Cars 2: My First Car

My First Car…. Step back in time as the cast and creators of “Cars 2” reveal their fun tales, interesting facts and amusing stories about their very first car!

JOHN LASSETER, DIRECTOR OF “CARS 2”

“I have always loved cars. I grew up in Southern California and my father was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. I spent a lot of my youth at that dealership. My first car was a 1969 Toyota Corona. It wasn’t a Corolla; it was a Corona. I loved that car. It was great. It kept me going for ages and it was so easy to work on. If it broke down, you could just fix it. It was the perfect first car for me.”

OWEN WILSON, THE VOICE OF LIGHTNING MCQUEEN

“My first car was a blue Chevrolet Blazer. My parents bought it for me when I was 16 or 17 years old and I was so thrilled to finally have a car. I grew up in Texas where everything is spread out, so you needed a car to get around. Plus, you feel a huge sense of independence when you finally have your own vehicle. I took the Blazer to USC [the University of Southern California] with me, but it didn’t last too long. In fact, I wrecked it driving back to Dallas after my first year. My parents didn’t want me to drive straight through from Los Angeles to Dallas, but I kept saying, ‘No, I’ll be fine.’ I drove straight through and because I was so tired I had an accident and my car went off the road. Nobody was hurt, but the car was totaled. I learned my lesson well.”

LARRY THE CABLE GUY, THE VOICE OF MATER

“The first car I ever drove was a 1969 Formula Firebird. It had a double hood scoop and glass packs and it was the last of the big 400 [horsepower] engines. I think I was 19 years old at the time and I loved that car. It was awesome. It was metallic blue and I thought it was the best thing in the world. I haven’t always been successful with cars. I’ve had a couple of lemons in my time, too. I had a 1995 hunter green truck that had to have the transmission fixed about every six months. It was a complete pain in the rear!”

EMILY MORTIMER, THE VOICE OF HOLLEY SHIFTWELL

“My first car was an old 1960 Saab that my father-in-law constantly jokes about. When I used to drive it around town, he would comment about how you needed a tetanus shot just to get into it. It was full of old, half-eaten sandwiches, soda cans and lots of rubbish. I’m not allowed to drive anymore because my husband tells me I’m a very unreliable driver. We live in New York City and I’m always trying to tell him that a car would help us, but he’s not convinced. It’s such a shame because I really want a car.”

JOE MANTEGNA, THE VOICE OF GREM

“I carry a picture of my first car around with me wherever I go. It’s a 1947 Buick and it’s the wallpaper on my cell phone. It’s a beautiful car. I bought it in 1967 and I still own it to this day. I take it to car shows and it has actually won a few awards. I’m lucky that I live just down the street from George Barris. For those of you who know cars, George Barris created the Batmobile, the Monkees’ car, and the Munsters’ car. When I was a teenager, he was a god among car enthusiasts, so I’m very happy that we got to become friends.”

MICHAEL CAINE, THE VOICE OF FINN MCMISSILE

“The first car I bought was a Rolls Royce, but I couldn’t drive it because I hadn’t passed my driving test at that point. Let me give you some background on it… I’d just come into a bit of money after breaking into the business, so I thought to myself, ‘I’ll learn how to drive in this.’ Unfortunately, the insurance company had other ideas. They said to me, ‘No, you won’t. You aren't going to learn to drive in a Rolls Royce!’ In the end, I got a chauffeur instead and didn’t drive until I went to Los Angeles a number of years later.”

EDDIE IZZARD, THE VOICE OF SIR MILES AXLEROD

“My first car was a blue Mini Cooper. My dad always said to me, “You can’t buy a cheap car; it never works out.” I didn’t listen to him, though. I hitched a ride back to university from a guy in a Mini. It was pouring with rain and there was water leaking into the foot-well of the car, but I didn’t care. The driver said to me, ‘I’m selling this car’ and I asked him, ‘How much do you want?’ He said, ‘Fifty quid [approximately $75].’ So I bought it and then I had this piece of junk for a car, but it was a wonderful piece of junk. When I left university, I drove it down to London but you could tell it was coming to the end of its life. I tried to sell it, but the axle broke when a potential buyer took it for a test drive. We got out of the car and the front wheels were pointing at each other. I still had the temerity to ask him, ‘So what do you think?’ He didn’t buy it.”

CARS 2 races to the shelves on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, Blu-ray 3D™, DVD and Movie Download on November 1, 2011.