The stars in no particular order.
Pixar Cars #1
THE cars of "Cars," the animated Pixar film that opens nationally on June 9, were designed on Route 66.
But not entirely — they were also designed at Pixar's headquarters in Emeryville, Calif., where 800 animators and other dreamers work on 3,000 computers inside a former fruit processing plant. But to hear Michael Wallis, a historian of the highways, tell it, they were inspired by research expeditions to racetracks, styling studios and car shows.
Inspiration also flowed from the ruins of a Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit and from the Detroit Institute of Arts, with its car-factory murals by Diego Rivera — and from what's left of Route 66, the legendary artery through the heart of the American Dream.
A tour guide and author of "Route 66: The Mother Road," among other books, Mr. Wallis led the Pixar crew along Route 66.
The most lovable character in "Cars" is Mater, a rusty tow truck with the voice of Larry the Cable Guy. That's Mater, as in "Tow-Mater," an aptly cornball pun. Mr. Wallis recalls the time and place he was created. "There was an old wrecker in an empty lot by Route 66 in Galena, Kan.," he said. "Joe Ranft, the studio's head of story and a key member of the Pixar team, stopped and noticed it, and Mater was born."
Mr. Wallis acted as a consultant for the Pixar team: Mr. Ranft; John Lasseter, the director; and other top animators.
Just as auto designers have produced cars that come close to cartoons — think of the gangsteresque Chrysler PT Cruiser or the pull-toy Volkswagen New Beetle— cartoon designers have turned to creating cars.
It is not as easy as it seems, Mr. Lasseter said. In January 2005, he came to the Detroit auto show and spoke about his project at the AutoWeek Design Forum. The crucial decision, he said, was to forgo the usual idea of the "face" of a car, with the headlights serving as the eyes and the grille as the mouth. He moved the eyes to the windshield to keep the cars from looking empty and driverless.
The team took constant pains "to keep the cars from looking rubbery, " Mr. Lasseter said. Much effort and computer-processing power went into rendering realistically shifting reflections on the cars' metal surfaces, from the rust of old trucks to the metal-flake custom cars, using a computer technique called ray tracing.
The release of "Cars" was delayed seven months during the negotiations that led to Disney's recent purchase of Pixar for $7.4 billion in stock. The formal premiere is Friday on four giant screens erected on Turn 2 of Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C. That location is courtesy of Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of the speedway and Nascar's éminence grise, who provides the movie voice of Tex, a 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with long horns above his grille. Richard Petty, the racing legend, also has a speaking role.
The cars tend to types. George Carlin plays Fillmore, a VW bus whose front license plate suggests a beatnik's goatee. Sarge is a Jeep, Flo a waitress (inspired, Mr. Wallis says, by a real waitress, Dawn Welch, at the Rock Café in Stroud, Okla.). A 1957 Motorama show car, Flo boasts (through chrome lips) of selling "the best gas in 50 states." Ramone, the '59 Chevy Impala lowrider, has the voice of Cheech Marin, the stoner comedian. The more you know about cars and car movies the richer the viewing experience. Paul Newman gives voice to Doc Hudson, a wise retired racer turned mechanic. It helps if you know that the Hudson Hornet, for which the Pixar team dug up vintage paint chips to assure realism, was once a Nascar racer and that Newman acted in a film called "Hud." Yes, the car has blue eyes.
The sheriff of Radiator Springs is a 1949 Mercury, and its voice is Mr. Wallis's. The author is delighted with his role. "That car has always been one of my favorites, and it fits my personality," he said.
Mr. Lasseter recounted how the idea for the film was born in the summer of 2000 when, exhausted after nearly a decade of work on films like "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc.," he decided to take a cross-country road trip with his wife and five sons.
A large man habitually garbed in a capacious Hawaiian shirt — a look that suggests a perpetual fantasy vacation — Mr. Lasseter is the son of a onetime Chevrolet parts manager in Whittier, Calif. He had long wanted to make a film about the car culture.
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