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Cars[]
Lightning McQueen[]
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Generic make and model. Later revealed to be a custom-built race car though he strongly resembles a Dodge Viper or Chevrolet Corvette. |
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- The Ace
- Always Someone Better:
- To Chick Hicks in the first film where Lightning always manages to beat him in the Piston Cup races. Cars 3 shows that the King (the long standing champion) feared Lightning would become this to him and decided to retire before McQueen's arrival heralded the next generation of racers.
- Inverted in Cars 3 where McQueen is second best to Jackson Storm and Cruz Ramirez.
- Affectionate Nickname: Sally calling him "Stickers".
- Awesome McCoolname: Though it turns out to be a stage name. His real name is Monty McQueen.
- Character Development
- Decoy Protagonist: In both Cars 2 and 3.
- Fish Out of Water: After he first enters Radiator Springs.
- For Want of a Nail: If he'd changed his tires during the Dinoco 400 or let Mack take a rest at the truck stop, he'd never have wound up in Radiator Springs.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe, Lightning seems to be very popular in Japan.
- The Hero: Of the first film.
- Honor Before Reason: At the end. Happens again in Cars 3 where he insists on staying in the Piston Cup despite it becoming increasingly clear he can't keep up with the new racers.
- Insufferable Genius: Despite him starting out as a jerkass, he was a legitimately talented racecar.
- Jerkass: Goes from this to...
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Last-Name Basis: A lot of people usually call him "McQueen" or "Mr. McQueen".
- Last of His Kind: In Cars 3, he becomes the last of his generation in the Piston Cup. Storm takes time to lampshade this.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: His bright red colouring probably helped him on his rise to fame.
- Meaningful Name
- Mythology Gag: His number, "95", is a reference to the the year Toy Story was released. Originally it was "57" after the year John Lasseter was born.
- Reality Ensues: In the final race of both Cars and Cars 3 and all the stadium races in the video games, he never actually shows up to the qualifying rounds meaning he starts dead last.
- Spanner in the Works: To Chick's dream of becoming the next Piston Cup champion after the King retired. Darell lampshades it.
- Super Prototype: It's hinted he was this to the generation of racers who began in 2006/2007 as not only did he rack up more wins than any of them, he's still able to keep up with Storm's generation and was shown to be in second place in the final race before his crash.
- Supporting Protagonist: In the sequels.
- Vague Age: In Cars 3. The writers suggest he's somewhere in his forties.
- Weak but Skilled: In Cars 3 when compared to the next-gens. He's not as fast nor able to hold the optimum lines like they can but he has somewhere around 10 years of experience and his more flexible frame is able to squeeze through openings too small for them. While he's not fast enough to win the race, he's consistently able to finish in the top ten against them and qualifies ahead of most of them.
- What Could Have Been: In the original drafts, his sponsor was ACME.
- Blue is Heroic: In the third film
Sir Tow Mater[]
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1955-57 Chevrolet truck |
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- Actor Allusion: Mater is basically a G-rated Larry the Cable Guy, with his voice pitched up a tiny bit. His lines "Get er done", and "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there", are taken straight from his stand-up routines.
- Break the Cutie: In Cars 2, after discovering that others think that he is just clueless and distracting.
- Breakout Character: He has spun off into his own series of shorts, and even managed to become the main character of the sequel.
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The sequel definitely elevates him to this.
- Eagle Land: Mater is viewed as a mix of Types 1 and 2 by foreign cars.
- Flying Car: Mater is able to fly by using his rocket boosters together with his parachute.
- Genius Ditz: Despite seeming rather simple minded, he has very broad knowledge of car parts and engines and can identify any engine at a glance.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Being a Genius Ditz, he manages to figure out Axlerod's involvement with the Lemons and his plot to discredit alternative fuel sources.
- The Hero: Of the sequel.
- Knighting: By the Queen of England herself.
- Last-Name Basis
- Mistaken for Spies: By Holley and Finn, partially as a result of his fanciful storytelling.
- Mysterious Past: Though most of Mater's tall tales seem false, there's usually something at the end which confirms it did really happen which raises more than a few questions about where he came from.
- Out of Focus: In Cars 3.
- The Pollyana
- Shoo Out the Clowns: He remains absent after leaving McQueen during his second night at Radiator Springs. He never returns until he summons a stampede of tractors the next day (not counting the breakfast at Flo's scene where he is seen in the background and does a Getting Crap Past the Radar moment).
- Southern-Fried Genius: See Genius Ditz above.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In the sequel, where he's crucial to the plot and even gets top billing.
- Unreliable Narrator: Of his own "Tall Tales" series.
- What Could Have Been: He was a Jerkass to end all Jerkasses in early drafts of the original film.
- Why Am I Ticking?: The Lemons plant a time bomb in his air filter as a backup plan to kill Lightning.
Doc Hudson/ Fabulous Hudson Hornet[]
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1951 Hudson Hornet |
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- Blue Eyes: Designed after his actor's very own eyes.
- Career-Ending Injury: His crash in 1954. It didn't make him incapable of racing but by the time he recovered, the Piston Cup was already focused on the next rookie and didn't care about him anymore.
- The Character Died with Him
- Cool Old Guy
- Deadpan Snarker: Everything for him is an excuse to use sarcasm.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: When he returns to the Piston Cup in Cars, he gets his long awaited cheers.
- Hanging Judge: Judging from his introductory speech.
- It's All About Me: Sally accuses him of calling the Piston Cup and alerting them to Lightning's location because Doc wanted to forget his wreck.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Living Legend: Despite his crash and his sponsor abandoning him, the racing world still looks up to him, including Herbie.
- Not So Different: From Lightning.
Sally Carrera[]
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Porsche 911 Carrera (996) |
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- Affectionate Nickname: "Stickers" for Lightning, originally to tease him about having stickers instead of headlights. In the second film, she still calls him this, even after he gets actual headlights installed.
- Red Boy, Blue Girl: Blue girl to Lightning McQueen's red boy.
- The Chick
- Embarrassing Tattoo
- Hello, Attorney!: Lightning is immediately smitten when he sees her, much to Herbie's dismay.
- Official Couple: With Lightning.
- Out of Focus: Her only significant appearance is in the first film. After that, she has virtually no role in the franchise and only appears in one of the many videogames.
- Blue is Heroic - Her paintjob is light blue and is also friendly to the others.
- True-Blue Femininity - She is light blue, which representing her feminine nature.
- Innocent Blue Eyes - Has light teal eyes which represent her adoration towards the town, and for being the first one who deeply cared about both Lightning and Herbie, respectively, despite the two fights over her.
Fillmore[]
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VW Microbus (T1) |
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- Actual Pacifist: Goes with his hippie nature. More specifically, he, along with Sally, were the only ones not to participate in the Radiator Springs vs. Lemon Gangs in London.
- New Age Retro Hippie
- The Other Darrin: In the sequel.
- The Stoner
- Talking to Himself: He shares the same actor as Tony Trihull in the sequel.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Sarge.
Sarge[]
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Willys Jeep MB |
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- Drill Sergeant Nasty
- Properly Paranoid: He greatly distrusts Axlerod and switched out Lightning's Allinol with Fillmore's organic fuel. This is what actually saves Lightning and later Herbie from being killed later on.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Fillmore.
Luigi and Guido[]
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Isetta-based forklift and Fiat 500 |
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- Ascended Extra: In Cars 3.
- Chaste Toons: Luigi's aunt and uncle (see below).
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Though they come off as slightly goofy, they're able to perform the duties of an entire pit crew alone.
- The Danza: Guido.
- Gratuitous Italian: Both of them, but Guido exclusively speaks in Italian.
- Keet: Guido especially, but both of them count.
- Those Two Guys
- Blue is Heroic - Guido, of course.
Flo[]
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1957 Cadillac Eldorado |
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- Happily Married: To Ramone.
- Sassy Black Lady
Ramone[]
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1959 Chevrolet Impala |
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- Happily Married: To Flo, of course.
- Hot Paint Job: He's fond of giving these, as well as usually sporting one himself.
- Pimped-Out Car: Aside from his numerous paint jobs, he possesses impressive hydraulics as well.
- Unlimited Paint Jobs: Ramone's got a different paint job in almost every other scene.
Red[]
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Generic design |
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- Gentle Giant
- The Voiceless: He almost never speaks onscreen to begin with, but after the death of his actor he becomes this in the sequel.
Sheriff[]
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1949 Mercury |
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Lizzie[]
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Ford Model T |
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Mack[]
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Mack Superliner |
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- Actor Allusion: During the credits, Mack is watching car-ified versions of previous Pixar films and points out how Hamm, P.T. Flea and Yeti all share the same voice actor (John Ratzenberger, who also voices Mack himself).
- Demoted to Extra: In Cars 2.
- Gentle Giant
- Nice Hat: The large sail on his roof resembles a trucker cap.
- Only Friend: To Lightning at the start.
- Undying Loyalty: To Lightning. Something that was fully reciprocated.
Strip “The King” Weathers[]
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1969 Plymouth Superbird |
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- Doomed Moral Victor: Although he doesn't die, he becomes severely injured by a crash caused by Chick Hicks during the final lap of the tie-breaker race.
- History Repeats: His crash heavily resembles Doc's.
- Ink Suit Actor: The King is based on a racecar his actor, Richard Petty, owned; the Plymouth Superbird.
- Know When to Fold'Em: Cars 3 reveals that he knew when to retire when McQueen came onto the scene as the King knew that meant a generation of faster cars was on its way.
- The Mentor: Tried to be this to Lightning. Becomes this to his nephew, Cal Weathers, in Cars 3.
- Reality Subtext: His near-fatal crash, caused by Chick Hicks is a frame-by-frame recreation of a particular crash his actor lived through.
Chick Hicks[]
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1986 Buick Regal |
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- Arrogant Racer Guy
- Big Bad: Of the first film.
- Classic Villain
- Evil Counterpart: To Lightning McQueen. Chick starts off as a more extreme version of McQueen, but eventually becomes this after Lightning undergoes Character Development.
- Glory Days: In Cars 3, he always brings up his single win to start any sentence.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Chick is deeply envious The King’s status as Dinoco's golden boy. Plus he’s green to boot.
- Jerkass: Through and through.
- Karma Houdini: Getting booed off the stage is literally the only punishment he received for ramming the King off the track. As the video games show, he kept racing, kept his sponsorships and fanbase while having had enough of a reputation to start a racing academy of his own. In Cars 3, he had enough good press to start a frequently watched television show that's featured at every Piston Cup race.
- In the first video game, he outright hired criminals to steal from Lightning and didn't get any form of punishment despite the criminals confessing it was Chick who hired them.
- Mythology Gag: His number, "86", is a reference to the year Pixar was founded.
- Porn Stache: His grill resembles one.
- Pyrrhic Villainy: He wins the Piston Cup, but only because he caused The King to crash horribly and Lightning went back to help him. Chick doesn’t get his Dinoco sponsor like he dreamed and is booed off the stage at the cup presentation. Then again it's shown that he faced zero real consequences for that.
- Unnecessary Roughness: He causes a massive thirty-car pileup in the opening to try and shake McQueen, and later causes The King to crash in the tie-breaker match.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: While unmentioned in the second film, the third reveals he's become a talk show host.
- The Rival - To Herbie.
Boost, Wingo, DJ, and Snot Rod[]
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Generic designs |
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- Embarrassing Full Name: DJ's full name is Devon Montegomery Johnston the Third.
- Five-Bad Band:
- Big Bad: Boost
- The Dragon/The Evil Genius: Wingo
- The Brute: Snot Rod
- The Dark Chick: DJ
- Rice Burners
Tractors, Frank, and Vroomaroundus Bugus[]
- All Farm Equipment Are Cattle
- Canis Latinicus
- Everything's Better with Cows
- Furry Confusion
- Stealth Pun
Mia and Tia[]
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Mazda Miata |
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- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Flashing Lightning with their headlights.
- I'm Your Biggest Fan: To McQueen. They briefly followed Chick when McQueen disappeared, but switch back by the end.
- Single-Minded Twins
- Theme Twin Naming: They're named after their model, the Mazda Miata.
- Valley Girl: Both of them.
Minny and Van[]
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Generic designs |
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- Directionless Driver: Van refuses to ask for directions while the two of them are looking for an on-ramp, claiming that he can use the GPS. Unsurprisingly, they end up getting lost in the desert.
- Happily Married
RustEze Pit Crew Members, Sponsors, and Associates[]
- Actor Allusion: The two hosts of the RustEze sponsor presentation are voiced by the hosts of the radio show Car Talk. They're barely acting!
- And are modeled after cars they each owned.
- I'm Your Biggest Fan: Fred
- My Name Is Not Chuck!
- Token Good Teammate: Along with Tex Dinoco, they're the only sponsor not to fire their racer in light of the more advanced and faster next-generation racers.
Dinoco Pit Crew Members, Sponsors, and Associates[]
- All There in the Script
- Token Good Teammate: Along with Rusty and Dusty, he's the only sponsor not to fire his racer in light of the more advanced and faster next-generation racers. Instead Cal simply retires before the final race.
Hostile Takeover Bank Pit Crew Members[]
Piston Cup Racecars[]
- All There in the Script
- Meaningful Name
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Inverted
- The Smurfette Principle
- Viewer Gender Confusion
Dale Earnhardt Jr.[]
Piston Cup R Vs, Pit Crews, Facility, and Audience[]
Car Media Reporters, Anchors, and Celebrities[]
Cars on the Highway[]
Stanley[]
- Happily Married: To Lizzie. Before he died, at least.
- Our Founder
- Posthumous Character
Bessie[]
Alarm Clock[]
Cars in Flashback[]
Trev Diesel and Aircraft[]
Cars in Epilogue[]
Pixar Cameos[]
Cars 2[]
Finn McMissile[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Amphibious Automobile: Finn can transform into both a hydrofoil and a submarine.
- Awesome McCoolname
- Badass Mustache
- Faking the Dead: He deploys a set of decoy tires after escaping the Oil Rig to make his enemies think he’s been torpedoed.
- I Am Very British
- Master of Disguise: He has a voice activated holographic disguise.
- Weaponized Car: Finn hides missiles, rockets, Gatling guns and even cables in his body.
Holley Shiftwell[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Affirmative Action Girl
- Flying Car: They’re standard issue for agents nowadays.
- Shock and Awe: One of her weapons is an electric taser.
- Spy Couple: Falls for Mater by the end.
- Weaponized Car
Siddeley[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Cool Plane
- Shout-Out: Sid sports the recurring Pixar In Joke "A113" on his tail fin.
Leland Turbo[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Awesome McCoolname
- Family-Unfriendly Death: He was put through a freaking trash compactor!
- Killed Off for Real
- Talking to Himself: He shares his voice actor with Siddeley.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His distress call at the start of the film kicks off much of the plot.
Rod "Torque" Redline[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Cold-Blooded Torture: Torque is brutally tortured to death by Zündapp as part of a demonstration of the effects of an electromagnetic pulse on Allinol.
- Dead Star Walking
- Killed Off for Real
- Master of Disguise: Unlike Finn's holographic disguise, his disguise is a retractable metal shell.
- Sacrificial Lamb
- Weaponised Car
Francesco Bernoulli[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Achilles Heel: Dirt tracks.
- Arrogant Racer Guy: Even moreso than Chick Hicks.
- Berserk Button: Francesco hates being called "fragile".
- Mr. Fanservice: In-Universe. All the girls are crazy over his open-wheeled tyres.
- Everyone Looks Sexier If Italian
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Francesco honestly admits that when he’s away from home, he misses his mama.
- Fragile Speedster: Just don't say it to his face.
- Gratuitous Italian
- Named After Somebody Famous
- Villainy Free Villain: Francesco isn't depraved like Chick Hicks, but he does give Lightning a good reason to win out over him.
Professor Zündapp[]
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1959 Zündapp Janus |
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- Dragon-in-Chief: Zündapp is the main physical threat, but everything he does is under the orders of his boss, Miles Axlerod.
- Evil Genius
- Herr Doktor
- High-Class Glass: Bizarrely enough for a car.
- One-Letter Name: Other characters usually refer to him as Professor Z.
- Torture Technician
Sir Miles Axlerod[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Big Bad
- Evil Brit: British and the villian.
- Woobie Destroyer of Worlds: Along with his underlings, he feels misjudged due being insulted by the world, and his Evil Plan is taking it out.
- The Man Behind the Man: Axlerod is the mysterious leader of the Lemons and had engineered the sabotage of his own Grand Prix in order to discredit Allinol and alternative fuel in general.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His globe-trekking exploits bring Richard Branson to mind.
- Non-Action Big Bad
- What Could Have Been: He was originally going to be portrayed as an old Russian racecar that performed very poorly.
Grem and Acer[]
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AMC Gremlin and AMC Pacer |
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- Bar Brawl: How the two actually both meet their end.
- Co-Dragons: To Zündapp.
- Meaningful Name: Gremlin and (P)Acer.
- Those Two Bad Guys
The Lemon Family Heads[]
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Voiced by: |
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- The Alleged Car: All are modeled after some of the most notorious Alleged Cars of all time; besides Gremlin, Pacer and Yugo the Trunkovs are based on ZAZ Zaporozhets, the smallest and cheapest Soviet car.
- Creator Cameo: Tubbs is voiced by Brad Lewis, one of the film's co-directors.
- The Don: The four heads of the lemon families: J. Curby Gremlin, Vladimir Trunkov , Victor Hugo and Tubbs Pacer
- Husky Russkie: Vladimir.
- The Mafia: The Hugo family especially, but all four count.
- Motor City: J. Curby and his family come from here.
- Name's the Same: Victor Hugo shares his name with a famous French writer.
- Talking to Himself: Vladimir, Victor and Ivan all share the same voice actor.
Alexander Hugo[]
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Yugo Koral/GV/45 |
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- Bland-Name Product: Besides the similar name, the Hugos have quad headlights but are based on a model that only ever had single headlights.
- Elite Mook
- I Have Many Names: He’s been known to go by the aliases of "Chop Shop Alex", "Alexander the "Not So" Great" and "Alexander Hu "Don’t" Go".
- The Mafia
Ivan[]
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1955-57 Chevrolet truck |
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- Costume Copycat: Mater disguises himself as Ivan to infiltrate the Lemons' meeting in Porto Corsa.
- Evil Counterpart: Can be seen as this to Mater.
- Husky Russkie
- Lzherusskie : Ivan is meant to be Russian, but plot necessity forced him to have the same Chevrolet-based cab design as Mater.
Tony Trihull[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Animal Motifs: He's apparently part shark as well.
- The Brute
- Cool Boat
- Oh Crap: Tony utters a small "uh-oh" just before being blown up.
- Killed Off for Real: He gets blown up by Finn's bombs, which were attracted to his magnet arm.
- Talking to Himself: He shares the same actor as Fillmore.
Lemon Mooks[]
Other Lemon Vehicles[]
Jeff Gorvette[]
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Chevrolet Corvette |
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- Ink Suit Actor
- Those Two Guys: With Lewis.
Lewis Hamilton[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Ink Suit Actor
- Those Two Guys: With Jeff.
Raoul Ça Roule[]
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Voiced by: |
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- I Am Not Left-Handed: Shares Lighting McQueen's Game Breaker offroad racing skill.
Nigel Gearsley[]
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Aston Martin |
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Max Schnell[]
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Mercedes C-Class DTM racer |
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- Dub Name Change: The German dub renames him "Sebastian Schnell", after his German actor, Sebastian Vettel.
- Germanic Efficiency
Miguel Camino[]
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Voiced by: |
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Carla Veloso[]
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Voiced by: |
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- The Smurfette Principle: Carla is the only female competitor in the World Grand Prix.
- Spicy Latina
Shu Todoroki[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Fake Nationality: Shu's voice actor is American.
- Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: His design sports the legendary Ka-Ryu dragon.
Rip Clutchgoneski[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Advertised Extra: Barely even that. Clutchgoneski doesn’t have any toys of him and didn’t even appear in the video game.
- Ruritania: His homeland is the “Republic of New Rearendia”.
- The Voiceless
World Grand Prix Pit Crew and Audience[]
Cars in Radiator Springs[]
Cars in Tokyo[]
- Acrofatic: Kingpin Nobunaga, Pinion Tanaka, and Kimura Kaizo the sumo vans.
- The Cameo: Many of the characters from Tokyo Mater return.
- Geisha: Okuni and Shigeko from the Kabuki theatre. The two of them plus another, named Tamiko, appear at the party as well.
- Idol Singer: News reporter Chuki moonlights as the lead vocalist of the popular band "Grid Lock".
- Nice Hat: The Zen Master wears a coolie hat on his roof.
- Old Master: The Zen Master.
Crabby[]
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Voiced by: |
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Cars in Paris[]
Tomber[]
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Reliant Regal |
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- Friend in the Black Market
- Meaningful Name: His name in French means "to tumble".
Stephenson[]
Cars in Porto Corsa[]
Mama and Uncle Topolino[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Chaste Toons: To Luigi.
- Cool Old Guy: Uncle Topolino.
- Happily Married
- Real Life Relative: Their actors are married in real life.
- Talking to Himself: Mama Topolino shares her actress with the Queen.
Cars in London[]
The Queen and Prince Wheeliam[]
Frosty[]
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Voiced by: |
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Fernando Alonso[]
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Voiced by: |
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Vitaly Petrov[]
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Voiced by: |
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Flash[]
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Voiced by: |
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Memo Rojas Jr[]
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Voiced by: |
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Long Ge[]
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Voiced by: |
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Mater's Tall Tales[]
Characters in Rescue Squad Mater[]
- Five-Man Band: The Rescue Squad.
- The Hero: Fire Truck Mater.
- The Lancer / The Big Guy: Rescue Squad Trooper.
- The Medic: Rescue Squad Ambulance. Dr. Mater as well.
- The Smart Guy: Rescue Squad Chopper #1.
- The Chick: Rescue Squad Chopper #2.
- Hospital Hottie: Mia, Tia, and Kori Turbowitz, but Mater’s GTO stands out the most.
Characters in Mater the Greater[]
Characters in El Materdor[]
Characters in Tokyo Mater[]
Kabuto[]
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Voiced by: |
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- Arrogant Drift Racer Guy
- The Cameo: He appears briefly at the pre-race party in Cars 2.
- Defeat by Modesty
- Series Continuity Error: His appearance in Cars 2.
- Meaningful Name: A kabuto is a type of helmet, in which the spoilers on his body resemble.
Characters in UFM: Unidentified Flying Mater[]
- Cool Plane: Captain Munier the attack helicopter.
- Herr Doktor: The scientist pitties at Parking Area 51. Mater himself disguises himself as “Dr. Abschlepp Wagen”.
- Flying Saucer: Mator.
- Tank Goodness: Although he is not a tank, Corporal Kim, who runs Parking Area 51, is a large, menacing military van.
Characters in Heavy Metal Mater[]
- A Good Name for a Rock Band: Mater’s band was originally called “Mater and the Gas Caps”, but later chose the name “Heavy Metal Mater” when a pitty carrying a 1-ton weight came in after the recording session and asked “Where do you want this heavy metal, Mater?”
- Audience Participation Song: “Dad-Gum”
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Mater: Let me hear you! Dad-Gum! |
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- Hell-Bent for Leather: The entire band becomes this as “Heavy Metal Mater”.
- I'm Your Biggest Fan: Rodney the rocker
- No Name Given: The drummer pitty in the band never had a toy released of him, so his name is unknown.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: Mater kicks the microphone with his back tyre after the recording session.
- Shout-Out: Rocky’s heavy metal outfit resembles Slash.
- Title-Only Chorus: Heavy Metal Mater’s first and most popular song is “Dad-Gum”, of which the lyrics consist of only the title phrase.
Characters in Monster Truck Mater[]
- And I Must Scream: Paddy O'Concrete's fate.
- Bad Humor Truck: I-Screamer.
- Deadly Doctor: Dr. Feel Bad.
- Destination Defenestration: The above's fate.
- Dreadlock Rasta: The Rastacarian, who has black wiring with hooks as dreads.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Captain Collision.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Dr. Frankenwagon’s monster, which appears to me made out of construction vehicles.
- I'm Your Biggest Fan: There is a blue SUV who is constantly rooting for Mater in every wrestling match. He is first seen rooting for Ice Screamer, but eventually decides to root for Mater instead because of how successful he is.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Frankenwagon.
- Oireland: Paddy O’Concrete
Characters in Moon Mater[]
- Cool Boat: The aircraft carrier near the end of the short.
- Cool Starship: Roger the Space Shuttle.
- Punny Name: Impala XIII the autonaut.
- You All Look Familiar: The ground control pitties use the same models as the scientists from Unidentified Flying Mater.
Characters in Mater, Private Eye[]
Characters in Air Mater[]
Cars 3[]
Jackson Storm[]
- Advertised Extra: He has a big presence in the film, but not as big as the trailers would have you believe.
- Always Someone Better: To Lightning McQueen and his generation of racers.
- Big Bad Ensemble: While Sterling seeks to make Lightning retire from racing and become his sponsor, Jackson is the villain who directly opposes Lightning.
- Boring Yet Practical: His wins come from applying mathematics and physics to the races to find the optimum racing lines and how to navigate around his fellows.
- Evil Counterpart: To Lightning.
- Flat Character: He's a talented cocky racer...and that's about it.
- Foil:
- To pre-Character Development Lightning. As much of a cocky dick as Lightning was, he legitimately respected the older generations such as Doc and the King. Storm doesn't.
- To Chick. Chick rammed other racers left and right and was not above sabotaging his opponents. As much of an absolute dick as Storm is, he doesn't resort to any of that and just wins by being flat out faster than everyone else. While rude, he doesn't really do anything, barring ramming Cruze, that could be considered a villainous act.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After bashing on McQueen, Storm's perfect winning streak is taken from him by someone who McQueen trained.
- Meaningful Name: As lightning comes before thunder, storms come before lightning.
- Shadow Archetype: Like Chick before him, Storm is who Lightning would have become without crashing in Radiator Springs.
- Skilled but Naive: He's very fast and can find the optimum racing lines but his success comes from racing people who just can't keep up with him or have even less experience than he does. When against Cruz, who's fast enough to keep up and has real world experience, his mask of confidence starts to break.
- In the finale, Lightning even realizes Storm is this as despite his confidence, he's constantly trying to mess with the heads of more experienced racers showing that Storm knows he's not infallible and needed to keep Lightning's morale down to win.
- Smug Super
- Super Prototype: Like Lightning, he's shown to be much better than the other racers of his generation.
- Token Evil Teammate: To the next-gen Piston Cup racers.
- Villainous Breakdown: When he loses to Cruz Ramirez.
- Would Hit a Girl
Cruz Ramirez[]
- Always Someone Better: To Lightning and Jackson.
- Ascended Fangirl: Of Lightning McQueen and the Piston Cup in general.
- Foil:
- To Lightning. He never doubted his skills as a rookie and shot to the top while Cruz was too scared to even start her first race.
- To Jackson. Both are hi-tech, next-gen cars but Cruz looks up to the older generation and wants to emulate them while Jackson is only obsessed with his superiority.
- Genki Girl
- Legacy Character: She takes on Doc Hudson's number of "51".
- Non Standard Character Design: Much like Lightning, she doesn't look much like her fellow racers. Even after being sponsored by Dinoco, she keeps her yellow paint instead of the traditional blue despite Lightning and Chick both drooling over being painted Dinoco blue in the first film.
- The Power of Hate: Obviously downplayed but she says negative feelings should be used to push someone forward.
- Stepford Smiler: While super peppy in the racing centre, it masks her sadness at not being a racer herself.
Sterling[]
- Bad Boss: To Lightning and Cruz. At the end, Mater outright says he's not a nice person, despite making quality mudflaps at reasonable prices.
- Big Bad: Much like Francesco in Cars 2, Storm doesn't do anything villainous like Chick would. As such Sterling is the true main antagonist as he holds the fate of Lightning's career in his metaphorical hands.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Very affable on the surface, but clearly only cares for the money he can get from Lightning's image.
- Evil Counterpart: To Tex Dinoco.
- It's All About Me: Well the money he can make. Which is why it simply takes a lot of money from Tex to make him go away.
- Jerkass
- Jerkass Has a Point: Though he generalized the situation, he was right in saying Lightning's reputation was being damaged by repeated losses and that Cruz was (originally) just a trainer and unprepared for the Piston Cup circuit.
Bobby Swift[]
- Out of Focus: Compared to Cal, Bobby doesn't get much characterization.
- Put on a Bus: He's fired and replaced hours before the final race of the season. It happens so suddenly that Lightning didn't know of it until another car came out of the Octane Gain garage.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Cal and Lightning.
Cal Weathers[]
- Delayed Reaction: In the opening, Lightning passes Cal by telling his blinker's on. It takes Cal a few seconds to remember he doesn't have a blinker.
- Go Out with a Smile: It's a sad smile, but he tells Lightning that he'll always value their friendship as he leaves the track.
- Know When to Fold'Em: Thanks to his uncle, he knew to pull out when the field became increasingly dominated by faster cars. He's tellingly the first one to actually retire. Everyone else was fired and replaced.
- Phrase Catcher: "Good comeback Cal."
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Colour coded version with Lightning. Cal knew it was time to call it quits and retired with quiet dignity while Lightning kept going and eventually crashed.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Bobby and Lightning.
Smokey[]
- Brutal Honesty: Smokey doesn't mince words or sugarcoat the situation.
- Cool Old Guy
- The Nicknamer
- Perma Stubble: The rust along his bumper.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Doc Hudson. They're both Hudson brand vehicles to boot!
- Training From Hell: He puts Lightning and Cruz through hell to make them ready to take on Storm.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When they first meet, McQueen is despondent about him seemingly losing his edge. Smokey points out, rather casually, that McQueen just when through a demolition derby and came out without a scratch.
- You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: When Cruz starts racing, Lightning tells Smokey to say increasingly ridiculous phrases to kick Cruz into gear. After two phrases, he rolls off the stand and tells Lightning to just say them himself.
Next-Gen Piston Cup Racers[]
- Advertised Extra: Several of them were hyped up by marketing materials but the racers only have a role in the opening and closing races.
- Everyone Has Standards: In a Freeze-Frame Bonus, you can two of them sporting horrified expressions when McQueen crashes.
- Not So Different: To their predecessors. When not racing, they joke around as much as the previous generation of racers.
- Perpetual Frowner: When they're on the track, they're almost always serious.
- Red Herring: The trailers made it seem as though they were antagonistic and trying to take over the Piston Cup. They're just been hired by their sponsors and aren't evil.
- Skilled but Naive: They're all very fast and able to hold perfect racing lines but they've only got a few weeks worth of experience. Cruz and Storm are the only ones among them with any victories to their name and Lightning is able to keep up with most of them with ease.
- This Cannot Be!: When Lightning begins working his way up the ranks in the Florida 500. A few of them are legitimately caught off guard that he can not only keep up but that he avoided the wreck.
Natalie Certain[]
- Character Development: Rather minor but she learns not to put blind faith in numbers as people can indeed surprise you and pull a left field move.
- Meaningful Name: She's certain about her findings.
- Only Friend: Seemingly Chick's.
Miss Fritter[]
- The Juggernaut: As the biggest vehicle in the demolition derby.
- Mysterious Past: How does a school bus become reigning champion of a demolition derby?
- No Indoor Voice
Planes[]
Dusty Crophopper[]
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Possibly a Cessna 188
Skipper[]
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Vought F 4 U Corsair
Sparky[]
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Judge Davis[]
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He looks to be either an early North American P-51 Mustang, a Curtiss P-40, or a combination of the two.
Chug[]
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El Chupacabra[]
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Ripslinger[]
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Other[]
Characters in Cars: The Video Game[]
Characters in Cars: Maternational[]
Giovanni[]
- Nice Guy: One of the nicest.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Micheal Schumacher.
Otto[]
- Comically Missing the Point: He thinks parking tickets are autograph requests and that Radiator Spings has an autobahn.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Dee Bradley Baker doing his Klaus voice.
Gudmund[]
- Irony: After his cheering makes a decent impersonation of the Ghostlight and scares Mater, he himself flees from Mater when he mistakes him for a Swedish folk tale "The Haunted Hook". For what it's worth, Mater flees at the same time.
Emma[]
- Graceful Loser: And considering she's a professional rally car who lost to a rusty tow truck that's really saying something regarding how genuinely nice she is.
- What Does She See in Him?: She's a cute British rally car and she seemingly has a crush on Mater.
Characters in Cars: Race-O-Rama[]
Cadance[]
- Daddy's Girl
- Evil Counterpart: Seems to be one to Sally.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: It's Tara Strong!
Stinger[]
- The Quiet One: He communicates solely by growling and revving his engine.
- Sore Loser: None of Chick's students are exactly good sportsman but he just drives off in a huff after losing.
El Machismo[]
- Never My Fault: He blames his loss on Chick not giving him good enough equipment.
- Sore Loser: Even Chick is taken aback by it. Chick.
Characters in Cars Storytellers[]
State Farm Commercial[]
Other commercials[]
The Screaming Banshee[]
- Eye Scream: His right eye has been shattered.
- Flat What: When Mater warns him about the feared Screaming Banshee.
- The Juggernaut: He is huge.
- Mysterious Past: He seems to have once been a construction vehicle at one point so he why he started haunting Ornament Valley is unknown.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The last we see of him, he's parked right outside Radiator Springs. He's not mentioned once afterwards.