Cars on the Route

The restoration of Cars on the Route is a story about four women, a derelict building, and the kind of grassroots Route 66 preservation that has defined the Mother Road's contemporary revival. In 2006, Melba Rigg, her sister Renee Charles, and twin sisters Betty Courtney and Judy Courtney — all from Galena and Joplin — saw the Pixar team's interest in Route 66 and decided that Galena needed to capitalize on the upcoming Cars release. The 1934 Kan-O-Tex station at 119 N Main was abandoned, boarded up, and quietly deteriorating; the four women bought it, raised funds, and got to work restoring the building before the November 2006 film release.

The restoration was substantial. The structure needed roof work, masonry repair, period-appropriate paint, restored signage, and the recovery of the canopy over the pump island. The interior needed flooring, drywall, plumbing, and the build-out for the souvenir-shop operation. The four women did much of the work themselves, called in volunteers and contractors for the heavier tasks, and opened Cars on the Route in 2007 — a year after the film's release but in time to catch the Cars-fueled Route 66 tourism wave that the movie generated.

Cars on the Route is one of the genuine Route 66 success stories. The restoration converted a deteriorating building into a working community asset; the souvenir shop sustains itself commercially; and the photo stop in the parking lot has become one of the most reliable visitor experiences anywhere on the Mother Road. The four women's work is also a useful example of what grassroots Route 66 preservation can accomplish — small towns, local volunteers, and modest budgets can produce results that rival much larger institutional efforts.

The Tow Tater truck is a 1951 International Harvester L-170 boom truck — a working tow vehicle from the early 1950s that ended up in Galena and sat abandoned for decades before Pixar's research team encountered it. The truck's defining visual features — the central grille bent inward into a 'buck-toothed' configuration, the patches of original paint over the dominant rust, the boom rig still mounted on the bed — translated directly into Tow Mater's animation design. John Lasseter and the Pixar team drove Route 66 multiple times in the early 2000s while developing Cars, and Tow Tater was one of the specific real-world references they incorporated into the film.

The connection is more than incidental. Tow Mater is one of Cars' main characters — Lightning McQueen's best friend, the rusty tow truck of Radiator Springs, and the central comic figure of the franchise. The character has appeared in three feature films, multiple spinoffs, theme-park attractions at Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney World, and an enormous merchandise line. The fact that the original visual inspiration sits in a parking lot in Galena, Kansas — freely accessible, freely photographable, no admission charged — is the kind of authentic Route 66 detail that the Mother Road's preservation has consistently delivered.

Children visiting Cars on the Route frequently arrive primed by the movies and leave engaged with the real-world heritage. Tow Tater is the bridge — a beloved animated character translated back into the rusty truck that started it. Parents report that the visit converts Route 66 from an abstract historical concept into a tangible family experience, and Cars on the Route has become one of the more reliable child-friendly stops on the entire Mother Road.

The station is at 119 N Main Street in downtown Galena, on the southwest corner of Main and 7th, easily found and easily parked. Tow Tater is in the parking lot to the side of the building, visible from the street and accessible without entering the shop. Photographs of the truck are free, expected, and encouraged — the shop's owners explicitly want visitors to enjoy the photo stop regardless of whether they spend money inside.

The interior shop sells Route 66 souvenirs, Cars-themed merchandise, t-shirts, postcards, magnets, and various Kansas-specific items. The shop is small but well-curated; merchandise quality is meaningfully above the typical roadside-souvenir baseline, and prices are reasonable. Many travelers leave with at least a postcard or magnet as a token of the stop.

Plan 15-45 minutes for a full visit including photos, shop browsing, and conversation with the staff. The four owners or their team members are frequently present, and they enjoy talking with visitors about the restoration, the Pixar connection, and the broader Galena Route 66 story. The Cars on the Route stop combines naturally with the rest of the Kansas 13-mile Route 66 experience — Riverton and Baxter Springs are within 15-20 minutes by car, and a full Kansas Route 66 day can easily include Cars on the Route, the Eisler Bros store in Riverton, the Brush Creek Rainbow Bridge, and the Baxter Springs Heritage Center.