The "History" Behind Radiator Springs | Seligman, Arizona History on a Route 66 Road Trip

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Imagine driving down a sun-drenched two-lane highway in northern Arizona in

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the 1950s, surrounded by vintage cars, packed diners, and gleaming chrome.

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Route 66 was in its golden era, buzzing with cross-country

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road trips and returning World War II veterans heading west.

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Then, in September 1978, the interstate bypassed the town overnight.

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In a single afternoon, the roaring stream of traffic vanished.

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Diners went quiet, motels emptied, and the bustling Main Street was

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threatened with becoming a ghost town, the exact heartbreak depicted

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in Pixar's animated classic, Cars

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Instead of fading away, a local barber named Angel Delgadillo took a stand.

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In 1987, he and his neighbors organized to declare this stretch the birthplace of

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Historic Route 66, successfully lobbying Arizona to preserve the road and launching

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the grassroots movement that revived the Mother Road across the country.

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When Pixar director John Lasseter traveled Route 66 scouting locations

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in 2001, he sat in Angel's barber chair for hours listening to those stories.

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And from that small town grit, Radiator Springs was born.

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Welcome to Talk with History.

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One filmmaker, one historian, leading history-inspired world

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travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.

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I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife, and historian, Jenn.

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Hello.

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Today, our Route 66 centennial road trip pulls right onto the real-life

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Main Street that inspired Pixar's Radiator Springs, Seligman, Arizona.

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If you've ever watched Cars and gotten emotional during the flashback montage

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when the interstate comes in, walking through Seligman will give you chills.

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We're taking you inside Angel Delgadillo's historic barber shop,

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where those conversations with Pixar actually took place, exploring the

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vintage storefronts and neon signs and showing why this town is known as

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the birthplace of Route 66 revival.

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We'll also talk about the town's origin from an 1880s railroad hub to a

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post-war boom town, what it's like to hit the longest continuous stretch of

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original Route 66, and our fun encounter holding original 1960s highway signs

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with Big Mike at Route 66 Road Relics.

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I'm Scott Bennie, so turn your headlights on for a cruise down Main Street.

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We're exploring the real Radiator Springs in Seligman, Arizona.

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Okay, Jenn.

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This was a fun one.

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Mm-hmm.

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This was one, I think when we planned the Route 66 road trip,

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this was kind of like an anchor.

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This was one of the first ones we basically knew we were gonna do.

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Gateway Arch, Cadillac Ranch, and Seligman were, like, three we knew

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for a fact we were gonna stop there because these are absolute must-visits

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when you're driving Route 66.

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Yes, and, you know, we are fans of the movie Cars because we have

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two boys, and, uh, I remember… Uh, Cars came out in 2006.

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Our oldest was born in 2011, but I remember not really watching that movie

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when it first came out because we were not kids- Yeah … and we didn't care.

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But when we had kids and then they were old enough to kind of be interested

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in it, I watched it with my son, and I didn't really know the story of Route 66.

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I was not really aware of the history.

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And so that movie, when it shows how much, how vital Route 66 was to America,

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but as soon as Interstate 40 goes in, how people just stop going and stop visiting.

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And so many people had built their lives and their businesses along

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Route 66, basically lost everything.

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And that- Radiator Springs, that town and that depiction of how close it is off of

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40, but how much 40 just cut it off, um, is really depicted in, in S- in Seligman.

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Yeah, and it's one of those things that it's, it's kind of that story of the

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highway by- bypassing the, the s- the Americana that you can see on the country-

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in the American countryside, right?

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The, the, especially in the West.

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That story wasn't really a thing- Mm-hmm … until the movie Cars was made.

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Yes.

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Right?

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So that, a- and we look back on it now, I mean, it's 20 years after the fact-

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Mm-hmm

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… and we're like, "Oh yeah, you know, that story's always kind of been

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there." And that's not true, right?

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The, I mean, they were scouting this movie in 2001.

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Yes.

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So if you think about it, 20 years before that is about when

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th- this, this town was bypassed.

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Yeah.

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A little over 20 years.

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And so that wasn't there until Cars came out, and so they were, you know,

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the, the Pixar folks, you know, props to them for coming up with this idea

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of like, "Oh, we should travel…" Now, Route 66 was still a thing.

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It was.

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We've talked about it.

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It's been in pop culture and, um,

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it- But it was a thing for the generations before, right?

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Yes.

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Like, you talked about World War II, and we'll talk about that the

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World War II veterans coming home really stopped in Seligman, right?

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Because they were driving, they were making their American dream, they were up,

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you know, picking up, uh, themselves and, and finding new places to live, and they

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were driving Route 66 heading out west.

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So they would stop there, and that was a lot of, like, where that

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commerce happened, where those, uh, hotels and drugstores, they were

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really revitalized in World War II.

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So that generation would remember it, right?

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That generation would be like, "We should stop. This is where your

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mo- your grandma and I stopped."

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But it was the next generation- Yeah … our generation, who really

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didn't appreciate what Route 66 was or is until Cars really revitalized it.

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So that's what I would say.

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It was one of those where the generations before us really knew Route 66, but

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we were, all we knew was interstate.

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Yeah.

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And so we were not aware of what was there beforehand until Cars came out, and Cars

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really, like, gave it a lot of heart.

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And for me, it was one of those things where I, I remember

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just crying watching it.

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You, and you even mention that in the video.

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Yeah.

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And I was like, "We- I wanna travel this. How important is this road?" And

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that's when you, you reach back and you find it, Grapes of Wrath, right?

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And, and you know it's there, but now you really wanna, like, be a

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part of it, and drive it, and see it.

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So this was our way to take our kids and drive it.

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We- I've been showing you the license plate we've got, uh, along

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the way, so you can kind of see Seligman is right here in Arizona

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right after we did the Grand Canyon.

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And so we're heading out to California here.

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Um, and we talk about this being one of the longest continuous original

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routes, because from California all the way out here and past

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Seligman is an original route.

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And we stopped at that sign that you could see, uh, and know that this

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is an original route of Route 66.

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But it really is parallel to the 40.

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I- I mean, you can almost see the 40 from Seligman.

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Like, when we stopped, and I'll show… I'll, I'll cut over some B-roll of us, you

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know, at the sign kind of outside of town.

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But we, uh… Y- you can essentially see the 40 from where we're at.

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Now, the one thing I will say is this was probably one of the easier

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stretches of Route 66 to drive because you're going through Seligman, so it's

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actually probably a little bit better maintained, and you're driving closer to

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highway, typical highway speeds- Mm-hmm

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right?

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Probably not, like, 70 to 80 miles an hour like you would on the 40.

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We were doing 65, maybe 70 or something like that.

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Yeah, and it was straightaways- Yeah … not like driving to Oatman.

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Wasn't, wasn't curvy.

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And we'll talk about Oatman.

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Uh, well, we've, we've, we've mentioned it briefly before.

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Yeah.

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Maybe we'll talk about it at the end of this, because we're kind of starting

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to wrap up our Route 66 series here.

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So let's talk about the, the history and kind of where Seligman started.

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Now, I alluded to it in the beginning that it was really kind of the, the railroad.

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The trains came through there.

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Yes.

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So it really was, um, a, a wagon road and, uh, a stage road.

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And what's interesting is it was on Beale's Wagon Road.

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And I was looking this up, and I was like, wagon- Beale's Wagon Road in

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1857 was an expedition led by Edward Fitzgerald Beale, and he was tasked

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with establishing a trade route along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith,

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Arkansas, to Los Angeles, California.

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Okay.

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So that's where this town starts.

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It's a stage stop, right?

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It's a stop along this route.

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And I'm like, Beale- We live in Memphis I

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was gonna say, is that like Beale Street?

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Is that Beale Street?

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Is it named for Edward Fitzgerald Beale?

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And it is.

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Really?

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Yeah, so our Beale Street in Memphis is named for the same man who

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started this road in 1857, uh, and that's where Seligman got its start.

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Oh,

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no way.

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So Beale Street is named for him.

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Uh, uh, he's part of Beale's Wagon Road.

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He basically was a, um, uh, uh, he was a, a veteran and an explorer,

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and he ends up in, uh, California.

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So yeah, so Beale is named for him.

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So think of it as one of these early routes, right?

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Sure.

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And you're definitely going through, uh, Indian country, right?

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Yeah.

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So this is all, uh, na- natives that live here.

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Uh, I f- wanna make sure I get their names right.

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The Havasupai?

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Yeah.

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That, that sounds right.

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I mean, 'cause Lake Havasu isn't- Mm-hmm … too far, is, is well-known in Arizona.

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Yep.

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So those are the people that live there.

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And, uh, so you're going through American Indian country as well,

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but you're making your way out west.

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That's the whole point, to get to LA.

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So it's a stage stop on the Mojave Road.

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Okay.

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So it's also taking you from the Mojave out west.

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Yep.

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So it's kinda like a crossroads of those two areas.

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So that's really where it gets its start.

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And so you can imagine when Route 66 comes through, it's looking for places

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where people can rest or get gas or stop.

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So this is already an established route, and so they, it make it part of Route 66.

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Yeah, and that's kind of the, that's the, the underlying story

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along all of Route 66, right?

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It's not that they're, they didn't know that the Highway 40 was the better way.

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Mm-hmm.

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Right?

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They were kinda connecting the dots, right?

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So they, they did the railroads first.

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Obviously, the railroads, everybody wants trade routes just like anywhere else.

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Mm-hmm.

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Any, any other country in the world.

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Yep.

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You're trying to get, you know, travel across the country so you can trade,

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so people can live and all the stuff.

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And so the railroad built this out.

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Pretty cool that we have our own Memphis tie- Yep … to Seligman with Mr. Beale.

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Yeah, with Mr. Beale.

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So it was originally called Prescott Junction because the railroad stop on the

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Santa Fe mainline was at that junction of Prescott and the Arizona Central Railway.

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So, uh, it really was a, you know, it starts as a stage stop.

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It becomes a railroad stop- Yep … uh, called Prescott Junction.

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And then, um, then it'll eventually be called, named Seligman.

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Uh, but it's original feeder line for the Santa Fe Railroad in 1891.

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So you can see how it's getting just- Bigger and bigger

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And so it makes sense that, you know, industry, a little bit of

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industry grew up there, right?

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There's hotels.

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Mm-hmm.

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There's a little city, everything like that, just like there would be

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anywhere else along a trade route coming through any country, right?

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Yeah.

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So along the, along the railroad, and then that's why it was known in the 1930s and

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'40s, people were out there traveling, and cars became more accessible.

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Travel across the country became more accessible, and so this was kind

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of its boom, you know, its golden era in those '30s, '40s, and '50s.

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Yeah, and it becomes… The reason why it, it gets renamed in 1886 to Seligman is,

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um, Jesse Seligman, one of the founders of the Seligman company in New York,

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helped finance those railroad lines.

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Oh, okay.

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So it's one of those, like, pay homage to the man- Sure … who's kind of

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making your town a dot on the map, right?

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Yeah, yeah.

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Yep.

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And so that's why it gets the name.

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It's named for a railroad man after it's already a stage stop.

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But what's neat about it is, like you had talked about, so many people had

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utilized Route 66 after World War II.

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You get all the baby boomers, right, who come home, get married, and wanna make

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their American dream story come true.

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They head west, right?

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And they're stopping along the way, and they stop in Seligman,

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and they stay at the hotel.

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They eat at the diner, and they have a good time.

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And, and so it's close enough to Los Angeles as well or California

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that sometimes people could go out there just for a trip, especially

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if that's where you're honeymooning or things along that nature.

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Um, when we talk about, uh, Oatman, they say Clark Gable

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actually honeymooned in Oatman.

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So it really was kind of not far enough away from Cali that people

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would come out there to kinda reminisce and remember the old times.

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So that's really where Seligman has its memories.

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It's from this- Yeah

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revitalization of World War II, and that's where these businesses are able to thrive.

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The barber shops are able to thrive.

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The drugstores are able to thrive, but it's… And, and that's also where

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once Interstate 40 goes in in 1978- The barber there actually tells that story.

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It's like the very next day, cars stop driving through Seligman.

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And it's just very sad because, like you said, it's so close to 40.

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It's like you can see the cars over there.

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I mean, it, it is quite literally right there.

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I'll, I'll cut over… I think I'd got some decent drone shots of just that sign

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that's just outside of town, and I'm, and I'm… The drone's kinda going up.

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It goes a couple hundred feet up, and it's looking down the road towards

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Seligman, and just off to the left, you can see, you know, just in the corner

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of, of the screen, you can see the 40.

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So it's right there.

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So Seligman, you know, it's gonna not, it's n- not gonna

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go down without a fight, right?

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So it tries to rename itself as the birthplace of Route 66.

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It tries to claim that because so many people did visit and

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stop during World War II.

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So 1987, it gets that moniker, Birthplace of Route 66.

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Now, I- we've- I've- we made this video.

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A lot of people comment, "Oh, it's not the birthplace. Tulsa's the birthplace,

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or St. Louis is the birthplace. There's Chicago." And yes, there's a

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lot of places that claim the capital Route 66 or the original Route 6…

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Like, there's a lot of those because everybody at that time was trying to

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bring back the tourism to their area.

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And so you can see, 1987, this is, uh, almost 10 years after 40

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has gone in, and they're trying to bring back the memories and this

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nostalgia and people to come here.

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So that's when it gets that official moniker, Birthplace of Route 66,

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and that's the sign as you're driving in, and that's kinda where

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we stop and, and tell that story.

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Now, this is '87.

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This is long before Cars and everything, but they're already trying to revitalize

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the, the industry, the tourist industry of what made Seligman, uh, popular-

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Yeah … what put it on the map.

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Yeah.

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So you can see, um, that wasn't because of Cars.

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But it's because of that and the story that Cars comes here and is

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so inspired, uh, by the barber.

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And what's neat is we actually got to go into that barbershop,

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sit in that barber chair-

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Yeah, they let you sit in it

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… and kind of realize the, the, the stories of this.

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And I always say that, um- Great storytelling is, has that real heart at

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the center of it, and that's what this is.

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So when you sit and Barbara Angel Delgadillo, he, the, the produ-

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like you said, the directors came in and, um, John La-

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Lasseter

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Lasseter came in and he told him that whole story of how that very

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next day cars stopped coming through, so many businesses had to close,

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so many people had to move away.

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It's a small town to begin with, but that was, that even

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devastated the town even more.

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And how he has kept going, but this has been really hard for them and how they

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just keep trying to find this resurgence.

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And so I think he was very inspired to tell that authentic story.

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Oh, yeah.

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And when you see Radiator Springs in Cars, and at the end when they show the

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map, and you show it, like, right off of 40, but then it's kind of comes back

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when people wanna visit because Lightning McQueen now lives there, that's his

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base camp, um, it's where Seligman is in

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Arizona.

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Y- yeah, and like any story or any, any storyteller, he, that's what

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they were out there looking for.

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Mm-hmm.

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He, they, he probably had the seed of an idea.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then he gets out there and talks to Angel Delgadillo in Seligman, who's been

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trying to kinda revitalize his hometown And he s- and it says, like, John Lasseter

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sat in his barber chair and listened to Angel Delgadillo tell stories for hours.

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And that- Is so authentic … that right there is the c- is so authentic,

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and it's, it's the core of it, and the nostalgia and all the things.

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And if you think about it, that's the core of the movie Cars.

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That's what made the movie so big.

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So not only does Seligman owe a lot to Cars, but Cars and, and Pixar owes a

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lot to, to Angel and to, to Seligman.

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And what's neat, when you go there today, they've embraced that.

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There's recreations of Lightning McQueen- Yeah, it was fun … and

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Tow Mater and the sheriff car.

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Like, they're all along the road.

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They are- have diners named for the Cars now, and it's really neat.

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We ate at the Road Runner Cafe, super cool.

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Uh, and we actually met, uh, Big Mike, and Big Mike had an original Route 66,

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they call them shields, a shield sign.

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And he said they were only produced in two states, Missouri-

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And California

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… and California.

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And I think he had an original Missouri one.

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Yep.

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And, uh, you can hold the sign, you can take a picture, uh, and he, he'll

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put it on his, uh, Facebook page.

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But it's so neat to be able to hold that original Route 66 sign and go in there.

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And again, all part of that s- authentic story of what this

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town meant to American history.

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There's also a very famous, uh, Old West gunfighter from there.

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His name is Commodore Perry Owens.

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Hmm.

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And, uh, when I looked him up, his house is there and his gas station is there.

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That's where he retired.

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He retired to Seligman.

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What was he a commodore of?

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So this is very interesting.

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He's, he's called Commodore Perry Owens because his father was named Oliver Perry

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Owens after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

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Oh, no way.

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Yes.

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Huh.

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So they called him Commodore Perry Owens, just in a moniker, uh, because, uh, he,

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he was named for- Oliver Hazard Perry So

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he just got that nickname because his dad was named after Oliver Hazard Perry.

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Yeah.

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Well, his first name was actually Commodore.

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So it's Commodore- Oh, it was … Perry Owens.

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Yeah.

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Oh, wow, okay.

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Yeah, that's his name.

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So it wasn't a nickname, like they just named him that.

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Yep.

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But what's very interesting about this lawman, I mean, he is your typical, he's,

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he's born out east, runs away from home, joins Buffalo Bill in killing buffalo

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out west, makes his name, but he makes his name because one of the Clanton boys

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who gets away from the Earps, uh, he actually tracks them down and kills him.

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Oh, really?

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Yes.

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No way.

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So it's so connected to American history.

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Now, he doesn't personally kill, uh, Ike, I think it's Ike Clanton, uh, but

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he, uh, deputizes the man who actually will pull the trigger and kill him,

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like he sends him out to get him.

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And if you guys like the whole Wyatt Earp story, please hit follow, because

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we visited Tombstone on the way back.

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Yes.

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And so in a couple weeks we will probably, maybe in a month or two, but

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stay tuned, hit follow, because we will be talking about Tombstone, Arizona,

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because we did visit Tombstone on our way back from California to Tennessee.

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But that's really cool that, you know, tied, tied to, even tied

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to us, 'cause we lived in Erie-

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which is where Oliver Hazard Perry was from and all the stuff.

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So,

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um- And Beale.

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Yeah Right?

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So what's interesting is, he, once Ike Clanton is killed, the whole

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cowboy wrestlers, that's what puts an end to it, and he's the one who

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basically makes sure that's done.

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And then he'll retire to Seligman, and his house still stands there today,

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and his gas station still stands today.

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So this stops for people who wanna see old gun, uh, slinger, uh-

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Kinda like the Wild West history

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… lawmen.

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Yeah.

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Right?

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Yeah.

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Who's connected to Tombstone, and, uh, so that's kinda neat there in Seligman.

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Uh, and of course it's the Beale Wagon Road.

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There's a s- there's a historic marker to that as well.

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Cool.

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And all of the history that's just in this one little town, part of America.

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So it was really fun to go there and celebrate, and if you wanna look at

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our video and find out more, please, uh, check out Walk with History.

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As you pull away from the curb in Seligman and watch the vintage neon signs glow

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in your rearview mirror, you realize the town is living proof that a small

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community with heart can change history.

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When the interstate threatened to wipe them off the map, Angel

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Delgadillo and the people of Seligman refused to let their heritage fade.

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They turned their heartbreak into a national revival, reminding all

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of us that the journey matters just as much as the destination.

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Pixar may have put Radiator Springs on movie screens around the world, but

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the spirit, the grit, and the warmth of that story were built right there

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on those two lanes of Arizona pavement.

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Ahead of us lies 160 miles of uninterrupted Historic Route

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66, the longest continuous stretch left on the map.

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Make sure you subscribe to Talk With History in your favorite podcast app so

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you don't miss our next stop as we make our way toward the California coast.

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We'll talk to you next time.

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Thank you.

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This has been a Walk With History production.

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Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

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Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

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Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

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Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,

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and we'll talk to you next time.