The Art of Cars

My friend Jim Conkle of the Route 66 Preservation Foundation and Steve Maynes, who is spearheading the Route 66 festival that Albuquerque is hosting in June, were in Oklahoma this week to visit with Michael Wallis and the folks at the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore about naming the Mother Road’s annual MVP award (formerly known as the John Steinbeck Award) after Oklahoma’s favorite son. Jim reports that all systems are go to use Will Rogers’ name in connection with the award.

When the guys got done with their meeting, they came back to Tulsa and met me for dinner at the 5 & Diner, the wonderful chrome diner that Larry and Pat Wofford have put in next to their gorgeous Route 66-themed Harley-Davidson dealership.

Seeing Jim would have been enough of a treat (he is the only person I know who gives Hollywood-style hugs — he scoops me up in a big hug and literally sweeps me off my feet every time he sees me), but Michael managed to one-up him by showing me an advance copy of his latest literary effort, The Art of Cars, which he co-authored with his wife, Suzanne.

I didn’t get to read the text, but I saw the pictures, and they are beautiful. There aren’t a lot of images from the movie itself; most of the illustrations (and there are many) are sketches by the Pixar artists as they came up with the characters and settings for the film.

I had only a few minutes to look at the book, between bits of conversation with Jim and Michael and Steve, but here are a few highlights:

1. There’s a drawing in there that shows a collection of souvenir bumper stickers. Best one: “I kissed Harley at the Sandhills Curiousity Shop.” I want one of those for my car. I might even kiss Harley to get it. 😉

2. There’s a multipage spread on the interior of the Cozy Cone Motel. The illustration shows a sign on the floor in the office that says, “Need a wake-up honk?” and a 1950s-era boomerang table that looked as if it could have been designed by one of Charles and Ray Eames’ contemporaries. There are also sketches showing all the various ways cones were incorporated into the decor in the office and around the premises, including inverted cones that serve as flowerpots (suspended from macrame hangers, which of course thrills my hippie soul) and a collection of cone-themed souvenirs. The level of detail these animators put into the worlds they create is obvious from looking at their sketches and the little notes they write all over them. They had an arrow pointing to a framed picture and a note that said something like, “plain wooden frame.” Nothing appears by accident in these movies. Every microscopic detail is calculated to create a particular effect or elicit a particular memory or emotion from the audience.

3. Visual showing a hood-ornament-shaped mesa with a big slice carved out of the middle of it to make way for the interstate. You see a lot of that in New Mexico, where 66 slips gently around the mesas and rock formations, while the interstate goes smashing through them with no respect for the millions of years of history (and prehistory) that they represent.

4. A photograph near the front of the book shows the late Joe Ranft standing next to a rusty tow truck in Kansas. Michael tells me that Ranft was quite taken with the truck, which became the prototype for Mater.

5. Sketches of previously unseen parts of town, including several marvelous neon signs. One, on a defunct motel, says, “Glenrio Motel.” Down the block from the Glenrio Motel are a couple more heartbreaking images of businesses that didn’t survive the onslaught of the interstates. Art imitates life.

6. After dinner, Michael got the book out again and read part of it to me — a little riff he wrote about the superslab and its impact on 66. Note to self: Buy waterproof mascara to wear to that sneak preview at the governor’s mansion.

In other news, Jim tells me that the 2006 Route 66 awards banquet will include a special writers’ award. Over Michael’s emphatic protests, Jim is calling it the Michael Wallis Award.

Jim is seeking nominations for the Will Rogers Award (for significant contributions to Route 66), the Cyrus Avery Award (for historic preservation projects on Route 66), and the aforementioned Michael Wallis Award. Start thinking about deserving candidates. Details about how to submit your nominations will be posted as they become available.

If you are planning to attend the awards banquet or other activities during the June 22-25 festival, Steve encourages you to visit the Web site, where you can sign up to join the festivities.

Finally, if you happen to be in Tulsa, Route 66 Harley-Davidson has a beautiful mini-museum that’s definitely worth a visit. The exhibits include signage and artifacts from Buffalo Ranch; Michael’s customized Heritage Softail (“the bike I nearly died on,” he says, referring to his 2002 run-in with an inattentive SUV driver); and more postcards, matchbooks, keyrings, and other souvenirs and goodies than you can shake a stick at. They also have a photo booth and pressed-penny machine in the lobby. Even if you’re not a biker, you’ll have fun looking at all the stuff in the shop.

Emily (the Red Fork Hippie Chick)