Erick Oklahoma Route 66 attractions inspired Pixar’s Tow Mater

/ Roadtirementvintage

When traveling east on Interstate 40 into Oklahoma from Texas you should take Exit 7 and head south into the town of Erick and Old Route 66. This former boom town was founded in 1901 but fell into trouble after WW II. The main street is filled with several nice old brick buildings that unfortunately are mostly empty.

Sand Hill Curiosity Shop covered in antique relics

Of special interest in Erick is the relic adorned “City Meat Market” building. This brick is covered in old signs the likes of which would make any antique picker green with envy. This is the current home to the Sand Hill Curiosity Shop. We did not hit Erick on a day that the shop was open, which was too bad.

Remember S&H Green Stamps?

A local shared that the shop is owned and operated by a pair of characters named Annabelle and Harley, AKA the Mediocre Musicians. They will play and sing for you if you catch them there.  He also said that the Sand Hill Curiosity Shop served as the primary inspiration for Disney’s Pixar “Cars”, specifically responsible for the character Tow Mater and the Radiator Springs Curios shop.

5 thoughts on “Erick Oklahoma Route 66 attractions inspired Pixar’s Tow Mater”

  3. This year is the 100th anniversary of Route 66. One of my YouTube pals is celebrating by traveling the length of the road from Santa Monica to Chicago.

    Most every town he passes through claims to be the inspiration for the “Cars” movie. They are partly correct because the whole of Route 66 was the inspiration.

    However, the Sand Hill Curiosity Shop was specifically the inspiration of the Curios shop in the movie. As for Tow Mater, replicas can be found all along the route, but Pixar said the inspiration was actually a rusty, 1951 International Harvester L-170 boom truck found in Galena, Kansas. (Seen below.)

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