History Trivia / Cars

* TheWikiRule: [[http://worldofcarsdrivein.wikia.com/wiki/World_of_Cars_Wiki World of Cars]].

* CashCowFranchise: This is the main reason it was the first Pixar franchise besides ''Franchise/ToyStory'' to receive sequels, despite being one of their less popular films among critics. The profits from the toy merchandise more than makes up for their dismal box office results (by Pixar standards). By the time ''Cars 2'' was released, the franchise had made Creator/{{Disney}} over '''$20 billion in merchandise revenue''' as of 2020. Safe to say, even if opinions towards the franchise are rather split among adult critics, children absolutely ''love'' this franchise.

!!Trivia that applies to the movie:
* ActorInspiredElement: Mater's "da'gum!" was an adlib from Larry the Cable Guy.
* ActorSharedBackground:
** Like Sarge, Creator/PaulDooley was a U.S. Navy veteran.
** The cameos by real-life UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} and UsefulNotes/FormulaOne drivers are done by them voicing real cars they've driven in their careers.
*** Dale Earnhardt, Jr. voices the Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he drove at DEI from 1999 to 2007.
*** Mario Andretti voices the 1967 Ford Fairlane in which he won the 1967 [[UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} Daytona 500]].
*** Michael Schumacher voices a Ferrari F430. He won five of his seven [=F1=] drivers' titles with the Ferrari team.
*** Strip "The King" Weathers is voiced by Richard Petty, and shares many characteristics with the driver. (1) Weathers is portrayed as a 1970 Plymouth Superbird, the car that Petty drove at that time. (2) He is painted in Petty's distinctive shade of blue and bears the number 43 that Petty drove for his entire NASCAR career. (3) Weathers won seven Piston Cup titles; the real-life Petty won the same number of Cup Series titles. (4) His crash at the end of the tiebreaker race is very similar to one in which Petty was involved during the 1988 Daytona 500. However, artistic license was taken — the real-life crash involved six cars in all, and was not deliberately caused.
*** The King's wife Lynda, voiced by Richard Petty's real-life wife Lynda, is based on the 1974 Chrysler station wagon that she drove to Richard's races in the 1970s.
*** The German dub has the late Formula 1 legend UsefulNotes/NikiLauda voice Strip Weathers.
*** Creator/PaulNewman (Doc) was also well-known for his love of racing, winning many sports car and endurance races in the 70's and 80's and being co-owner of several CART teams.
*** The European Spanish dub had Piston Cup commentator Bob Cutlass voiced by veteran Formula One commentator Antonio Lobato.
* AwesomeDearBoy: Larry the Cable Guy called this film his "big break" and proof that his years of working as a comedian and failing to break into acting had paid off.
* CashCowFranchise: This is the main reason it was the first Pixar franchise besides ''Franchise/ToyStory'' to receive sequels, despite being one of their less popular films among critics. The profits from the toy merchandise more than makes up for their dismal box office results (by Pixar standards). By the time ''Cars 2'' was released, the franchise had made Creator/{{Disney}} over '''$20 billion in merchandise revenue''' as of 2020. Safe to say, even if opinions towards the franchise are rather BrokenBase among adult critics, children absolutely ''love'' this franchise.
* CastTheExpert: The Sheriff is played by Michael Wallis, a renowned journalist and historian who has written several best-selling books on the history of the American Southwest and Route 66, the film's primary settings.

* DiedDuringProduction: In 2005, Creator/JoeRanft died in a car accident, making this the final Pixar film with Ranft's involvement.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: In France, ''Cars'' is a very popular film, and has a strong presence at Disneyland Paris.
* InMemoriam: This film was dedicated to Creator/JoeRanft, a prominent Pixar animator and voice actor (e.g. Heimlich in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'') who died in a car accident in 2005. ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' was also dedicated to Ranft.
* InspirationForTheWork: John Lasseter said that inspiration for the film's story came after he took a cross-country road trip with his wife and five sons in 2000.
* KidsMealToy: UsefulNotes/McDonalds released toys of Lighnting, Mater, Sally, Doc, Fillmore, Luigi, Flo, and Ramone in their Happy Meals. Ramone had purple, yellow and green variants, and Lightning also had clean and dirty variants. Also, this promotion was what caused Fillmore to have his name changed. Originally, he was going to be named Waldmire, after Route 66 resident Robert "Bob" Waldmire, but Waldmire, a vegan, didn't want his name to be used because Fillmore was one of the characters to be given a Happy Meal toy.
* MilestoneCelebration: The film has a specialized logo for Creator/{{Pixar}}, due to it being released on their 20th anniversary.
* PromotedFanboy: John Lasseter hired Larry the Cable Guy without even needing to see him audition and gave him lots of leeway to ad lib because he was already a huge fan of his stand up.
* RealitySubtext:
** The King's crash is based, frame by frame, on an ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi-0SIQsGY8 actual crash]]'' Richard Petty lived through in the Daytona 500. Though the real crash involved Petty and at least six other cars.
** Doc Hudson is largely based on 2-time NASCAR champion Herb Thomas, who, in fact, won his two titles in a Hudson Hornet. While there are minor differences between the two, namely [[spoiler:their ultimate fates]], Doc Hudson is essentially Thomas in car form.
** The Motor Speedway of the South is loosely modeled off of Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, where the movie was premiered, and bits are based on "Thunder Valley" - Bristol Motor Speedway. The California speedway where the finale happens does not exist, but it is possibly a substitute for Fontana's Auto Club Speedway.
** In terms involving ''The Yellow Car'' draft of the film, Jorgen Klubien states that the idea was partially based around the poor reception his fellow countrymen gave the Mini-El car around that time the draft was made.
* RecycledScript: The first film is, basically, the plot of ''Film/DocHollywood'' with cars instead of humans.
* RoleReprise: The credits scene involving ''Cars''-universe versions of {{Creator/Pixar}} movies features several reprises:
** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'': Creator/TomHanks as Woody, Creator/TimAllen as Buzz Lightyear and Creator/JohnRatzenberger as Hamm.
** ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': Creator/DaveFoley as Flik and Creator/JohnRatzenberger as P.T Flea.
** ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': Creator/JohnGoodman as Sulley, Creator/BillyCrystal as Mike and Creator/JohnRatzenberger as the Abominable Snowman.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: In 2006, [=GPS=] in vehicles were increasing in popularity but were still considered by most to be something of a new and niche luxury hence why Van's use of it instead of a map is presented as unreliable.
* ThrowItIn: Many of Mater's {{catch phrase}}s, such as his trademark "dag'gum!", were ad libs from Larry the Cable Guy.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/{{Cars}} Has it's own page]].

* WorkingTitle: Aside from the title being ''The Yellow Car'' which was the first name for the movie back in 1997, The film according to the 2002 draft had the place holder name ''The American Car'' In 2001, the film's working title was Route 66 (after U.S. Route 66), but the title was changed to Cars in order to avoid confusion with [[Series/Route66 the 1960s television series of the same name]].
* WriteWhatYouKnow: Aside from his passionate love of automobiles (his father owned a car dealership, which he worked at during the summer as a teenager), the moral of slowing down and appreciating the important things in life came from John Lasseter taking time to go on a vacation with his family down the real Route 66 after spending four years making ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' and saving ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'' from {{Sequelitis}} status with no break in-between. The juxtaposition of the workaholism and the wife and children he loved gave him his own lesson in "slowing down."
* This was the final film independently produced by Pixar before their 2006 merger with Disney, although this film was released after that merger.

* ActorSharedBackground: The cameos by real-life UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} and UsefulNotes/FormulaOne drivers are done by them voicing real cars they've driven in their careers.
** Dale Earnhardt, Jr. voices the Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he drove at DEI from 1999 to 2007.
** Mario Andretti voices the 1967 Ford Fairlane in which he won the 1967 [[UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} Daytona 500]].
** Michael Schumacher voices a Ferrari F430. He won five of his seven [=F1=] drivers' titles with the Ferrari team.
** Strip "The King" Weathers is voiced by Richard Petty, and shares many characteristics with the driver. (1) Weathers is portrayed as a 1970 Plymouth Superbird, the car that Petty drove at that time. (2) He is painted in Petty's distinctive shade of blue and bears the number 43 that Petty drove for his entire NASCAR career. (3) Weathers won seven Piston Cup titles; the real-life Petty won the same number of Cup Series titles. (4) His crash at the end of the tiebreaker race is very similar to one in which Petty was involved during the 1988 Daytona 500. However, artistic license was taken — the real-life crash involved six cars in all, and was not deliberately caused.
** The King's wife Lynda, voiced by Richard Petty's real-life wife Lynda, is based on the 1974 Chrysler station wagon that she drove to Richard's races in the 1970s.
** The German dub has Formula 1 legend UsefulNotes/NikiLauda voice Strip Weathers.
** Creator/PaulNewman (Doc) was also well-known for his love of racing, winning many sports car and endurance races in the 70's and 80's and being co-owner of several CART teams.

* DoingItForTheArt: Pretty much the movies in a nutshell. A good majority of the staff like cars, so why not make a movie around them with the usual Pixar charm?

* ImageSource:
** ImYourBiggestFan
** RedOnesGoFaster
** SentientVehicle

* QuoteSource:
** LoserBuysLunch

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/Cars Has it's own page]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The movie was originally going to be called ''The Yellow Car'' when it started development back in 1998. The main car was a foreign yellow electric car trying to win approval from the gas-guzzling small-town folks in the movie by entering a local Grand Prix race after traveling through the countryside when forcibly getting tossed on a train by some of the townsfolks to get rid of him. Also, In this version of the film, there would have been humans but they would serve as mainly background characters and have very little story purpose.
** The animation was apparently going to be more [[https://radiationstinks.tumblr.com/post/159910767895/singlespeedz-tinlizzies-the-animation-for rubbery and cartoony]].
** Lightning [=McQueen's=] racing number was originally going to be 57 (a reference to 1957, Lasseter's birth year), but was changed to 95 (a reference to 1995, the year Pixar's first film ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' was released).
** Mater's name was originally Zebb. John Lasseter changed the name after visiting Charlotte Motor Speedway and meeting an employee there whose nickname was Mater. He was also originally a much more minor character, but John Lasseter loved Larry the Cable Guy's performance so much that he wrote new scenes for him.
** As shown in the deleted scenes for an early 2002 version of the story, rather than Lightning being forced to fix the road, Doc and Sheriff would have forced Lightning to be a part of a local Grand Prix in an attempt to lure travelers back to their town.
** The film was announced to be released after ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' in 1999 (most likely by June 4) but the idea was scrapped to focus on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'' by saving it from {{Sequelitis}} and later took the 1999 release date.

** The movie was originally going to be called ''The Yellow Car'' when it started development back in 1998. The main car was a foreign yellow electric car trying to win approval from the gas-guzzling small-town folks in the movie by entering a local Grand Prix race after traveling through the countryside when forcibly getting tossed on a train by some of the townsfolks to get rid of him. Also, In this version of the film, there would have been humans but they would serve as mainly background characters and served very little story purpose.

** As shown in the deleted scenes for an early 2002 version of the story, rather than Lighting being forced to fix the road, Doc and Sheriff would have forced Lighting to be a part of a local Grand Prix in an attempt to lure travelers back to their town.

** The movie was originally going to be called ''The Yellow Car'' when it started development back in 1998. The main car was a foreign yellow electric car trying to win approval from the gas-guzzling small-town folks in the movie by entering a local Grand Prix race after traveling through the countryside when forcibly getting tossed on a train by some of the townsfolks to get rid of him. Also, In this version of the film, there would have been humans but they would serve as mainly background characters and served very little story purposes.

** The movie was originally going to be called ''The Yellow Car'' when it started development back in 1998. Also, there were originally no race cars, and the main car was a foreign yellow electric car trying to win approval from the gas-guzzling small-town folks in the movie.
*** Also in this version of the film there would have been humans but they would serve as mainly background characters.

* CashCowFranchise: This is the main reason it was the first Pixar franchise besides ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' to receive sequels, despite being one of their less popular films among critics. The profits from the toy merchandise more than makes up for their dismal box office results (by Pixar standards). By the time ''Cars 2'' was released, the franchise had made Creator/{{Disney}} over '''$20 billion in merchandise revenue''' as of 2020. Safe to say, even if opinions towards the franchise are rather BrokenBase among adult critics, children absolutely ''love'' this franchise.

** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': Creator/TomHanks as Woody, Creator/TimAllen as Buzz Lightyear and Creator/JohnRatzenberger as Hamm.

** Lightning [=McQueen's=] racing number was originally going to be 57 (a reference to 1957, Lasseter's birth year), but was changed to 95 (a reference to 1995, the year Pixar's first film ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' was released).

** Mater's name was originally Zebb. John Lasseter changed the name after visiting Charlotte Motor Speedway and meeting an employee there whose nickname was Mater.
** Mater was also originally a much more minor character, but John Lasseter loved Larry the Cable Guy's performance so much that he wrote new scenes for him.

* WorkingTitle: Aside from the title being ''The Yellow Car'' which was the first name for the movie back in 1997, The film in the 2002 draft had the name ''The American Car'' which was changed to just ''Cars'' to appeal to a more global market.

** The movie was originally going to be called ''The Yellow Car''. Also, there were originally no race cars, and the main car was a foreign yellow electric car trying to win approval from the gas-guzzling small-town folks in the movie.

* WorkingTitle: Aside from the title being ''The Yellow Car'' which was the first name for the movie back in 1997, The film in the 2002 draft had the name ''The American Car'' which was changed to just ''Cars'' to appeal to a more global market

** The movie was originally going to be called ''The Yellow Car''. Also, there were originally no race cars, and the main car was a foreign yellow electric car trying to win approval from the gas-guzzling small town folks in the movie.

** As shown in the deleted scenes for an early version of the story, rather than Lighting being forced to fix the road, Doc and Sheriff would have forced Lighting to be a part of a local Grand Prix in an attempt to lure travelers back to their town.

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/CarsLightningMcQueen Lightning [=McQueen=]]]
** [[Characters/CarsTowMater Tow Mater]]
** [[Characters/CarsCruzRamirez Cruz Ramirez]]

** As shown in the deleted scenes in an early version of the story rather than Lighting being forced to fix the road Doc and Sherrif would have forced Lighting to be a part of a local Grand Prix in an attempt to lure travelers back to their town.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Digging through the files of the game, one can find references to numerous events that didn't make the cut. These include a minigame where Lightning would have to pave a road much like in the movie, a street race that would've starred Lizzie, and a sixth Piston Cup race called Pine Hills Speedway. Most notably, the game was going to have six chapters rather than the five it ultimately had, though most of the events in the removed chapter were kept in the game and simply moved to other chapters instead of being scrapped.