Flying Spur:The four door Continental Flying Spur saloon was first displayed at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. The Flying Spur utilizes most of the technical underpinnings of the Bentley Continental GT, and was introduced to European and North American markets in the summer of 2005...
.
The Queen Elizabeth II
The Queen Elizabeth II (voiced by Vanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
) is a classic Rolls Royce Phantom
Rolls-Royce Phantom IV
The Phantom IV is the most exclusive Rolls-Royce model ever built.Only 18 were made between 1950 and 1956, exclusively for royalty and heads of state...
car watching the race from Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. She later knights Mater for his bravery in foiling Axlerod's plot. The rack on her roof is made to look like a crown. Throughout the film, it is known that Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for creating Allinol.
Crabby the Boat
Crabby the Boat (voiced by Sig HansenSig Hansen
Sigurd Jonny "Sig" Hansen is an American Captain of the fishing vessel Northwestern. Since 2006, Hansen has been featured in all seasons of the documentary television series Deadliest Catch, for which he also serves as technical advisor for the production.-Early life:Sigurd Jonny Hansen was born...
) is a fishing vessel
Fishing vessel
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing....
that is based on the F/V Northwestern
FV Northwestern
F/V Northwestern is an Alaskan crab, Pacific cod, and salmon tendering fishing vessel notable for being featured in the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch...
, a boat captained by Hansen and featured in the American reality TV series Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch
Deadliest Catch is a documentary/reality television series produced by Original Productions for the Discovery Channel. It portrays the real life events aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and C. opilio crab fishing seasons.The Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor,...
. Crabby is painted and designed like the Northwestern. He is seen in the beginning of the film with Finn McMissile aboard him. Finn has paid Crabby to bring him to a certain location in the ocean so he can look for a car, a request that greatly puzzles Crabby. Once they reach the spot, Tony Trihull (see below) intercepts Crabby and threatens him with a missile launcher
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the American, German, South Korean, Greek, Turkish, Saudi and Egyptian navies. It was intended originally and used primarily as a point-defense weapon against anti-ship cruise missiles...
, forcing him to turn back. Crabby apologizes to Finn as he heads home, not knowing that Finn has already slipped off board and hitched onto Tony to continue his mission.
Tony Trihull
Tony Trihull (voiced by Lloyd SherrLloyd Sherr
Lloyd Sherr , also known by his stage name Max Raphael, is an American voice actor. Sherr has been credited in many forms of media, most notably as narrator of the History Channel show Modern Marvels, for which his voice has become a trademark of the History Channel.Sherr has also narrated other...
) is a large combat ship (modeled after the USS Independence (LCS-2)
USS Independence (LCS-2)
USS Independence is the lead ship for the Independence class of littoral combat ships. She will be the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the concept of independence...
) who works for Professor Zündapp. He first appears in the beginning when he notices Crabby and Finn in the oil reserve, ordering Crabby to leave. When Crabby refuses, Tony threatens him with a missile battery (based on the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the American, German, South Korean, Greek, Turkish, Saudi and Egyptian navies. It was intended originally and used primarily as a point-defense weapon against anti-ship cruise missiles...
). As a result, Crabby leaves, but Finn hitches a ride on the back of Tony, without him knowing. He later appears again near the end of the film in London when Professor Z tries to escape from being caught by Finn McMissile, yelling for the Professor to hurry and get aboard him. When Finn McMissile stops the Professor, Tony uses a magnetic device pulling the Professor to him. McMissile then shoots out several mini-bombs out of his wheels that cling on to Tony's magnet, resulting in a huge explosion destroying Tony. Trihull has heavy metal teeth, evidently inspired by the legendary James Bond villain Jaws
Jaws
Jaws may refer to:* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth* JAWS , Japan Anthropology Workshop* Jaws , a novel by Peter Benchley** Jaws , a series of films arising from the novel...
.
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo (voiced by Stanley TownsendStanley Townsend
-Theatre:Townsend's work in theatre includes: Remember This, Guys and Dolls and Phedre at the National Theatre, London; The Alice Trilogy, Shining City , Under the Blue Sky and The Weir at the Royal Court, London; The Wake, Trinity for Two and Sacred Mysteries at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; The...
) is the head lemon of the "Hugo" family, being referred to as "the boss" by fellow Hugos. He and his Hugos work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Victor uses Ivan, a blue tow truck (which Mater masquerades as to infiltrate the lemons' meeting), as his own personal transportation that tows him place to place instead of having to drive on his own. He attends the meeting with the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Pacer, Trunkov) in Porto Corsa with Professor Z to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Near the end of the film, Victor is arrested in London with his fellow lemons. Victor is modeled after the Yugo
Zastava Koral
The Zastava Koral , also known simply as the Yugo, was a subcompact car built by the Zastava corporation. The first Yugo 45 was handmade on 2 October 1978....
car, with some adjustments: the logo V on his front bumper and two separate headlights on each side. His name is the same as that of a famous writer
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
.
Tubbs Pacer
Tubbs Pacer (voiced by Brad LewisBrad Lewis
Bradford "Brad" Lewis is an American film producer, animation director and local politician. He produced DreamWorks' Antz and, for Pixar, the Oscar winning Ratatouille. He is a former mayor of the city of San Carlos, California....
) is the head lemon of the "Pacer" family. He and his Pacers work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Tubbs and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Trunkov, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Tubbs is seen smiling at the idea and cannot wait. Tubbs last name "Pacer" is the model of his car. During the final fight in London, Tubbs tries to fight against McQueen to kill him, only to be stopped by Mater, who then uses his tow cable to swing Tubbs on the other side of the intersection, where Ramone violently throws in his spray paint on Tubbs. Without hesistation, Pacer and some of the lemons are forced to retreat, only to be halted and arrested by the British Army (thanks to a tipoff from Sarge).
Vladimir Trunkov
Vladimir Trunkov (voiced by Stanley TownsendStanley Townsend
-Theatre:Townsend's work in theatre includes: Remember This, Guys and Dolls and Phedre at the National Theatre, London; The Alice Trilogy, Shining City , Under the Blue Sky and The Weir at the Royal Court, London; The Wake, Trinity for Two and Sacred Mysteries at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; The...
) is the head lemon of the "Trunkov" family. He and his Trunkovs work with Professor Zündapp. During the film, Vladimir and the other main heads of the three lemon families (Gremlin, Pacer, Hugo) attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. Vladimir is seen smiling at the idea. Near the end of the film, Vladimir and the lemons surround Mater, McQueen and the British agents in an intersection, confirming them of the lemons' intent to kill McQueen, saying that it's nothing peronsal. He is eventually arrested by Sheriff in London with fellow lemons. Vladimir is modeled after a ZAZ-968M Zaporozhets car, with the some adjustments: the logo T on his front bumper, that stands for his last name; Trunkov.
J. Curby Gremlin
J. Curby Gremlin (voiced by John Mainieri) is the head lemon of the "Gremlin" family. He and his Gremlins work with Professor Zündapp. J. Curby, along with the other main heads of the three lemon families (Pacer, Trunkov, Hugo), attend a meeting with Professor Z in Porto Corsa to discuss their evil plans about discrediting the Allinol by using the radiation disguised camera to crash out the racers in the World Grand Prix that use the gas, and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their "lemon" organization who managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. J. Curby is seen smiling at the idea. Near the end of the fim, J. Curby is sprayed by Red from behind, being thrown in the air. He is arrested in London with fellow lemons. J. Curby's last name "Gremlin" is the make of his model.Ivan
Ivan (voiced by Stanley TownsendStanley Townsend
-Theatre:Townsend's work in theatre includes: Remember This, Guys and Dolls and Phedre at the National Theatre, London; The Alice Trilogy, Shining City , Under the Blue Sky and The Weir at the Royal Court, London; The Wake, Trinity for Two and Sacred Mysteries at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; The...
) is a blue tow truck who serves as Victor Hugo's mode of transportation, towing him around. He resembles Mater greatly, in fact, Mater disguises as Ivan in order to infiltrate a lemon
Lemon (automobile)
A lemon is a car, often new, that is found to be defective only after it has been bought. Any vehicle with numerous, severe issues can be termed a "lemon", and, by extension, any product with flaws too great or severe to serve its purpose can be described as a "lemon".-Origin:The use of the word...
crime meeting. The real Ivan was previously tazed by Holley. He later awoke and captured Holley. In the end, he is defeated with his lemon allies in London by being arrested.
Signora Bernoulli
Signora Bernoulli is Francesco's mother. She is seen at the Porto Corsa race cheering her son on. She is an older Formula One race car and, as evidenced by her number, his biggest fan other than himself.Alexander Hugo
Alexander Hugo (voiced by Velibor Topic) is part of the Hugo family that works for Professor Z and Miles Axlerod. He is the only black Hugo in the entire movie to talk, making him and Victor the only Hugo family members that talk. Despite his young age, he does dirty work (like Victor and Ivan) and attends the lemon meeting. He also is one of the lemons attempting to round up Mater so that the bomb would explode, killing both Mater and Lightning.Mel Dorado
Host of the "Mel Dorado Show" where he interviews Miles Axlerod and Francesco Bernoulli. It is on this show that Mater calls in and eventually gets McQueen into the World Grand Prix. As his name indicates he is a Cadillac EldoradoCadillac Eldorado
The 1953 Eldorado was a special-bodied, low-production convertible . It was the production version of the 1952 El Dorado "Golden Anniversary" concept car, and borrowed bumper bullets from the 1951 GM Le Sabre show car...
.
Brent Mustangburger
Brent Mustangburger, an excitable 1964½ Ford Mustang in traditional racing blue, is an American sports broadcasting icon; widely considered one of the most recognizable voices in the history of automobile sports television and associated with some of the most memorable moments in modern sports. His character is based on the real life ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
/ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sportscaster Brent Musburger
Brent Musburger
Brent Woody Musburger is an American sportscaster for the ESPN and ABC television networks. Formerly with CBS Sports and one of the original members of their legendary program The NFL Today, Musburger has covered NASCAR, NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball games. Musburger has also served as a...
, who provides the character's voice.
David Hobbscap
David Hobbscap, a handsome British racing greenBritish racing green
British racing green or BRG, a colour similar to Brunswick green, hunter green, forest green or moss green , takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of Britain. Although there is still some debate as to an exact hue for BRG, currently the term is used to denote a spectrum of...
1963 Jaguar Coombs Lightweight E-Type
Jaguar E-type
The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
, is a worldwide racing luminary originally from Royal Leamington Spa, England. His 30-year career in professional racing spans the globe and all types of motorsports. Now David shares that priceless knowledge as an announcer, where he’s also well known for providing comic relief during race broadcasts. A former champion with 20 starts at the 24 Heures du Mans, his storytelling comes from personal experience. Anything but your ordinary television sportscaster, David cannot wait to enlighten and entertain the World Grand Prix audiences. His character is based on the real life former British racing driver and current Speed Channel
SPEED Channel
Speed , is a cable and satellite television network broadcast to various parts of North America, but primarily the United States...
commentator David Hobbs, who provides the character's voice.
Darrell Cartrip
Darrell Cartrip is an announcer for Piston Cup races from the first film. He is a 1977 Chevrolet Monte CarloChevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American-made two-door coupe introduced for model year 1970, and manufactured over six generations through model year 2007. It was marketed as a personal-luxury coupe through most of its history, with the last model version being classified as a full-sized coupe...
, and a former Piston Cup Racer. His character is based on former NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
racer and Fox Sports commentator Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
, who also provides the character's voice.