What Kind of Car Is Lightning McQueen? All About the Pixar Car

The 2006 Disney movie Cars gave us the chance to see vehicles we use every day in a brand-new light. With a lovable tracker and a pit crew of supporters, the film's lead — Lightning McQueen — went from a rookie racer to an up--and-coming star with his own catchphrase: "Ka-Chow!"

Over the years, two more Cars movies would come out following the story of Lightning McQueen as he faces new struggles and rivals. But there is still one question about the star we want an answer to.

Fans are curious: What kind of car is Lightning McQueen? The famous race car has a signature look that's hard to forget, but that also means it's been hard for people to pinpoint his exact make and model. It turns out his design might be an inspiration in design for car lovers everywhere. And now, we may even get to see him again in a fourth Cars movie.

According to the Cars Fandom, Lightning is a 2006 Custom-Built Piston Cup Racing stock car. He can go from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds in the first movie, but by Cars 2, he can reach that speed in only 3.2 seconds.

HITC reports that he didn't get his look modeled after one car. Instead, it's been modeled after two: the Chevrolet Corvette C1 (produced from 1953–1962) and the Chevrolet Corvette C6 (produced from 2004–2013).

Fans who saw Cars 2 know that in this movie, Lightning got some work done. In the first movie, he didn't have headlights. Instead, he had stickers where they would have been. Because race tracks are so bright, the cars made for them don't need lights of their own. But in the second movie we see he's finally got a set.

In the first Cars movie, Lightning meets his girlfriend, Sally Carrera. She eventually starts making fun of his lack of headlights by calling him "Stickers." But even though he gets them in the second movie, she still calls him that.

Unfortunately, there's been no official announcement about a fourth Cars film — but for now, fans can look forward to a Cars spinoff show called Cars on the Road, coming to Disney Plus coming in fall 2022.

And it looks like SNL had some thoughts of its own about a fourth Cars flick. A 2021 skit features the voice actor behind Lightning — Owen Wilson — going into a recording booth to record for a supposed Cars 4. But once he starts, he notices that some of the lines in his "script" are questionable at best, and he has a lot of questions about what exactly is going on here.

Although we might not actually get to see a fourth Cars movie, you can watch all three of the previous ones and other content from that universe on Disney Plus now.