by Pixar Cars The franchise is a minefield of anthropomorphized automobiles, stretching from Radiator Springs to racetracks around the world. Say what you want about the inconsistent quality of the three films, but there were times when the animators and writers played their car characters perfectly. Of course, there are also times that have gone terribly, hopelessly wrong.

Why not take a closer look at the two? Here are the best characteristic vehicles of the Cars films, followed by those we wish never had seen the light of day.

Which ones worked?

The character: Doctor Hudson

The car: 1951 Hudson Hornet

Why it works: The Rise of the Hornet is one of the most endearing stories of NASCAR’s early days. Equipped with a high-performance six-cylinder engine in a world where everyone rocked V8s, the Hornet dominated the competition for several years, earning it the nickname “The Fabulous Hudson Hornet”.

the Cars The franchise has done a great job using the Hornet as a mentor for its protagonist, Lightning McQueen. Not only is the Hudson a true link to the history of motorsport, but it is also a car that was pushed out of the limelight after Hudson was brought into AMC, giving it a short period of glory that resonated throughout. time in the same way as Doc Hudson. past success defined his subsequent dissatisfaction with retirement life. Calling on Paul Newman to express the character was the latest stroke of genius.

The character: chick hicks

The car: Most likely an early 1980s Buick NASCAR type

Why it works: First Cars movie, Chick Hicks is a perpetual second-place finisher, a runner who talks a good game but just can’t finish the job. Choosing a square-bodied GM NASCAR to represent Hicks works because so many of these cars were campaigned in the 1980s by a group of colorful drivers, each with their own attitudes and approaches to the sport. This leaves Cars merge them into one character. Hicks ends up winning by cheating, and everyone hates him, and ’80s NASCAR was as much about the drivers you despised as the ones you loved.

The character: Strip Weathers (The King)

The car: 1970 Plymouth Superbird

Why it works: Almost anyone who knows NASCAR knows the legend of Richard Petty, the most winning car to ever slip behind the wheel. Why not present him as the oldest statesman in a series that involves passing the baton to the next generation? Petty himself voices Strip Weathers, personified as a winged Plymouth Superbird painted in Petty Blue, much like those he fielded in 1970. It’s the closest tribute to the sport that Cars and its sequel Cars 3 are portraying, and it’s just amazing that Petty is ready to join the idea.

The character: Rusty and Dusty Rust-Eze

The car: 1963 Dodge Dart and 1964 Dodge A100 van

Why it works: Dusty and Rusty are the owners of “Rust-Eze”, which sponsors McQueen throughout the Cars series. In the real world, their characters have been voiced by longtime NPR radio show co-hosts Ray and Tom Magliozzi. Talking about car. Like marking Petty’s participation, getting the Magliozzis to lend their folk characters to Cars really bolstered the credibility of the franchise. Choosing two of the most easily forgotten classic Dodge rides – exactly the type of vehicles Talking about car listeners would have called to ask about the repair – was the perfect decision.

The character: Sally carrera

The car: Porsche 911 Carrera 996 generation

Why it works: Sally was a powerful lawyer who left the LA scene and moved to Radiator Springs to lead a quiet life, where she eventually met Lightning McQueen. As any movie about going out of the big city to the countryside has shown us, wealthy professionals almost always arrive in a small town behind the wheel of a high-end sports car to demonstrate their last connection to the world. materialism that took them away from their past. As a Porsche 911, Sally is the living realization of this screen saver.

Which ones did not quite make the cut?

Characters): Mia and Tia

The car: A pair of Mazda Miata twins (understood?)

Why it sucks: Not all stereotypes are welcome. The decision to make the twins Mia and Tia a pair of Miata whose entire characters are defined by their obsession with McQueen connects two tired tropes: the idea that female characters can only exist as a satellite of a male figure. central, and that the Miatas are somehow specifically feminine. We can get into ‘cars being gendered in Cars‘question as a whole problem again (why do they need to be a man or a woman? Honestly kids don’t care), but Mia and Tia’s situation is the most disgusting example.

The character: Long Ge

The car: Mercedes-Benz DTM Racer

Why it sucks: When Cars 2 released internationally, the character of Jeff Gorvette (a Corvette-based racing car intended to refer to NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon) was replaced by a litany of other characters drawn from regional racing folklore. Except, one way or another, for Long Ge, the Gorvette’s replacement in the Chinese market who simply borrowed Max Schnell’s Mercedes-Benz body and gave it a paint job. Long Ge isn’t anything Chinese other than the name, and this lazy character pick is one of the worst in the franchise.

The character: Professor Z

The car: 1957 Zundapp Janus

Why it sucks: Sometimes choosing an obscure vehicle to help define a character is a stroke of genius. Other times, it just shows that you are running out of ideas. Professor Z (for Zundapp, you understand?) Is sort of a weapon designer in Cars 2, one of the weirdest and least successful Pixar movies of all time, and there is no relationship between the Janus and his heel trick as some sort of super-villain genius. The Janus was the only car ever made by Zundapp, and at the end of Cars 2 you’ll wish they never cared.

The character: Darrel cartrip

The car: 1977 Chevrolet Monte-Carlo

Why it sucks: Darrel Waltrip is one of the most irritating figures in motorsport media, and gives him yet another platform to say “boogity boogity boogity” at the start of a race – even a fictional one that takes place in a bustling universe – is a crime against humanity.

The character: K Car Reporter

The car: Mid-1980s K car, potentially a Dodge Aries or a Chrysler Reliant

Why it sucks: Blink and you’ll miss it, but highlighted in the melee of reporters who meet McQueen at the Rust-Eze Race Center in Cars 3 is a reporter who takes the form of a mid-1980s Chrysler K car. This scene is filled with weird rad-metal, but the powder blue face of the K car is an unequivocal ode to a car that, although ‘she saved Chrysler from self-inflicted bankruptcy is perhaps the least desirable vehicle to see throughout the duration of the three films.