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| Cars
- The Movie |
Broadcast
date : 9th July 2006 |
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The best part about Cars is that
it’s director, John Lassiter, is a big-time car-freak, and
he based most of the characters on real cars, and icons at
that.
Lightening McQueen is a Nascar racer, pretty much like the
South African version of Nascar known as the Total V8 series.
These 500 horsepower monsters look almost like American
production muscle-cars, but underneath the fiberglass and
sheetmetal, they are ALL muscle.
In Cars opening sequences, Lightening get’s caught for
speeding on Route 66, which is how he ends up behind bars in
Radiator Springs. But he meets some cool people there.
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One of the cool dudes is Ramone,
the Tattoo artist. Ramone is a customized version of the
Impala, one of the closest renditions of The Batmobile ever
produced by Detroit.
But lest we get our comic book plots mixed up, it’s
important to note that '59 Chevys, like Lolly Jackson’s
pillarless coupe, are highly prized by the Hispanic-American
low-rider movement.
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This car, and its 1959 model
year, represent a high-water mark in the fins-and-flash era of
American automobilia, which is why they make such awesome
custom cruisers.
While this coupe is standard apart from the wheels, the
Spanish American low-rider chicos fit special
hydraulics and cover them with artwork.
Hence, in the car world Ramone does tattoos and a fine hip-hop
routine. His voice in the movie was played by Cheech Marin,
famous for the ‘70s Cheech and Chong comedy recordings.
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It’s such a cool touch, using
a Fiat 500 to play an Italian racing fanatic. Many people may
scoff at Ian Huntley’s 1960’s twin-cylinder Fiat having
any competition connections, but they’d be dead wrong.
Former Ferrari Formula one star Jean Alesi is president of the
international Fiat five-hundred club. And, not only does
Michael Schumacher own one, but it’s the seven-time champion’s
voice you’ll hear when a Ferrari finally shows up at Luigi’s
tyre shop.
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While director John Lassiter
didn’t specifically identify Mater as a particular model,
most experts agree it’s based on a 1950s General Motors
pick-up.
This clean and mean 1958 Chev Apache street-rod was built by
Alberton professional customiser Eddie Finch.
It offers the best of both worlds – show and go – thanks
to a modified Chevy small-block motor, a body lowered or
"channeled" on the chassis, and custom wheels and
paint.
A good ol’ boy’s dream truck, and a modern car-culture
icon.
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You can see Sarge is a rules man
by that stern frown. The World War Two Willy’s Jeep is no
nonsense, upright, strong, and can take its punishment like a…
well, a Jeep.
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John Hunt’s 1946 CJ2A is the
first of the civilian models. Of course Sarge considers
himself an army jeep from his polished tyres right down to his
spotless sump oil.
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We wouldn’t have thought of a
Carrera as a girl’s car – sorry, a girl car – but then
Sally’s a thoroughly modern lady.
"Cars" is a delightful movie, and for us motorheads
it’s the detail that elevates it way beyond the comic-book
genre.
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Real life cars like these have
each carved a special niche for themselves in motoring
history, and so will this instant film classic. As for the
Nascar racing hero Lightning McQueen, well, as director John
Lassiter says, life’s about the journey.
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