What real car inspired Lightning McQueen?

“Cars” is the franchise created by Pixar that features Lightning Mcqueen as the protagonist. The plots, released between 2006 and 2007, follow the challenges and adventures that the car with the red body faces as it tries to reach first place in automobile championships, at the same time that it reflects on the value of fame and success, as well as bringing valuable lessons about the importance of friendship and love.

Throughout the films, it is revealed that Mcqueen won the Piston Cup seven times, as well as the character discovering more about himself and his purpose, concluding that the winner is not always the one who crosses the finish line first. In the franchise, he stops being a competitor and ends his career on screen as Cruz Ramirez’s team leader on Team Dinoco.

Even though it is the most famous vehicle in the universe of “Cars”, is it possible to define which car served as inspiration for the creation of Relâmpago Mcqueen? The most assiduous fans say yes, since the most common guess is that the Chevrolet Corvette C6 (acronym that represents the sixth generation of the sports car), is the one whose model was mirrored in the character.

As much as the similarity is undeniable, there is no way to say with certainty which vehicle was used by the animators to create Mcqueen’s look. This is because, as explained by the portal Screenrant, there is no existing car that was used as a reference for the design of the figure that is originally voiced by Owen Wilson.

The revelation was made by the director “Cars”, John Lasseterwho in a chat with the Los Angeles Times, stated that the character is “a hybrid between a stock car and a curvier Le Mans endurance race car”, although he did not mention any model as a reference.

Beyond, Bob Pauleyone of the animation’s production designers, detailed in an interview with Autoweek the process that led the animators to the look of the iconic scarlet car.

We took the best of our favorite things, from GT40s to Chargers… just by sketching them, we discovered what McQueen looked like,” recalled the artist.

It is worth remembering that in addition to McQueen, two other characters are also not faithful portrayals of any real-life automobile: Mater and Chick Hicks. Apart from them, all the cars in the animation are based on models of existing vehicles, like Doc Hudson, for example, which is a 1951 Hudson Hornet; Sally, who is a 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera; and Luigi, who is a 1959 Fiat 500.

More about “Cars”

“Cars” follows Lightning McQueen, a famous race car, who gets lost while heading to the Piston Cup playoff race, and ends up in a small town called Radiator Springs on Route 66, where he discovers new purposes and great love. .