Memorable research trips along Route 66 led the Pixar team to create the town of Radiator Springs in a high desert setting somewhere between Gallup, New Mexico, and Kingman, Arizona, where towns of broken neon, peeling paint, and colorful denizens still exist. “We connected with the people and their towns and we really got it,” Joe Ranft observed.  “We found out that life out on that old highway is never predictable, and that’s what makes the journey so much more memorable. We found the heartbeat of the Mother Road.”