{"id":311789,"date":"2026-05-12T10:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/311789\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:24:13","slug":"how-route-66-inspired-disneys-cars-and-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/311789\/","title":{"rendered":"How Route 66 inspired Disney’s ‘Cars’ and Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"route66-dropcap-R.png\" <\/p>\n

Route 66 has its tendrils throughout SoCal, and especially in the L.A. area, winding through Pasadena, West Hollywood and culminating in Santa Monica. But the most loving ode to Route 66 may in fact be at the Disneyland Resort, specifically at Disney California Adventure.<\/p>\n

\"100 <\/a> <\/p>\n

Stories, photos and travel recommendations from America\u2019s Mother Road<\/p>\n

Cars Land opened in 2012 as part of a reworking of the theme park and at long last gave it a striking land that could rival \u2014 and in many cases surpass \u2014 those of its next-door neighbor, Disneyland. Flanked by sun-scarred, reddish rocks that look lifted from Arizona, Cars Land is a marvel of a theme park land, with its backdrop mountain range ever so slightly nodding to the fins of classic Cadillacs from 1957 to 1962. That design element is a salute to the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, where 10 vintage Cadillacs are buried nose-first in the ground that to many resembles a 20th century Stonehenge.<\/p>\n

Yet before the area was attached to the 2006 film, it was envisioned as a theme park destination dedicated to roadside attractions and trips along the so-called Mother Road. Cars Land is a make-believe area based on a fictional town from an animated film, but its roots are decidedly real.<\/p>\n

\"Cadillac <\/p>\n

Cadillac Ranch, an artwork made from 10 old cars by the Ant Farm artists\u2019 collective in the 1970s, has become one of Amarillo\u2019s top attractions. Visitors are invited to add their own spray-painted touches.<\/p>\n

(Christopher Reynolds \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The backdrop mountain range of Radiator Springs Racers is a nod to Cadillac Ranch. The peaks are designed to look like the tail fins of classic cars. <\/p>\n

(Mark Boster \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe very much acknowledge that up front, that you\u2019re walking down Route 66,\u201d says Kathy Mangum, the retired Walt Disney Imagineer who served as the executive producer of Cars Land. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019re also not walking down a part of Route 66 that exists anywhere,\u201d Mangum continues. \u201cThere\u2019s no part of Route 66 where you\u2019re looking up at a Cadillac range surrounded by red rocks. It\u2019s the spirit of Route 66. I wouldn\u2019t even call it a \u2018best-of.\u2019 It\u2019s just a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and combined it feels real.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Tour <\/p>\n

Tour guide Michael Wallis, left, and Walt Disney Imagineer Kevin Rafferty during a research trip at Cadillac Ranch in 2008.<\/p>\n

(Kevin Rafferty)<\/p>\n

Before those at Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences, were even aware that Pixar Animation Studios was working on the \u201cCars\u201d film, an automotive-focused land was in the planning stages for Disney California Adventure. The park had opened in 2001 and had struggled in its early years to pull in crowds, with audiences zeroing in on a lack of Disneyland-style attractions and an absence of grandly designed vistas. <\/p>\n

In an effort to rejuvenate the park, then-Imagineer Kevin Rafferty envisioned an area to be called Car Land \u2014 without the \u201cs\u201d \u2014 pulling heavily from his family\u2019s road trips and Route 66-like roadside attractions and oddities. Among its standout attractions was to be one initially named Scoot 66, later changed to Road Trip, USA, a slow-moving ride that took guests on a cross-country journey through nature and roadside quirkiness, although its showcase scene would have been a trip trough a miniaturized Carlsbad Caverns, a bit of a detour from Route 66. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of tongue-in-cheek,\u201d says Rafferty, now retired, of the never-built ride. \u201cYou were going to be seeing all these roadside attractions that would draw you in, like giant bunnies.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Mater's <\/p>\n

Mater\u2019s Junkyard Jamboree brings the rusty, old tow truck character from the \u201cCars\u201d movie to life in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure. (Mark Boster \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n

An artwork in Seligman, Ariz., pays homage to the Disney-Pixar \u201cCars\u201d movie, which was heavily inspired by the town. (Mark Lipczynski \/ For The Times) <\/p>\n

Rafferty believed a place such as Car Land would be ripe for exploration in a Disney park, as it was to be set from the late 1950s to the early 1960s and tap into a collective nostalgia for a time when a vehicle meant the freedom to explore the open road. Cars Land today still has some of that ageless energy, boasting a vintage rock \u2019n\u2019 roll soundtrack and a strip of a street filled with colorful neon, its lights, especially at night, beckoning guests to come closer. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why I thought it would fit into a Disney park, especially Disney California Adventure, is because cars are so much a part of the California story,\u201d Rafferty says. \u201cCars are designed in California, even though they\u2019re built elsewhere. There\u2019s more custom shops in California. There\u2019s more design studios in California. There\u2019s more car clubs. And all the cars songs. \u2018She\u2019s so fine, my 409.\u2019 It was all the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The neon signs of Radiator Springs. Flo\u2019s V8 Cafe isn\u2019t a direct match for any Route 66 diner, but it was inspired in spirit by the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas.<\/p>\n

(Paul Hiffmeyer \/ Disneyland Resort)<\/p>\n

Development on Rafferty\u2019s Car Land idea would change course when Imagineering and Pixar eventually aligned. But it was also a shift that would more formally ground the area in the culture of Route 66, which heavily influenced the film. Both the filmmakers and, later, those with Imagineering, embarked on 10-day research trips along the road led by historian Michael Wallis, author of \u201cRoute 66: The Mother Road.\u201d Those at Pixar, in fact, were so charmed by Wallis\u2019 tours that the author was asked to voice the role of the film\u2019s sheriff. <\/p>\n

Wallis says he took the teams out in rented Cadillacs. \u201cI like to stop every 300 yards,\u201d Wallis says. \u201cIf I\u2019m doing a road trip, I get into it. So we stopped to move box turtles off the road. I waded them into winter wheat to dance, to pick wild grapes. I introduced them to people that I guaran-damn-tee that they never would have met, the great characters of the road, and I showed them the man-made and natural sites of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Though the fictional \u201cCars\u201d and Cars Land community of Radiator Springs has no single inspiration, it echoes the scenery and history of several small towns between Tulsa, Okla., and Kingman, Ariz., including Tucumcari, N.M., Seligman, Ariz., and Oatman, Ariz. And the single, graceful bridge that is centered upon the land\u2019s backdrop mountain range closely resembles Pasadena\u2019s own Colorado Street Bridge, although there\u2019s no roaring waterfall next to the original. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Scenes from Route 66 in Seligman, Ariz. The town was one of the inspirations for the fictional \u201cCars\u201d and Cars Land town of Radiator Springs. <\/p>\n

(Mark Lipczynski \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\"Cars <\/p>\n

The centerpiece bridge of the Cars Land mountain range was modeled after a local landmark. (Paul Hiffmeyer \/ Disneyland Resort) <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, an inspiration for the Cars Land structure. (Adam Markovitz) <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Ramone\u2019s House of Body Art connects with the U-Drop Inn, a 1936 Art Deco gas station in Shamrock, Texas, that now serves as a visitor center and cafe. The Cozy Cone Motel nods to the Wigwam motel chain, which once included seven locations from Kentucky to California. Two remain in business along Route 66: the Wigwam in San Bernardino and another in Holbrook, Ariz. <\/p>\n

While Imagineers had visual references from the animated film, Mangum says the research trip was invaluable in lending authenticity to the park. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe could walk into a building in Shamrock, Texas, that looks so much like what Ramone\u2019s House of Body Art looks like and see that those tiles are made of raised terra-cotta,\u201d Mangum says. \u201cSo we could get the actual texture. It\u2019s a movie world, but it\u2019s also a real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flo\u2019s V8 Cafe isn\u2019t a direct match with any Route 66 eatery, the Imagineers say, but was certainly influenced in spirit by the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, celebrates the halfway point on Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

(Christopher Reynolds \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sampled all their pies and food and made copious notes on this stuff,\u201d Rafferty says. \u201cThe two women who owned the Midpoint Cafe had what they said was their mother\u2019s recipe for \u2018ugly crust pies.\u2019 We fell in love with ugly crust pies. I met with the head chef of Disneyland, who was a Frenchman at the time, and I said we wanted to serve ugly crust pies at Flo\u2019s V8 Cafe. And he said, \u2018No, no, no, nothing at Disneyland will be ugly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

No, but it may be influenced by abandoned buildings. Mangum says a key locale for the land was the deserted structures of Two Guns, Ariz. Gas station remains led to sketches that would inspire parts of the \u201cStanley\u2019s Oasis\u201d area of the Radiator Springs Racers queue, which Rafferty and company filled out with an oil service station and then a building composed of empty oil bottles. The story goes that Stanley\u2019s Oasis is a roadside attraction settlement that led to the development of the town of Radiator Springs. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

At the Cozy Cone Motel, a string of cone-shaped food stalls sell quick bites such as swirled soft-serve cones. (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Cozy Cone is based on the real-life Wigwam Motels. (Christopher Reynolds \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of Route 66-inspired story was all made up,\u201d Rafferty says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t in the film.\u201d That backstory, however, would inform the 2012 short \u201cTime Travel Mater.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enduring strength of the land, however, isn\u2019t just due to the popularity of the animated properties that led to it. While Route 66 wasn\u2019t magic for everyone \u2014 the history of the road is dotted with tales of extreme poverty and horrific racism \u2014 it\u2019s become romanticized as a slice of Americana and stands as a jumping-off point to further delve into our past.<\/p>\n

The land is, in a word, timeless. It\u2019s also representative of the ideal of a working small town, the sort of place we forever long for. \u201cIt may not be the America of today,\u201d Mangum says, \u201cbut in a way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

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