Pixar’s Cars depicts Radiator Springs as a town on Route 66.
U.S. Route 66 was one of America’s best-known highways, running from Chicago to Santa Monica before it was removed from the United States Highway System in 1985. Cars uses the decline of roadside communities after the construction of faster interstates as a major part of Radiator Springs’ background.
The film’s creators researched Route 66 during development, visiting roadside landmarks and meeting people connected with the historic road. That research influenced the town’s diners, signs, bridges, landscapes, and collection of eccentric local characters. The fictional road community therefore reflects a real piece of American transportation history.
Route 66 is often called the Mother Road, a name associated with John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. It is not the same as California’s Route 101 or the older U.S. Route 40, both of which are real highways but are not the specific inspiration named in Cars.