This Disney short is obviously where Pixar got their concept art for Cars. I mean, the design of the cars. It also is relevant to The Brave Little Toaster, in which a bunch of broken cars are smashed into tiny squares at the junkyard.
Been meaning to watch this short ever since I fell in love with Cars. Maybe I’ll give it a view next chance I get.
Look’s like it was. It was also a good little cartoon.
It’s one of several short subjects with anthropomorphic creations. I’d also recommend the short ‘Pedro,’ about a little mail plane, and The Little House.
But definitely, Suzie the Little Blue Coupe feels like where Lasseter got most of his inspiration from, such as the eyes on the windshield. I kept hoping they would have created a representation of Suzie in the Pixar films. As a kid, Suzie was one of my favorite shorts (that’s because i loved cars, had lots of toys of them, and at one point, could tell you what year/make/model a car was just by looking at it…well, as long as you didn’t show me foreign cars like Fiats and Yugo’s).
It’s interesting that Susie’s owners are never shown getting in or out of the car, which would require considerable squashing and stretching! Perhaps this conundrum is why Pixar skirted the issue of portraying humans in Cars.
Here’s a fairly comprehensive article on the history of toon cars:
I love that short. Another Disney cartoon that reminds me of Suzie is Pedro from Saludos Amigos.
Thank you for linking it! I’ve been wanting to see it for years—especially because of Mary Blair’s involvement 
This short is so adorable! It’s also a bonus feature on The Love Bug dvd, so I’m sure this short helped inspire the Herbie series of films as well 
This is one of my favorite Disney shorts. Definitely what inspired Lasseter with Cars, they mentioned it somewhere in the documentaries. And Sterling Holloway narrates it, one of my favorite voice actors from back then. 