Tow Mater

* Mater
* Mater the Greather

**Tow Mater**, also known as **Sir Tow Mater** or **Mater the Greather**, is the deuteragonist of the Disney·Pixar *Cars* franchise.

He is a recovery vehicle that is the owner and only employee of Tow Mater's Towing & Salvage, located in Radiator Springs, Arizona, United States, where he resides. He is also Lightning McQueen's best friend, Cruz Ramírez's cousin-in-law, and Holley Shiftwell's boyfriend.

## Background

### Early life

Mater was one of the cars living in the historic town of Radiotor Springs where he serves as a tow truck. He was blue painted. He was excited about the construction of the Interstate. Apparently the town got bypassed. Over the years, Mater lost his neat hood and became rusty.

### Official Description(s)

"Mater's lived in Radiator Springs his whole life. In his younger days, he used to be a real handful around town, playing pranks on everyone, tippin' tractors, saying inappropriate things at the wrong time, but luckily he's matured a lot since then."

"Mater's a good ol' boy with a big heart and the only tow truck in Radiator Springs. He runs Tow Mater Towing & Salvage and manages the local impound lot. Though a little rusty, he has the quickest towrope in Carburetor County and is always the first to lend a helping hand. Mater sees the bright side of any situation. He's the heart and soul of Radiator Springs, and he doesn't have a mean bolt in his chassis."

"Keep an eye on Mater, he tends to take things a little too literally."

### Characterization

John Lasseter describes Mater to be one of those special characters, as being fun and lovable, an "idiot savant about obscure little knowledge", as well as being a lot like the late Joe Ranft, saying: "You know I thought of Joe all through this. Because you know Joe is Mater. He's all over *Cars 2*."

### Personality and traits

Mater speaks with a somewhat high-pitched thick rural Southern accent, has a whistle-dry lisp to his voice, and frequently misspells words. He is very optimistic and often at times forgetful. He has the biggest heart and is super sweet to a fault. He's a helpful person who is very unselfish and he just loves serving others out of selflessness and unconditional love. He's deeply caring and thoughtful to everyone including his friends and family who he is the closest to. He also has true unconditional or agape love for others and just needs true friendship from other people. He can be extremely scared or skittish at times because of his sensitive nature. He gets scared really easily and usually panics when frightened. And he often lives in his own little world when real danger or threat approaches. Like with the Screaming Banshee, Mater became so scared that he was ignorant to notice the impending danger of the monster at the end of *Mater and the Ghostlight*.

He is a very selfless and loyal person to a fault, especially towards those closest to him. His selfless nature is most notably shown at the end of *Cars 2* when he puts his own life in danger just to save his friends from being blown up by the c4 Bomb on his engine.

He is also a very non-judgmental person.

Although he may seem silly and dim-witted, he has a vast encyclopedic knowledge of automobiles, engines, and towing, and is a fiercely loyal friend to anyone who is willing to give him a chance at true friendship. He unknowingly bestows wisdom upon others at times. He is also beyond funny without realizing it. He also likes to joke about different things, like saying Sally is his fiancée when she's really not. He also likes to do tractor tipping in the fields and loves to drive backwards. Although he is not the smartest car in Radiator Springs, he makes up for it with his extreme heart and loyalty. He has got the biggest heart more than anyone in town. He is extremely friendly, especially towards Holley Shiftwell, Lightning McQueen, and Sally Carrera.

### Physical appearance

Mater's body is in the shape of an old 1950s tow truck. According to Car Finder, his model is a Haulital Hook'em. He also resembles a 1951 International Harvester L-170 "boom" truck with a mix of a mid-1950s Chevrolet's elements. His license plate reads "A113", which is a common Easter egg in other films including Pixar, although it reads "RSQ M8R" in *Rescue Squad Mater*, and "M8R GR8R" in *Mater the Greater*.

He has hazel eyes that appear green, with orange inner rims and large crooked buck teeth, and used to have pale baby blue paint and light blueish grey eyes in his young childhood in Radiator Springs, but his paint began to get rusty orangish brown over time, though he still has patches of his original blue birth color still showing through. His doors are a light pastel green showing his initials, along with a sticker of McQueen's racing number and lightning bolt design when he first works with Team McQueen in Tokyo. Additionally, he used to have a hood which somehow got lost before the first film occurred, and is shown to still be blue when he finds it in a valley. His back bumper is also painted in yellow and black V stripes to represent a "caution" symbol.

Mater seems to have some kind of control over his tow hook as if it was an appendage.

### Powers and Abilities

Mater has a horsepower of 200 when he is on a good day, along with a V-8 engine that has a two-barrel carburetor. His fastest speed is 90 mph, although bolts would fly off him if he goes any faster, and when he does not use his rockets, he goes zero to 60 mph in 10 seconds. He also drives backwards really well, without crashing into other objects. Mater is also skilled in karate as he was able to take out several bodyguards by his own.

While helping the spies, Mater gets a load of weapons and gadgets, which are activated by using voice commands. However, they can get activated when the computer mistakes Mater's catchphrases for them, such as when "Dad-gum" gets mistaken for "Gatling gun", and "Shoot" gets mistaken for either shooting with the guns or deploying a parachute. He appears to have all of them taken off him at the end of *Cars 2*, although he is given permission to keep a pair of rockets.

### Weaponry and Gadgets

* **Deployable machine guns:** Mater has two M134 Gatling guns, with one on each of his sides.
* **Twin rockets:** They allow Mater to go at a faster speed, along with moving him around when he is gliding.
* **Deployable paraglider:** Appearing in an orange color, this allows Mater to travel through the air. When he uses his rockets, it helps him to glide to his destinations.
* **Deployable holographic disguise emitter:** This allows Mater to change into different forms, being located in his flashing beacon light. It can also make or lack supplementary volume.
* **Heads-up Display:** This allows Mater to identify other bad people, being placed over his eyes. No one can see it from the outside because it is invisible.

### Specifications

* Zero to 60: 10 seconds
* Engine: V-8 with two-barrel carburetor
* Horsepower: 200
* Top speed: 90 mph

## Appearences in films

### *Cars*

Mater comes across a red race car named Lightning McQueen, who has been accused by the residents of accidentally destroying the main road when he was tied to the statue of the town's founder Stanley. Doc Hudson, the town's judge, orders McQueen to leave the town immediately, but after some advice from Sally, he changes his mind, having McQueen fix the road with a road paving machine called Bessie.

During the process, Sheriff asks Mater to take over the job of watching McQueen one night, so that he gets the road done without trying to escape. This gives Mater the idea of taking McQueen out to go tractor tipping, which is a parody of the cow tipping legend. They have to sneak up on the sleeping tractors and honk their horn or rev their engine near them so that they can get spooked and tip over on their back, but also must avoid being seen or caught by Frank, who is the guard of the tractors and has the role of a raging bull. Afterwards, while Mater is playfully teasing McQueen about his crush on Sally, he gets told to stop driving backwards otherwise he would wreck. At this point, Mater shows McQueen that he has the ability to drive backwards really well by looking into his wing mirrors to see where he has been.

A couple of days later, Mater and the other residents find that the road has been completed, and believe that McQueen has left. However, it soon turns out that McQueen has not gone, wanting to help out the residents by getting souvenirs. The residents all take a cruise around the town that evening, where Mater tries to copy Ramone's action of creating sparks by pressing his bodywork against the tarmac, as well as bringing McQueen to Sally so that they make up some love. However, the press comes to the town to pick McQueen up and take him to a Piston Cup race at the Los Angeles International Speedway that he was supposed to come to, leaving Mater saddened by the fact that he did not get a chance to bid farewell to his new friend, especially when it turns out that the press had been called by Doc because he was not impressed with McQueen staying in the town.

At the time of the race, Mater and many of the town's residents come to the circuit to be part of McQueen's team, with Doc acting as the crew chief. To everyone's delight, McQueen gets into first place on the final lap, but then, they all notice a tragic moment, where Chick Hicks purposely causes the King to crash onto the infield after getting angered with being stuck behind him. At the sight of this, McQueen puts on his brakes before he could cross the finish line, leaving everyone, including Mater, confused about what he is doing, until they see that he is deciding to help bring the King across the line to finish his final race, to which everyone cheers for McQueen on his heroic act. The resulting actions of McQueen also cause Chick to be booed for his notorious actions. Soon afterwards, Mater gets his long-term wish of riding in a helicopter, when McQueen asks Tex to have him ride in Rotor Turbosky, at the same time where McQueen sets up his racing headquarters in Radiator Springs to attract tourists once again, along with becoming Mater's new best friend. During his helicopter ride, he flies up to again tease McQueen and Sally during their reunion.

Sometime later, Mater finds his hood and puts it back on, but then he sneezes and it falls back down.

### *Cars 2*

In the second film, Mater returns, but as the protagonist.

While McQueen has been focusing on winning his fourth Piston Cup trophy, Mater focuses on some plans for the summer so that he can spend time with his best friend. On the day that McQueen comes back, Mater feels more than excited to see him again, and gets up to a couple of his plans, although they do not work out so well. Before Mater could get to do a third plan, McQueen decides to spend some time away from him just that evening, by having a meal with Sally at the Wheel Well. However, feeling deeply saddened, scared, lonely, and abandoned that he is always being left out, Mater invites himself to the restaurant to dress up as a waiter, which McQueen is surprised about but also agrees that it would be ridiculous if he did that just so he could hang out with them.

While trying to find out what McQueen's usual drink is, Mater sees an announcement on the Mel Dorado Show mentioning Miles Axlerod promoting his new fuel, Allinol, in a racing competition like no other, called the World Grand Prix, so to declare who is the world's fastest racer as well as to try and get everyone to use alternative energy. Soon, a World Grand Prix racer named Francesco Bernoulli joins Mel's interview with Axlerod, when they begin talking if McQueen should be in the competition as well. While Axlerod notes that McQueen has been deciding to take some rest after racing in the Piston Cup, Francesco starts to make insults about McQueen, saying that he would not be able to beat someone who is faster than him. Feeling angered, Mater phones the show by telling them that Francesco should not say awful stuff about McQueen because to Mater, McQueen is the greatest race car in the whole wide world. However, each time Mater tries to convince him, Francesco insults Mater more without Mater realizing he is being insulted, eventually trying to get Mel to move on to another caller because he wants someone who is more intellectually stimulated, like a dump truck, just insulting Mater again, in which Francesco calls Mater dumber than a dump truck. Soon, McQueen pulls Mater out of the phone booth and takes over for the conversation, saying that he does not like his best friend being insulted like that and agreeing to take part in the World Grand Prix, as well as to take Mater along after Sally advises him.

However, as soon as they arrive in Tokyo, Mater is still acting in the same behavior as he was in Radiator Springs, leaving McQueen concerned. At one point, during the World Grand Prix's opening ceremony, Mater comes across a sushi bar giving out Japanese food and mistakes some green wasabi for pistachio ice cream. Not understanding the chef's correction, he begs to have a large scoop of wasabi, which burns his mouth and causes him to drive up the waterfall on stage where Axlerod is introducing McQueen to the crowd. He then notices an oil leak between him and Axlerod, and everyone assumes Mater did it even McQueen and then Mater himself because Axlerod lied and blamed Mater for it. Despite his protests that he never leaks oil, McQueen sends him away to the bathroom to clean up, likely causing Mater to think that he actually did leak oil.

Entering the men's bathroom stall, Mater has trouble with a Japanese washing contraption (a heated bidet), unaware of a brawl fight between an American secret agent and two lemon cars, Acer and Grem, outside of the bathroom stalls. By the time he gets out, the American agent secretly slips a device underneath his bumper/undercarriage. The device's GPS results in British agent Holley Shiftwell mistaking Mater for a spy. After answering her countersign correctly, Mater starts babbling on before mistakenly assuming that Holley wants to ask him out on a date, and agrees to meet the next day. He then returns to his friends to tell them of this development, but Guido does not believe him. He then tries calling out to Holley, but she ignores him and drives away, not wanting to blow her own cover.

The next day, Mater advises McQueen during the race, enabling him to get ahead of Francesco. Unknown to Mater, the lemons assume he’s a spy too, and are covertly closing in on him. Holley hacks into his headset, giving him directions to avoid the lemons trying to hurt him. Mater follows blindly, assuming he is being guided to his date. He later mishears Holley, turning towards a ruckus instead of away from it. He soon witnesses Finn McMissile fighting off the lemons, which he assumes to be a live karate demonstration. Finn then vanishes, while Holley tells Mater that it is too dangerous to rendezvous and promises to be in touch. As Mater leaves to go back to the pits, he asks Holley over his headset, if he missed their date.

Mater then returns to the pit, only to learn that while he was talking to Holley, McQueen was hearing him too and mistook Mater's conversation with Holley as instructions which made him make a mistake that cost him the race. Mater feels guilty when he discovers he messed up the race and offers to help fix his mistake, but McQueen yells and hits that he doesn't need or want help and drives off. Mater is deeply hurt by his best friend's rejection and writes a sad farewell note to his friends in upper case poor handwriting before deciding to go home. At the Tokyo airport, Finn disguises himself as an airport security guard and lures Mater to a lounge, where he inquires which American intelligence agency he is affiliated with. Mater claims to be "triple-A affiliated" and starts babbling that he knows some karate. Finn then detects Acer and Grem closing in on them, and drags Mater outside. Mater assumes he is getting first-class service and is completely oblivious to the danger that's happening around him.

Once aboard the spy jet Siddeley, Mater figures out that Finn and Holley are spies as they extract data from the device embedded in him, which had information on the lemon boss, showing a picture of an obscure British engine. He identifies it as "the worst engine ever made" but has no clues as to who the identity of the car belongs to. However, he does point out that the mystery car makes use of replacement parts that are factory original and would not be found on open markets. Grateful for Mater's insight, Finn offers to set up an informal task force. Though reluctant, Mater agrees to help out the spies when Finn assures him that he would be helping him. Mater then tries pointing out that he is "just a tow truck", but Finn does not take him seriously.

Mater joins Finn and Holley as they meet with Finn's black market contact, Tomber. Tomber informs them that the car to whom the engine belongs only does business over the phone, buying numerous parts to maintain his engine, making Mater reveal that the mystery car is a lemon. Upon being asked about the term, he explains the nature of lemons to Finn and Holley and identifies Gremlins, Pacers, Hugos, and Trunkovs as lemons, which makes Holley realize that everyone in the plot is a lemon car. Finn takes it from there and deduces that the lemon families are taking orders from the car behind this engine. Tomber reveals that the lemons are hosting a secret meeting in Porto Corsa, Italy, which is also where the second race will take place, and the lemon boss will most likely be there as well.

While being transported by Stephenson to Italy, Finn and Holley install a holographic cloaking device onto Mater's beacon light and have him disguise himself with a voice command as a lemon tow truck named Ivan. Mater then objects to buffing his dents to ensure a foolproof disguise, declaring the worth of his moments with McQueen. The spies realize he is talking seriously about being friends with McQueen, and Finn tells him that friendships are dangerous in spy work. Mater again tries to tell them the truth about who he really is again, but they assume he is joking.

Upon arriving in Porto Corsa, Mater begins to have second thoughts about the missions, but Finn tells him to keep up his "act" of playing "the idiot tow truck." These words deeply affect and hurt Mater, but he has no time to reflect, as Holley had lured away and tased Ivan, prompting him to take the blue tow truck's place. As he is towing Victor Hugo through the casino, he nearly blows his cover by directly talking to Holley over the radio and reading his HUD on Alexander Hugo's wanted status and nicknames until the latter begs him to stop, believing "Ivan" is threatening to have him arrested. Upon arriving at the lemon meeting, Mater is shocked to be in the room of the heads of the lemon family who are all very dangerous, and becomes worried about his cover. He takes to the sidelines as the lemon boss calls the meetings via video on four flat-screen TVs. Mater soon discovers the lemon plot, revealing that the lemons are sabotaging the race by igniting the Allinol in the race cars' tanks. As Finn and Holley are captured, Mater watches Axelrod on TV declaring a suspension of Allinol for the final race in London. However, McQueen announces that he will use Allinol for the race and admits how guilty he feels over his fight with Mater. The lemon boss then calls the meeting, ordering Professor Zündapp to kill McQueen and fully discredit Allinol for good. Mater then accidentally breaks his hologram disguise, allowing the Lemons to identify him.

Fortunately, the tow truck's choice of words allows him to escape as he accidentally tears up the place with his Gatling guns, activates his parachute, and flies off to warn McQueen about the lemons' evil plot, only to be captured and sent to London (the final race's setting) where he, Finn and Holley are all tied to the giant gears of Big Bentley to be crushed to death. Mater again tells Finn and Holley that he is not a spy and really is just a tow truck, and finally this time, they believe him.

Mater then believed McQueen was dead and blamed himself but learns from Grem and Acer, two of the lemons inside the clock tower, that the latter is alive but only for Mater to witness his death. Horrified, Mater watched as they aimed a death ray at McQueen but nothing occurs, so they resort to their backup plan. They tell a curious Mater that they claim to have installed a bomb in Lightning McQueen's pit, that will kill McQueen upon his arrival. As soon as the lemons leave, Mater activates his Gatling guns to cut through the ropes binding him, and races to the track to warn McQueen about the bomb. But when he gets there, he finds all his friends have gathered there to find him before Finn calls him on the radio, revealing that the lemons had tricked him and that the bomb in question is instead actually planted inside Mater's air filter when he was unconscious as the lemons knew he'd try to save his friend. As McQueen returns to the pit and spots him, Mater desperately drives backwards to avoid harming his friends and avoid killing McQueen, but McQueen chases after him anyways, trying to make amends with his friend. Mater's attempts to warn McQueen about the bomb go misunderstood. As McQueen grabs his hook, Mater accidentally activates his rockets, sending them blasting out of range of Professor Z's detonator. The two are sent on a wild goose chase through the streets of London.

When they come to a stop, Holley reveals the bomb to McQueen as Finn arrives with a captive Zündapp. The Professor admits that the bomb is voice-activated, but he neglects to mention that it could only be disarmed by the one who activated it after Mater attempted to deactivate it himself, starting a five-minute timer. Holley threatens Zündapp, who orders the bomb to deactivate only for everyone to learn that he was not the one who armed it, shaving off another minute. After Holley tases Zündapp, the foursome are surrounded by the lemons, intending to watch the bomb go off. Mater attempts to reason with them, stating that he understands what it is like to be the laughingstock, an outcast, ridiculed, and abused, but becoming wealthy and powerful beyond their wildest desires will not make them feel better. When that fails, the lemons prepare to finish them off until the Radiator Springs townsfolk come to their rescue. In the subsequent fight, Mater defends McQueen against the lemons by karate chopping some six or seven of the lemons including Ivan. The remaining lemons try to escape but are stopped by Sarge and the British military who presumably arrest the criminals.

Guido then attempts to remove the bomb from Mater, but none of his wrenches fit the bolts that hold it in place. With only two and a half minutes left, Mater has an epiphany, but he hesitates to act on it, as he acknowledges to McQueen that people do not take him seriously and that they are not in Radiator Springs. However, with some encouragement from his best friend, Mater proceeds to fly with his friend all the way to Buckingham Palace, where he tells everyone that he knows who is sabotaging the race. But when he takes a moment to respectfully bow to the Queen, everyone spots the bomb and goes into a panic. Finn intervenes before the royal guard could open fire, informing them that he cannot disarm the bomb, and orders Mater to stand down now. After remarking that London is nothing at all like home out of fear of what others might think of him, he is soon reminded by McQueen to get back on topic. McQueen also stated that he is himself in Radiator Springs and that he should be himself in London and that he was wrong earlier in the film. With that, Mater accuses Axlerod of being the head lemon behind the whole scheme. He reasons that the bolts on the bomb are the same ones from the lemon engine on Holley's photo; he also realized that Axlerod did not convert from a combustion engine to an electric one, hence how he leaked oil back in Japan, blaming it on Mater and deceiving him and his friends, and he would probably still have it under his hood. Though Finn and Holley are a bit skeptical, Mater states that Axlerod wanted Allinol discredited to turn the world against alternative fuels and go back to using oil, so he could profit off/become wealthy with the huge untapped oil field Finn found. Mater even accuses Axelrod of disguising his voice in his statement but the latter rebukes this. The guards drive off and escort the Queen out as Axelrod yells at Mater. With his bomb only down to the last ten seconds, Axlerod, realizing that his villainy has been exposed and fearing for his life, is immediately forced to deactivate the bomb, and is then arrested on the spot. Just right as the police is about to take Axlerod away, Mater opens the lemon's hood, revealing the exact same engine as seen in Holley's photos, confirming Mater's theory as everyone found out how much of a liar Axlerod is. As Axlerod is left perplexed as to how a tow truck got clued in on his plot, McQueen tells Mater that he is coming to all his races from now on.

Subsequently, the Queen of England knights Mater for his bravery and for catching and outsmarting the evil lemon boss. Afterwards, Mater and his friends return to Radiator Springs, where he tells everyone a tall tale-like story of his big adventure. Though Van does not believe a word of it, Finn and Holley show up to prove it. Mater then introduces Finn to everyone. He tries to introduce his friends to Holley, but Holley cuts him off, announcing herself as Mater's girlfriend (to Guido's shock). Mater is then pleased to see that Holley receives a dent from their London adventure and decides to emulate him by keeping it. McQueen and Mater wonder why the latter didn't explode because of the death ray which is revealed to be due to Sarge switching the Allinol with Fillmore's organic fuel.

While watching the unofficial Radiator Springs Grand Prix, Finn and Holley reveal that they want to recruit Mater for another mission, but he declines, preferring to stay home. The spy cars respect his decision. Finn says that Mater is the smartest and most honest chap that they ever met, and Holley also adds, massively charming. Holley promises to come back and take him out for their first date, and Finn offers to give Mater any favor he asks. Mater cashes in on that favor, as he receives his rocket boosters back and joins the race, with both Mater and McQueen promising to meet each other at the finish line.

During the credits, Mater joins McQueen on a world tour before eventually coming back home.

### *Cars 3*

Mater returns in *Cars 3* but in a smaller role compared to the first two movies.

Mater is first seen interrupting McQueen as he was preparing for a race. In the race, he shows up in the crowd, shouting him out with a larger yellow lightning bolt behind his head. Mater is then shown attending each one of Lightning's races and practice sessions, fulfilling the promise Lightning made to him after Axlerod was arrested. At most of the races, Mater wears a different big hat.

Four months later after McQueen crashed in the Los Angeles International Speedway race, Mater is one of the guys that bid farewell to him as he heads to the training center.

Three days later on the night after Cruz left McQueen after training with her, Mater is seen back at Radiator Springs closing up his garage for the night; McQueen called him up and said he's going to try racing. Mater even gives Lightning the idea of seeking out Doc's old mentor, Smokey, in Thomasville.

Mater is seen again on Florida 500 for the final race four days later, with Lightning beginning the race. When the latter wants Cruz to replace him, Sterling disapproves explaining that she is only a coach. Mater then grabs him with his winch, saying he loves his different mud-flaps, and prevents Sterling from interfering. Mater cheers for Cruz as the winner screen updates with Lightning McQueen's picture as both co-winners. Mater was very glad to see him stick together with a partner and blames Sterling for his actions towards Cruz.

In the epilogue at Radiator Springs two days later, when Lightning was fully rebooted, Mater was in the crowd again. Mater was very glad McQueen had a partner, and so did the other members of Radiator Springs.

He is later shown to be at Thunder Hollow Raceway with Miss Fritter at a karaoke party during the end credits.

He is last seen after the Cars 3 credits. He’s the only character to be seen after the credits rolled. In a post-credits scene, Mater is singing a funny song and is cleaning in his lot, and when his iPad rings, he gets startled and jumps in fright then inadvertently knocks over his reception antenna along with tires falling from his shack's roof, and the FaceTime on his iPad goes dead, much to his dismay.

## In video games

### *Cars 3: Driven to Win*

Mater and his alter-ego *Mater The Greater* (as one of the three secondary antagonists alongside Miss Fritter and Chick Hicks) appeared in *Cars 3: Driven to Win* as playable characters. *Mater the Greater* serves as a guide in his own stunt-racing event, and completing it unlocks him as a playable character.

## Trivia

* A113, a recurring joke found in other Pixar films, is Mater's license plate.
* It is highly speculated by fans and heavily implied by the film franchise that Tow Mater has high functioning autism or is somewhere on the spectrum (because of his vast encyclopedic savant-like knowledge, he likes to self stimulate when he feels overwhelmed and he has sensory processing disorder problems. He is also quite obsessive with things that interest him and he's a very visual thinker) He also takes idioms and sarcasm too literally and he's a poor socializer (he's socially inept).
* Mater apparently comes from a rich family.
	+ Mater is the only character in the *Cars* franchise with crooked teeth.
	+ Mater and Ivan are the only characters in *Cars 2* that are tow trucks.
	+ None of the characters, not even Mater himself, use Mater's first name, Tow.
	+ During the credits' roll of *Cars 2*, Mater's passport scrolls past. His birth date is listed on it. It turns out to be the same as John Lasseter's: January 12, 1957.
		- This would mean Mater was 49 years old in the first movie.
	+ During the last section of the World Grand Prix Mater is described as the world's greatest backwards driver.
	+ Mater is American and, in real life, only people from the Commonwealth realm (the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) can be knighted. People from outside a Commonwealth realm can, however, receive an honorary knighthood, but they cannot be referred to as "Sir". It is possible that Mater was granted British citizenship to receive his knighthood.
	+ It is revealed in *Time Travel Mater* that he always cries at weddings. This is probably due to having a very emotional and sensitive personality.
	+ Mater breaks the fourth wall in the first movie: During the closing song "Route 66", he can be seen in the crowd looking at the viewers while singing some verses of the soundtrack.
	+ In the credits, it is shown that he is knighted on Tuesday, July 15, 2011. However, July 15, 2011, was not on Tuesday in real life, it was on Friday.
	+ In the subtitles for the audio commentary on *Cars 2*, John Lasseter describes Mater with "**two miniguns**" but the subtitles say "**two many guns**".
	+ Mater was the only resident of Radiator Springs who had no dislike of Lighting McQueen when he first arrived even outright saying that he liked him when he was in the impound lot.
	+ Head of story and co-director Joe Ranft got the inspiration of Mater after seeing an old abandoned rusty tow truck during a research trip to Route 66. The character was named after and partly based on Douglas "Mater" Keever, a racing fan the Pixar team met during their research trips, and also draws inspiration from several other people the team encountered.
	+ Mater's name has been changed in many other language dubs:
		- In Arabic, he is called "ماطم" (Matem).
		- In Spanish and Portuguese, he is called "Mate".
		- In French, he is called "Martin".
		- In Polish, Mater is called "Złomek" (z-wom-eh-k).
		- In German, he is called "Hook".
		- In Dutch, he is called "Takel".
		- In Italian, he is called "Carl Attrezzi", a pun on "carro attrezzi", which means "tow truck"; however, he is more often referred by his nickname "Cricchetto", from the car tool "cric".
		- In Swedish, he is called "Bärgarn", which suits him since he is a tow truck.
		- In Japanese, he is called "メーター" (me-ta-).
		- In Mandarin (Taiwan), he is called "拖線".
		- In Mandarin (China), he is called "板牙".
		- In Cantonese, he is called "哨牙嘜".
		- In Danish, he is called "Bumle".
		- In Bulgarian, he is called Матю (Matthew).
		- In Hungarian, he is called Matuka.
		- In Russian, he is called "Мэтр" (metre).
		- In Finnish, he is called "Martti".
	+ According to the *Cars 2* DVD commentary, Lasseter wanted Mater to be the only one to know that Miles Axlerod was behind the conspiracy to sabotage the World Grand Prix so everyone could see him go from being the dumbest guy in the world to the most brilliant guy in the world.
	+ Mater's horn sounds different in the *Disney Infinity* series when it is compared to the sound made in the films. Additionally, in the sequels to the first game, some of his quotes are missing, including the sounds he makes when doing air tricks. To add to that, the third game has a few of the sounds that he makes when side-bashing is absent, as well as the subtitles not covering any of his quotes. It is currently unknown if all of this will be fixed in an update patch of the game.
	+ When Mater was an 8-year-old child (in the Our Town Cars flashback), all of his body was painted baby blue. Today, however, his doors are more like a light green pastel color instead of baby blue like the rest of his paint in his youth.
	+ In *Cars 3*, Mater has a bunch of flaps that he collects. He has mud flaps, fishing flaps, church flaps, and going out to eat flaps.
	+ Head of story and co-director Joe Ranft got the inspiration of Mater after seeing an old abandoned rusty tow truck during a research trip to Route 66. The character was named after and partly based on Douglas "Mater" Keever, a racing fan the Pixar team met during their research trips, and also draws inspiration from several other people the team encountered.
	+ Mater's license plate is A113, a recurring code in Pixar films.
	+ If you listen to the way Mater talks real closely, you can see that he talks with a lisp to his voice (as he talks, the air kind of whistles through the gap between his buck teeth) and he doesn't say 'this', he usually says, "dis, dat" and among others along with a "z" at the end of a word like "carz" rather than saying "cars".
	+ One thing to note throughout the series is that Mater's characteristics and loving nature are very similar to that of a domesticated dog.
	+ It is noted by John Lasseter that Mater is way too innocent, pure and kind so he can never hurt or harm any soul. He can't even kill a bumblebee without mourning for its life (in fact, this was shown in the *Cars* teaser trailer).
	+ Larry the Cable Guy mentioned that Mater isn't self-conscious about how others view him.
	+ Mater is one of those sensitive guy types. He tends to act and behave more on the feminine side than a macho strong man.
	+ Also, it is noted in the Cars books, like "Mater's Birthday Surprise" and in "Mater and the Easter Buggy", that his favorite colors are mostly, blue, green, orange, yellow, and most defiantly pink and purple (more of the lighter softer colors). He also likes the color red.
	+ During the last section of the World Grand Prix, Mater is described as the World's greatest backwards driver.
	+ Mater is one of the believers in Jesus because he has church flaps and he goes to church.
	+ One of his catchphrases is "Git-R-Done!" his actor, Larry the Cable Guy's signature phrase.
	+ Many fans speculate that Mater is somewhere on the autism spectrum. This is due to his tendency to self-stimulate, his encyclopedia-like knowledge, his sensory processing issues, his inability to socialize, and his blindness to sarcasm.
	+ Many fans speculate that Mater's biological parents are Lizzie and Stanley. He behaves like both of them and he has the same big buck teeth and goofy droopy eyes as Stanley. His speech pattern is a mix between Stanley's southern accent and Lizzie's voice. He forgets easily and is really crazy like Lizzie. He also says yes "siree", "oh apple sauce", and "Dad-Gum" like Stanley used to say. His horn is also mixed between Lizzie's long deep horn and Stanley's short loud horn.
		- This was disproven in *Cars on the Road*, where it was revealed that Mater was born to a rich family outside of Radiator Springs.
	+ The country bumpkin tow truck Mater got his name from NASCAR superfan Douglas “Mater” Keever, whom the filmmakers met while on a research trip to North Carolina’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway (now called the Charlotte Motor Speedway). Keever has a voice cameo in the film, as the motor home who says “Well dip me in axle grease and call me slick” early in the film. (Keever improvised the line, which was originally “Well dip me in axle grease and call me lubrication.” Producer Darla Anderson opted to change it, Keveer[1]speculated, because “maybe she thought it sounded sexual, I don’t know.”)
	+ His concept name was Tom.
		- His concept name was also Zeb.

* In 2006, Hollywood automotive body customizer Eddie Paul created Lightning, Sally, and Mater as real-life vehicles brought by Mack on a 41-city *Cars* promotional tour.
* Real life replicas of Mater and Lightning McQueen are shown at Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA and Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot (as plants due to the sequel, *Cars 2*) of Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL. In addition, unofficial replicas have been created by fans of the movie

## References

1. ↑ *Cars 2*
2. ↑ *Cars Toons*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Cars 3: Driven to Win*

## External links

* Tow Mater on Disney Wiki.
* Tow Mater on Pixar Wiki.
* Tow Mater on Pixar Cars Wiki.
* Tow Mater on Heroes Wiki.
* Tow Mater on Wikipedia.