A new creation by the Hart Puzzles company features a collage of the work of deceased Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire.
Waldmire’s brother Buz flagged the company’s offering:
The 1,000-piece puzzle can be ordered directly here for $24.99.
Bob Waldmire, a self-avowed hippie who also was the unofficial inspiration to Fillmore in the movie “Cars,” died in December 2009 of abdominal cancer. He was 64.
His detailed pen-and-ink artwork, which resembles Robert Crumb‘s, of Route 66 locations hangs in many homes across the globe.
Waldmire had traveled Route 66 for more than three decades. He gained international attention when he owned the Hackberry General Store in Hackberry, Arizona, for five years. He eventually sold the store, which is still operating, and built a winter home in the mountains of southern Arizona.
His celebrity continued to grow, culminating with winning the prestigious John Steinbeck Award at the Steinbeck Awards Dinner in 2004.
Waldmire’s link to Route 66 was multi-tiered. His father founded the Cozy Dog Drive-In restaurant in Springfield, Illinois, and is a Route 66 legend in its own right.
He served as the unofficial inspiration for the VW minibus named Fillmore in the 2006 animated hit movie “Cars” by Disney-Pixar. The minibus originally was going to be named Waldmire, but he refused to allow it because toys bearing his name would have been placed in McDonald’s Happy Meals, violating his vegetarian principles. Bob’s decision potentially kept him from lucrative earnings, but he expressed no regrets about it.
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VIVA BOB!!