- "What's wrong with Red?"
- —Lightning McQueen, ”Cars”
Red is a silent fire truck who serves as Radiator Springs' local fire truck and firefighter.
History
Cars
In Cars, Red spends a normal night watering his flowers around the statue of the founder of Radiator Springs, Stanley by the courthouse. When racecar Lightning McQueen drives out of control into town, after getting lost, Red immediately takes cover and becomes shocked when McQueen accidentally destroys his flowers before watching him demolish the road by dragging Stanley's statue with him. McQueen then manages to cause Stanley's statue to fly off into the air, he saw it's falling, he takes cover again, and it land safely back to its proper place.
When Lightning McQueen comes into court the next day, Red was scared and looked sadly at him and watches the town's judge, Doc Hudson arrive and orders McQueen to leave town immediately. However, the town's attorney, Sally Carrera arrives and Red, along with the other townsfolk, agree with her to have McQueen fix the road so Doc sentences him to community service. As Lightning fixes the road by pulling Bessie, he gets his lucky lightning bolt sticker covered in tar and asks Red to help clean it off, but Red takes the flowers he was watering and drives away as he's still resentful towards the race car for killing his flowers last night. When McQueen tries to speed up his progress, Red is horrified to see the road all bumpy and drives away, crying when McQueen makes a mean comment about it. Later, Red watches Lightning and Doc do a one-lap race around Willy's Butte and looks confused when Doc stays at the starting line when the race before watching him drive, taking Mater along with him. Red witnesses McQueen fall into a cactus pit where he is fished out by Mater and forced to fix the road at a slower pace.
The next day, when half of the road is fixed, Red joins his friends in playfully driving on the new road. As McQueen continues to fix the road, Red cleans the Leaning Tower of Tires at Luigi's Casa Della Tires before he is asked by Sally to clean McQueen who was covered in bits of cactus after failing to make another turn on the dirt track. Red takes McQueen by surprise by spraying him with his hose and getting every bits of cactus off him before he is thanked by Sally and leaves.
On the next day, Red is seen at Flo's V8 Café where Lightning announces that Doc used to be a famous race car, but nobody believes him. Red then watches Lightning leave with Sally to go out for a drive. Later, Red waters his flowers again by the courthouse while Ramone paints yellow broken lines onto the new road when they see a stampede of tractors coming towards them. Red, not wanting his flowers to get destroyed again, honks his horn very loudly where most of the tractors tip over while the rest of them roam around town.
When Lightning McQueen finishes fixing the road the next morning, Red believes McQueen has already left to go do his race in California and drives away, crying as Red apparently started to take a liking to the race car. However, McQueen did not leave and Red watches him get new tires from Luigi and Guido. After McQueen gets a makeover, Red turns on a radio after Lizzie forgets to do so where all of the town's shops newly fixed neon lights turn on. Red then joins his friends in partying around and having fun before the press suddenly arrives and takes McQueen away due to being informed of Lightning McQueen's whereabouts by Doc. Red sadly watches McQueen leave before going back to his fire station.
Doc, regretting his decision, tells everyone of his time being a race car and grabs a handful of Radiator Springs' residents to support Lightning McQueen at the race in California while Red, Lizzie, and Sally stay behind. As Red, Lizzie, and Sally watch the race on TV, Red chuckles when Lizzie forgets that Doc is at the race when she sees him on TV. Red continues to cheer for Lightning and smiles when he sees him forgo his chance to win the Piston Cup by helping Strip Weathers Aka The King cross the finish line after Chick Hicks caused him to crash. Radiator Springs is then put back on the map after McQueen sets up his racing headquarters there and Red continues spending time and having fun with his friends.
Mater and the Ghostlight
In Mater and the Ghostlight, Red is first seen with the rest of the townsfolk at Flo's V8 Café, listening to Sheriff tell his story about the Ghostlight. He later helps them prank Mater into thinking he is being chased by the Ghostlight by attaching a lamp to his tow hook.
Cars: Mater-National Championship
In Cars: Mater-National Championship, he makes two very quick cameos. He is seen providing the waterfall in North Willy's Butte, and roaming around the fields in the background of Tractor Tipping.
Cars Toons
Rescue Squad Mater
In Rescue Squad Mater, he appears watering his flowers when Lightning McQueen and Mater were passing him. Then that made Mater decide to make up a story about when he was a fire truck.
Hiccups
In Hiccups, he tries to cure McQueen's hiccups by shooting water at him.
Bugged
In Bugged, he plays as the protagonist for the first (and only) time, and is voiced by Jerome Ranft.
Spinning
In Spinning, he makes a short appearance in the crowd while watching Guido performing his spinning moves with a sign.
The Radiator Springs 500½
In The Radiator Springs 500½, Red appears in the crowd of cars that are celebrating Radiator Springs' origins, and honoring Stanley.
To Protect and Serve
Red is set to appear in To Protect and Serve, as revealed by a screenshot released by Disney. Exact details about his role are unknown.
The World of Cars Online
In The World of Cars Online, Red could often be found at the courthouse in Radiator Springs, next to Stanley. After a few moments there, he goes to Redhood Valley, and then returns to the courthouse.
Cars 2
Red reappears in Cars 2. His actor, Joe Ranft in a cruel twist of irony died in a car accident during the making of Cars in 2005. In consequence, Red does not speak in Cars 2. In the film, he appears with the other Radiator Springs residents congratulating Lightning McQueen on coming back home, as well as at the Wheel Well Motel when Francesco Bernoulli is insulting Mater and McQueen agrees to compete in the World Grand Prix. He only makes a small appearance at the airport, crying as he sees 'Team Lightning McQueen' taking off for Tokyo. He comes with most of the rest of the Radiator Springs residents (except Lizzie and Mack) to London after Lightning called them to try to talk to Mater, who was missing at the time. He also appears in the battle against the lemons, where he arrives just in time to blast some of the lemons away, including J. Curby Gremlin and some black Gremlins, with his fire hose and is seen briefly when Mater and the others return to their hometown, and when they are watching the Radiator Springs Grand Prix.
Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure
In Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure, Red makes a cameo at the end of the track in the first level of Cars in the game, as well as in the background of the ending cut-scene.
Cars 3
Red reappears in the third film, with no speaking roles again.
Pixar Popcorn
Unparalleled Parking, Red can be seen staring at them while some residents of the town play the parking game.
General information
Physical description
Red is a 1950 Torchy Truck Co. Firetruck. He is based on 1960s style fire trucks, most closely resembling a mid-1960s Pirsch pumper, but also resembles American LaFrance models. His license plate reads "002". Red is painted almost entirely red, with the exception of his doors, which have the Radiator Springs Courthouse & Fire Department logo on them. He is equipped with many firefighting tools, such as a ladder and several hoses.
Personality and traits
Red is one of the shyest characters in the series, and as such, rarely says any lines, mostly making simple noises as his dialog. He is very emotional, and will often get upset if something bad happens to something or someone.
Powers and abilities
Red is very talented at fighting fires due to his high-pressured monitor, able to launch water at high velocities and intensities, and his abilities came in handy during the final fight scene against J. Curby Gremlin, Tubbs Pacer, Victor Hugo and Vladimir Trunkov in Cars 2, where he sprays water to knock them out.
List of appearances
- For this subject's list of appearances, see Red/Appearances.
Official profiles
Car Finder Game
- Red may not be a fire truck of many words, but what he doesn't say, he shows through his generous actions. Whether its putting out a tire fire or caring for the beautiful flowers, Red is there to support and protect his beloved town. Red takes negative comments on the town very personally. So if you have something bad to say about Radiator Springs, you'd better watch out, because if there's one thing Red's not afraid of, it's his emotions.
The Official Magazine (Swedish)
- Rödis är en skicklig brandbekämpare. Han är tystlåten, men känd för sin generositet och sitt mod.
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Red/Gallery.
Names in other languages
- Bulgarian: Ред (transcription: Red)
- Croatian: Žarko
- Czech: Ruda
- Danish: Røde
- Dutch: Rood
- Estonian:
- Prits
- Pritsuga
- Finnish: Puna
- Hungarian: Piros
- Japanese: レッド
- Korean: 레드
- Latvian:
- Guni
- Sarkanā
- Lithuanian: Redas
- Norwegian: Rødfjes
- Polish: Edek
- Portuguese: Ruivo
- Romanian: Roșu
- Russian: Шланг (transcription: Shlang)
- Spanish: Rojo
- Swedish: Rödis
- Turkish: Kırmızı
- Ukrainian: Шланг (transcription: Shlang)
Audio Files
Horn
| First used | Last used | Sound Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Cars | Active |
Trivia
- Red was originally meant to speak, according to a televised interview with John Lassetter, but due to Joe Ranft's passing before he got the chance to record those lines. out of respect for Joe, Pixar completely dropped the idea of him speaking.[1]
- This is the final character to be voiced by Joe Ranft before his death in 2005. Jerry Recycled Batteries, on the other hand, is Ranft's last speaking role, since Red's dialogue is only restricted to sobbing.
- Strangely enough, in Cars. his lips can be seen moving while talking to an interviewer when McQueen was being taken away from Radiator Springs, although no dialogue is heard, suggesting he does speak in some form off-screen except for the said scene, but it is unknown if this was intentional or not.
- Red is the first Cars character whose original actor died, succeeded by Fillmore, Doc Hudson, El Machismo, Lynda Weathers and Lizzie. He was also the only Cars character whose actor died before the first film came out.
- Red's name matches his color, which is why his name is "Red".
- A possible toy version of Red was seen in the Butterfly Room in Toy Story 3.
- A fire engine bearing a resemblance to Red is seen in The Incredibles.
- During recording sessions, the late Joe Ranft managed to manipulate Red's emotional sound effects in the same order as Heimlich the caterpillar from A Bug's Life. The difference between Heimlich's whimpers and Red's cries were the pitch levels of sound effects that were processed in editing after Joe Ranft's recording session. Heimlich's whimpers were high-pitched in the performance scene of A Bug's Life, whereas Red's cries were low-pitched and deeper in the sound mix before the film was made.
- Red in Cars: Mater-National Championship had two versions: in North Willys Butte he is a very basic, untextured model. But in Tractor Tipping, he is a very detailed model.
- Red's role in The World of Cars Online got severely diminished. A minigame named Red's firefighting game! was never added in the final version of the game, even though it appeared in the game's trailer. Also according to the trailer, he was planned to be a racer in Willy's Butte Rally, but he got replaced when the game officially opened.