Some Cars Trivia

Remember the post I made last June 8th featuring the characters of the 2006 animated film Cars? Well, here is something to add up to that.

While browsing the web about the recent cars featured in movies, I bumped into this section in Internet Movie Database (IMDb) where it features some trivia about the movie Cars. There are really lots of interesting facts that I have read and I decided to share it with you guys.

Check them out!

• This movie was originally titled "Route 66". The name was changed to "Cars" so as not to imply a connection with the TV show "Route 66" (1960).
• The music that opens the teaser trailer of this movie is the main theme to A Bug's Life (1998).
• The film's animators drew up over 43,000 sketches for designs of the cars.
• Mia and Tia are modeled after the first-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata.
• The rock formations in the distance beyond Radiator Springs resemble Cadillac Ranch, and is actually named Cadillac Range on the maps shown during montages. Cadillac Ranch is an art exhibit consisting of 10 Cadillacs half-buried in a line outside Amarillo, Texas, near where Route 66 once ran. Additionally, when seen from "above", the hills around Radiator Springs resemble the hoods and fenders (complete with ornaments) of classic cars.
• Instead of making the cars' headlights the eyes, as is done on most cartoons, the Pixar artists decided to put the eyes up on the windshield, because that made the characters more expressive. This idea was largely influenced by the Disney cartoon Susie the Little Blue Coupe (1952), one of director John Lasseter's favorite cartoons.
• Flo isn't based on any single car but shares elements of the 1951 Buick LeSabre, the 1951 Buick XP-300, and the 1957 Chrysler Dart--all actual show cars.
• One of the bumper stickers on Fillmore reads 'Save 2D Animation.'
• The neon lights on Flo's V8 Cafe in the movie flash in the proper firing order for a Ford flathead V8.
• The number on the train that Lightning out runs is A113, a reference to California Institute of the Arts, where many Pixar animators studied.
• Lightning McQueen's original number was to be 57, director John Lasseter's birth year. It was later changed to 95 to represent the year that Toy Story (1995) was released. The car in the final film who has the number 57 (who wins the race in the first teaser) vaguely resembles McQueen, and is probably an earlier production design for that character.
• The tires of Lightning McQueen are Buzzard models manufactured by Lightyear, a reference both to the real Goodyear "Eagle" tires used in NASCAR and character Buzz Lightyear from John Lasseter's previous 'Toy Story' films.