If you had to single out one vehicle to answer the question "What car is Lightning McQueen?" the best answer would be a Gen 4 NASCAR. These purpose-built tube-frame machines are the canonical ...

NASCAR, especially to non-fans ... that features heavily in Lightning McQueen. At the time, this design was a futuristic departure from the much squarer themes that preceded it.

I don’t know who he was talking to saying he might be too old to watch the movie, but I’m sure everybody knows about the ‘Ka-chow’ because everybody has seen Lightning McQueen.” ...