Mater the Tow Truck - Disney Pixar Cars
Engine: V-8 engine, 2 bbl carburetor that runs on 6 or 7 cylinders
Mater The Tow Truck was inspired by a 1951 International Harvester L-170 "boom" truck with elements of a mid-1950s Chevrolet One-Ton Wrecker Tow Truck or GMC. His color was originally baby blue, as shown in a flashback; however, over the years, he has rusted into a patchwork light brown/orange color, with some of the blue still showing through. He is missing his hood and his left headlight.
Disney Cars Mater, good ol' boy tow truck with a big heart may a bit rusty on the outside, but he has the quickest towrope in Carburetor County and is always the first to lend a helping hand.
Sweet and loyal to a fault, Mater befriends Cars Lightning McQueen and sees his potential as his new best friend, despite his many flaws. The self-proclaimed "world's best backwards driver," Mater gets his kicks "tractor tipping" when he's not running "Tow-Mater Towing and Salvage."
He takes a shine to the ostentatious Lightning McQueen and takes the red hot racer under his wing, introducing him to the mischief-making sport of tractor-tipping.
His color was originally baby blue, as shown in a flashback; however, over the years, he has rusted into a patchwork light brown/orange color, with some of the blue still showing through. He is missing his hood and his left headlight. In the credits he managed to fish his hood (which has more of its original color on it than the rest of Mater does) from a cliff up in Tailfin Pass, but then sneezed, causing it to fall back down the cliff. His license plate number is A113. His final personality was based on his voice actor, Larry the Cable Guy, and he uses many of Larry's catchphrases, including "Git-R-Done" during the final race sequence and "I don't care who you are; that's funny right there" during the tractor tipping scene, among others.
Real life replicas of Mater and Lightning are shown at Disney's California Adventure at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA and Disney's Hollywood Studios of Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL. In addition unofficial replicas have been created by fans of the movie.
Cars Mater-National is a title for video game consoles and handhelds released on October 30, 2007 by THQ. It is the sequel to the popular Cars video game based on the Cars film from Pixar. The game focuses on the first ever Mater-National race held in Radiator Springs by Lightning McQueen and features an improved world as well as new characters. Mike and Sulley from Monster Trucks, Inc are going to be in the video game and Sulley will be racing with all the monster trucks, Monster Truck Lightning and Monster Truck Mater. Mike will be featured in a minigame which involves picking up "laugh canisters". Some other characters featured are Emma, the reigning rally car champ in England and Philip whom also comes from Great Britain but has difficulty remembering to drive on the right side of the road. Gudmund, an 80's rally car from Sweden that bears a resemblance to the Audi Quattro, meets Lightning in Ornament Valley. Other new characters are Otto, a Germany tuner car who doesn't understand the concept of speed limits, Koji, a Japanese drift car who has perfected drifting to a science and can speak a little English, and Giovanni, a tough-looking but very nice Ferrari from Italy.
Mater runs "Tow Mater Towing and Salvage." Along with Pixar Cars movie, Tow Mater also stars in an animated short, Mater and the Ghostlight, and acts as an announcer in the Cars video game. He speaks with a thick Southern accent with a bit of hillbilly twang, and often misspells words or uses incorrect syntax. Mater is also the (self-proclaimed) world champion backwards driver. He attributes his skill to his rear-view mirrors and his own philosophy: "Don't need to know where I'm going, just need to know where I've been." In the movie, Mater befriends and supports Lightning throughout his adventure in Radiator Springs. In the end, McQueen gives Mater an opportunity to fly in a Dinoco helicopter like he always wanted. His name is a pun on "tomato" as pronounced in his accent (when introducing himself to Lightning, he says, "My name's Mater, as in tuh-mater but without the 'tuh'").
