Red (Cars)

Red is a timid shy firetruck and supporting character in the Cars franchise. He was voiced by late Pixar story artist Joe Ranft (who died in a wreck before the film's release) and currently Joe's brother Jerome in most other appearances.

Red doesn't speak much (aside from sobbing, gasping, and grunting).

Personality

Red is a very shy, emotional and friendly fire truck who lives in a firehouse in Radiator Springs, where the statue of Lizzie's late husband Stanley (the town's patriarch) appears.

History

Cars

Red is first seen watering his flowers when Lightning McQueen spun out of control and accidentally destroyed his flowers, much to Red's horror. Red began gasping and ducking at the same time when that happened. At this point, he stayed inside the garage of the firehouse when McQueen was at the scene of destroying a lot of property in Radiator Springs. It was stated by Mater that Red hated Lightning McQueen, because of that incident. It is clear that Red had forgiven Lightning McQueen and warmed up to him, especially when he burst into tears and fled. This was because he thought that Lightning McQueen left without saying goodbye (which he didn't, but was forced to do later).

Cars 2

Red reappears in Cars 2 as a non-speaking character. He appears with the other Radiator Springs residents congratulating McQueen on coming back home, as well as when Francesco is insulting Mater and McQueen agrees to compete in the World Grand Prix. He only makes a small appearance at the airport, crying as he sees 'Team McQueen' taking off for Tokyo. He comes with most of the rest of the Radiator Springs residents (except Lizzie and Mack) to London after McQueen called them to try to talk to Mater, who was missing at the time. He also appears in the battle against the Lemons, where he arrives just in time to blast some of the Lemons away with his fire hose and is seen briefly when Mater and the others return to their hometown, and when they are watching the Radiator Springs Grand Prix.

Cars Toons

Red appears in the Cars Toons: Rescue Squad Mater, Hiccups, Bugged, and Spinning. In Bugged, he plays as the protagonist for the first time, and is voiced by Jerome Ranft, Joe's brother (and Pixar sculptor). However, he does not have any actual dialogue, except grunting and sighing.

Trivia

During recording sessions, the late Joe Ranft managed to manipulate Red's emotional sound effects in the same order as he did Heimlich the caterpillar from A Bug's Life. The difference between Heimlich's whimpers and Red's cries were the pitch levels of sound effects that were processed in editing after Joe's recording session. Heimlich's whimpers were high-pitched whereas Red's cries were low-pitched and deeper in the sound mix before the first film was made.