POSSIBLE SPOILERS!
There was so much detail in Cars, in just one screening it is very hard to catch it all (that’s why I have been 5 times).
Now I’m going to add in things I noticed I in the movie like the location of the Pizza Planet Truck and also stickers on the Cars themselves. You can also add what you noticed too by adding a comment in the comments section below.
- The Pizza Planet truck in the second Piston Cup race at the end of the movie near the camera when the guys talk
- The For The Birds birds on a powerline in the Life is a Highway Scene
- Flo has a sticker on her rear end ‘Motorama 1957’. Motorama being Pixar’s own car show. ANd ’57 being John Lasseter’s birth year
- Photos on the wall in Sally’s Cozy Cone of features on Route 66.
- The Eiffel Tower picture in Lightning McQueen’s cozy cone a possible reference to Ratatouille?
- Stanley (The founder of Radiator Springs) is the car from Boundin’.
- An Apple Racing Car
- As Mack passes the sleeping trucks just after the ‘Life is a Highway’ scene, you can see the Incredibles symbol on the side of a truck.
- On a car are the numbers: 23-19, a reference to the code of the Child Detection Agency in Monsters, Inc.
- The King’s sponser is Dinoco. Dinoco is the name of the gas station in Toy Story.
- Lightning McQueen has Lightyear Buzzard tires, which are both a parody of Goodyear tires, and a reference to Buzz Lightyear.
- Lightning McQueen’s number is 95, the year Toy Story was released
- Chick Hicks number is 86, the year the short Luxo Jr was released
- The King’s (Strip Weathers) number is 43, is Richard Petty’s (the voice of The King) number from when he was a NASCAR racer.
- ‘McQueen’ is a tribute to Glenn McQueen, a Pixar animator who died in 2002; and also Steve McQueen, a racing legend turned actor
- Before the 2nd Piston Cup race, when they are showing that parts of the city closed, one of the signs says ‘City Of Emeryville’, Emeryville being where Pixar is located
- In the ad for ‘Rust-Eze’ at the beginning of the movie, the rusty car has on his number plate, ‘EVILLE’, being Emeryville, the location of Pixar in San Fran
- Fillmores license plate number is George Carlin’s, the voice of Fillmore’s, birthday
- The train that Lightning McQueen jumps in front of, it’s number is A113, a reference to the room at CalArts
- Maters number plate is A113, again from CalArts
- At the beginning of the movie You can see the Jackalope from Boundin, he’s hiding on the back of a motor home.
- Also I saw if you look into the sky you can see the Airplanes exhause trails look like tire tracks.
- The flowers are made of cars fins and tailgates, and the ceiling fan in the courthouse are actually engine fans
- When Lightning McQueen dreams of him being sponsered by Dinoco, the big spark plug tripods resemble the tripods from Spielbergs adaption of ‘War of the Worlds’
- In the teaser trailer for Cars, there is a symbol on one of the tires that says JLP, standing for John Lasseter Production?
- There is a motor home at the second Piston Cup race that is surround by a pool and flamingos in reference to the Pixar short, Knick Knack.
If you have any that aren’t in this list, just post it in the comments section and I will add it to the list.
UPDATE: We have heaps now! Any more?
Last modified: June 16, 2006
I know it’s been mentioned before, but since this can be one location where everyone can find their information about “cool facts” about Cars…
95 on Lightyear = the year Pixar’s Toy Story was released
86 on Chick = the year Luxo animation was made/released
More like bare facts than cool things we would have noticed… have to watch that movie again now.. 🙂
He means the 95 on Lightning McQueen… I’ll post another comment if I remember more references.
And DON’T forget that Ligntning McQueen wears Lightyear Buzzrard Tires: A play on Goodyear Eagle Tires and Buzz Lightyear.
And another easy one:
Dinoco was originally seen as the Gas Station in Toy Story!
On a car are the numbers: 23-19, a reference to the code of the Child Detection Agency in Monsters, Inc.
The King’s sponser is Dinoco. Dinoco is the name of the gas station in Toy Story.
Lightning McQueen has Lightyear Buzzard tires, which are both a parody of Goodyear tires, and a reference to Buzz Lightyear.
That’s all the info I can give you for now…
“McQueen”, the name of the lead character, is a tribute to Glenn McQueen, a Pixar animator who died in 2002.
It’s also a reference to Steve McQueen, a racing legend, turned actor.
I know I might be getting a little off-topic here, but the following link might be of some interest to some of you:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2006/06/16/3073.aspx
You’ll see what I mean:)
57 in ‘Motorama 1957’ = year of Lasseter’s birth and original number of Lightning McQueen before it was changed to 95; you can see it in early Cars trailers before Lightning was changed to look more like a sports car than a NASCAR stock car.
Look at the picture for the “Cars passes Incredibles” article. The car next to Lightning has the Incredibles logo on the grill.
Put so many this kind of jokes in the film. Will this help the story? Or it will just distract the audience from the story?
In one of the shots (I forget when in the movie), they show a sign that says “City of Emeryville.” Emeryville is, of course, the town where Pixar is located.
Just in case this hasn’t been mentioned, Fillmore’s license plate number is George Carlin’s birthdate.
Ming, all these details aren’t noticeable to the casual viewer, and therefore aren’t a distraction. It’s only people like us, with no life at all, that see the movie over and over and over so we can catch the details. Pixar obsesses on the details so that there’s something new for us to see every time. Everyone wins, including Pixar’s shareholders.
The only additional details I catch on repeated viewings of Shrek is how bad the character animation is.
At the beginning of the movie You can see the Jackalope from Boundin, he’s hiding on the back of a motor home.
Also I saw if you look into the sky you can see the Airplanes exhause trails look like tire tracks.
The flowers are made of cars fins and tailgates, and the ceiling fan in the courthouse are actually engine fans.. Cool eh?
Towards the beginning of the movie, Lightning McQuenn dreams about what his life could be with the Dinoco team. In the end of this dream, we can see tripods who look like those in Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds”.
Ming : I totally agree with what Splashman said ; for an example, if you’re not a huge Pixar fan, you can’t even see the “For the birds” birds.
Racing cars in the teaser trailer have Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life logos on them, as well as “JLP”, a reference to John Lasseter.
Also with the FTB (For The Birds) birds, for a few seconds, you can hear their signature “eep” squawk. Just wanted to help so other guys can hear and see it. 😉 Wait, is it “eep” or “meep”? I dunno.
Well i have added all the ones you have mentioned so far. Thanks guys! And anonymous, I doctered the picture below to with the incredibles grill hehe.
Not a visual detail, but a dialogue detail: In the final Piston Cup, “Mater” (Larry the Cable Guy) mutters the phrase “Git ‘er done!”. I wasn’t surprised to hear those redneck words of wisdom planted in the dialogue.
43…was the number of Richard Petty – the original “The King” in NASCAR.
Some of the mountains surrounding Radiator Sprngs are the front grilles and rear tail lights of old cars.
43…was the number of Richard Petty – the original “The King” in NASCAR. Also the color of the Dinoco team is very similar if not identical to the blue of Richard Petty’s STP race cars.
Some of the mountains surrounding Radiator Sprngs are the front grilles and rear tail lights of old cars.
There is a motor home at the second Piston Cup race that is surronded by flamingos and a pool. This is a reference to the Pixar short Knick Knack.
WOWSA!
Some of those things Inoticed (liek the tyre tracks in the sky and such) but I didn’t know all those little known PIXAR facts!
Those things don’t distract btw – what they do is act as inside jokes and treats for hard core fans making you feel/know that the film makers care about your fandom.
Same thing happens with lots of films – take King Kong for instance. HEAPS of cameos and references that only the very hard core fans recognised and we LOVED it! They are like special messages from the makers just for YOU!
Definitley. I love that about these types of movies. Hidden things are cool to find in movies.
When Mack is driving on the truck stop, one of the tucks has the logo, i. Inc. This is a reference to The Incredibles. The i is Mr. Incredible’s monogram.
Luxo Jr., did you find the location of the Pizza Planet truck in The Incredibles yet? My guess is it would be somewhere on the freeway during the end of the movie…
No I didn’t yet. I looked in the exact location where Archibald said and maybe its because I couldnt get it to skip a smaller amount of frames but I couldnt see it. I might try it on the tv and not on the computer.
Yes, try it on the tv, and frame by frame. It’s where I said it is, but it’s really quick.
Bill : I’d like to tell you exactly where it is also, but I guess there are people who want to look for it themselves.
If you really want me to say it, maybe I’ll say it here anyway ^^
Can anyone tell me if the King is a Plymouth Road Runner?
Check out the fly’s near the flouro’s and shown at the wheel ell motel. I reckon they might be VW Beetles but I stand to be corrected.
Yeah The Kings car that he drove was a Plymouth Road Runner Superbird.
And the little flies are VW Beetles or “Bugs”.
I thought I notice a #8 on Lightning McQueen’s car near the end of the movie…is it me or is it refering to #8 Dale Earnhardt JR. Going to have to pause the movie to check again
In the background of the Movie cars, the mountains are old cars like old hot rods.
there is a short scene in the film where you see McQueens truck going along a road, just above it are the same power lines from ‘for the birds’, and im sure there is a ‘tweet’ as well
During the “Life Is A Highway” sequence, you can see a truck with “TS2” on its sides. Also, during the end credits, when you see the Radiator Springs sign, you can see a truck with “FN” on its sides.
King + King = Chick
43 + 43 = 86
Flo’s diner – the neon on the top as it spins looks like a hidden mickey
During the second race, as Lightning pulls into the repair place,you can spot WALL•E jet past the screen.
I dont know if this is listed or not.
Whenever they show the whole town, the hills are the fronts of cars. Like the shape of Doc’s car.
Im kinda confused right now about something I found out in life so it’s kinda hard for me to explain right now lol, but go look for a picture of it and you’ll see what Im talking about 😉
In the first race there is an Apple computer car, I think it is number 84. I assume an wink to Steve Jobs.
A113
is the type of robot that eve is in wall-e
A113 is in reference to the room number at CalTech where the first computer class was held. That is where all the Big Dogs running Pixar now met for the first time. For more information check out this link. A real watch for Pixar fans.
http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1114720561
A113 in not in reference to Caltech but rather a CalArts classroom number
I don’t know if it’s been said, but the rocks/mountains in the canyons look like car fins and the fronts and back ends of cars. You can see it in the movie poster too!
the apple computer car is numbered 84, because that was the year the first macintosh computer came out =)
And since somebody mentioned Flo’s Diner, it made me think of a different reference. Finding Nemo had a fish named Flo. 😉
I believe the first cars to pass McQueen after he rolls out of Mac’s trailer (asleep) are Mini and Van, who later wander through Radiator Springs lost.
i dunno if this is posted or not..
i guess during the second race, next to the license plate, there is a sticker on the back of the car, it says “save 2D” =D
it’s awesome..
Jeremy Piven plays a version of his “Entourage” character in this film.
WALL-E can be seen in the background of only 1 5-sec shot if you freeze frame it just at the right time. Youtube this to find out!
The snow-globe that Lizzie gives McQueen has the snowman form Knick Knack. The YT vid on Wall-E in Pixar movies is a fraud!!!!!!!!
it was mentioned before that some of the hills in the background look like the fins of old cars – actually it is a reference to the “cadillac ranch” in amarillo / TX: check it out!
In the town of radiator springs they’re several symbols in the windows, shapes on buildings and so on with a vertical straight line and a circle on top. Some open circles like a ring and others like a ball. I know this is probably a silly question but do those symbols mean anything? Idk why i just noticed them all over the place when i recently watched the movie and haven’t been able to find anything that looks remotely like them anywhere. Thanks