In Pixar's Cars, Lightning McQueen accidentally travels onto U.S. Route 66 and ends up in Radiator Springs. The historic highway is central to the film's setting and its contrast between old roadside culture and modern high-speed travel.
After falling from Mack's trailer, McQueen becomes lost and reaches the fictional desert town. He damages the road and is ordered to repair it, keeping him in Radiator Springs long enough to meet its residents and reconsider his priorities.
U.S. Route 66 historically connected Chicago and Santa Monica. Although the film's Radiator Springs is fictional, its buildings, landscapes, and roadside attractions draw on real communities along the route, especially in the American Southwest.
The film does not claim that Radiator Springs is a real town. Instead, it uses a fictional location to represent towns affected when interstate highways redirected traffic away from older roads. That history explains the residents' nostalgia and the town's importance to McQueen's transformation.