Disney/Pixar's animated "Cars" franchise is a giant in the world of animated movies. The movie series has enough fun and colorful characters to keep children entertained for dozens of rewatches and they also have enough references to real-world motorsports and automotive history to keep parents and other gearheads engaged. Characters like the "Fabulous" Hudson Hornet (voiced by real-world automotive and movie icon Paul Newman) is based off of a real car -- the Hudson Hornet from the 1950s, itself a racing legend. Similarly, the character known as "The King" is based on Ricard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird and is voiced by Richard Petty himself.

Lightning McQueen, the star of the movies (you could argue that Mater was the star of Cars 2), however, is a little harder to pin down when it comes to a specific car he is based on. He is more of a combination of different historic race cars from a number of decades than a specific car like The King or the Hudson Hornet.