When the Engines Started Talking

After World War II, dozens of ghost towns along the old Route 66 were abandoned. Cars left on the roadside were found mysteriously repositioned — as if they had been driven at night.

Truckers in the 1960s reported hearing voices through their CB radios — not from humans, but from engines. The whispers always repeated the same question: “Where did everyone go?”

Some mechanics claimed that when they restored old vehicles, the cars would “remember” places that no longer existed — diners, gas stations, people with no records.

Pixar’s Cars wasn’t just fantasy; its creators studied the route and interviewed locals who believed their vehicles had souls. They said the film was meant as a love letter to small towns… but if you look closely, every town in Cars is based on a real place that died.

Maybe, in some way, the cars just… kept going.