Radiator Springs

This article is about the city. You may be looking for the Cars Toons short: The Radiator Springs 500 1/2.

Overlook of the town (during the events of Cars)

"Lightning McQueen: "Where am I?"
Mater: "Where are you? Shoot! You're in Radiator Springs. The cutest little town in Carburetor County.""

—Lightning McQueen talking to Mater, [[{{{3}}}]]

Radiator Springs is a small town/village along Route 66, located in Carburetor County (somewhere in southwestern Arizona). It is a town where Lightning McQueen ends up in after accidentally destroying the town's main road. It is a town of rural misfits and rejects where everybody there serves each other in unconditional love. It is a community (a lot like a church) that teaches others to slow down and enjoy nature. It is quite a beautiful place. Radiator Springs is considered Paradise.

History

Radiator Springs was founded by a steam car named Stanley in 1909, and a statue of him is outside the town courthouse. Later, Stanley married Lizzie. After Stanley died, more people came to live in Radiator Springs, and the town grew. It was a popular rest area where almost all cars would stop to shop and fill their gas tank. However, in the early 1960's, Interstate 40 was built near Radiator Springs, which greatly decreased traffic for Radiator Springs, since the Interstate bypassed the town. Finally, in the mid 1985, Route 66 was decommissioned.

In 1954, famous Piston Cup racer Doc Hudson suffered a massive accident that found him in a hospital for several years. Around the 1970's, Hudson fully recovered and returned to the Piston Cup; but found that the sport had left him behind because of new-comers, sponsors, the money had been spent, and the competitiveness in the races had grown. Hudson felt like nobody appreciated him anymore and retired completely from the Piston Cup before vanishing off the face of the Earth. Eventually, Doc found shelter in Radiator Springs. His wisdom tough grandpa-like attitude earned him respect from the town enough that in the late 1980's, Hudson was hired as mayor, judge and the CEO of the town.

In 2005, famous racecar Lightning McQueen destroyed the town's main road in a hurry to get to a Piston Cup race in Los Angeles, California, and was arrested for 5 days to fix the road. Lightning soon became friends with the Radiator Springs populace, and after his race, he set up a racing headquarters in the town and stayed there, and the town started to grow again.

In the video games, it has made appearances in Cars: The Video Game, Cars: Mater-National Championship, Cars: Race-O-Rama, The World of Cars Online, Cars 2: The Video Game, and Cars 3: Driven to Win.

Location

The location of Radiator Springs is not known exactly; however, it is most likely in eastern Arizona, along Route 66 and in the Monument Valley.

Radiator Springs is somewhere along the old Route 66, which was in the United States. Route 66 went from Los Angeles, California to Chicago, Illinois, which can be heard in the Route 66 song during the Cars end credits. Radiator Springs is surrounded by red rocks and desert, and is not near any large cities, so Radiator Springs must be on Route 66 in either California, Arizona, or New Mexico. According to The Art of Cars, Radiator Springs is located in between Gallup, New Mexico, and Kingman, Arizona (which both can be heard in the end credits song). Since Gallup is on the far west side of New Mexico, Radiator Springs is most likely in Arizona. The truckstop that Mack and Lightning McQueen passed by on their trip could not be west from Houck, Arizona because of a sign which reads "LAST TRUCKSTOP FOR 500 MILES", and since Houck is on the far east side of Arizona, the truckstop was most likely in western New Mexico, and if Mack drove for only a few hours more after the truckstop before he fell asleep, then Radiator Springs is most likely in eastern Arizona. Also, Carburetor Canyon is a reference to the Grand Canyon in Midwest Arizona which is about 200 miles away from Radiator Springs.