Red (Cars)

Red is a character in Cars and Cars 2. He was voiced by the late Joe Ranft, who died a year before the release of the first film. He is currently voiced by Jerome Ranft, the brother of the late Joe Ranft.

Appearance
Red is a slender fire truck with a red paint job like Lightning McQueen and Mack hence the color as a name option for the character in the film. He has shiny silvery detail all over him including his fire hose. He also has black water pipes stored on both sides where the water pressure gauges meet. The ladder rests in the back as another unique detail toward the character's craftsmanship.

Personality
Red is a very shy,emotional and friendly character who lives in a firehouse in Radiator Springs where the statue of Lizzie's late husband, Stanley (town's patriarch) appears. During recording sessions, the late Joe Ranft managed to manipulate Red's emotional sound effects in the same order as 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 Ranft's recording session. Heimlich's whimpers were high pitched in the performance scene of A Bug's Life whereas Red's cries were low pitched and deeper in the sound mix before the film was made. Red cries and drives away,because he was still upset at the the destruction of the flowers that he MUST water with his firehose. Lightning McQueen did make a mess of everything in Radiator Springs. 1 of the things he did was destroying Red's flowers. Red began gasping and ducking at the same time when that happened. At this point, he stayed inside the garage of the firehouse when Lightning McQueen was at the scene of destroying a lot of property in Radiator Springs. During the film's resolution, Red forgives Lightning McQueen by warming up to him even though he did burst into tears and drove away at the same time. He did that,because he thought that Lightning McQueen left without saying "goodbye".

Cars
Red is a fire truck from Cars. He is very shy, sensitive, and emotional which explains why he cries, gasps, ducks and drives away throughout each scene of the film. He didn't like Lightning McQueen very much,because he managed to destroy a lot of property in Radiator Springs before Sheriff booted him. Red becomes friends with Lightning McQueen toward the film's resolution.

Red may not be a fire truck of many words, but what he doesn't say, he shows through his generous actions. Whether its putting out a tire fire or caring for the beautiful flowers outside of his firehouse, Red is there to support and protect his beloved town from intruders. Red takes negative comments on the town very personally. If you have something bad to say about the town Red cares for, you better watch out, because he isn't afraid to use his emotions expressively.

Cars 2
Red reappears in Cars 2. In Cars, he was voiced by Joe Ranft who passed away after the film's theatrical release. However, Red doesn't speak in Cars 2, but he does play a small role at the end of the film where he begins blasting some bad guys with his firehose.

Tales From Radiator Springs
Bugged: Red waters the flowers in front of the firehouse. He suddenly spots a VW with shiny wings flying all over the firehouse. He tries to get rid of it by blowing it away, honking at it with his horn and washing it with his firehouse. Note that Red talks for the first time in this short. He also gasps and whines. The tiny vehicle cries a little bit when Red whines at the same time. More VWs with shiny wings do the same thing that the VW with shiny wings did before.

Hiccups: Red appeared in this short again to provide water for Lightning McQueen's hiccup cure by blasting his firehose at him.

Spinning: Red also appeared in this short again as an audience member while Guido discovers his hidden talent which is sign spinning.

Disney Parks
Red appears primarily at Disney California Adventure in Cars Land in which guests of ALL ages can easily hear his siren, horn and bell go off while watching him move all over Cars Land as a "drive-around" character. He appears as an Audio-Animatronic figure who uses his hose to water his flowers in the dark ride segment of Radiator Springs Racers while smiling and blinking his eyes at the same time. He is presiding over a small show in which he enlists guests to help in his fire-engine duties around town while spraying water at the same time. Guests also can watch Red's ladder go up and down. When Red greets people during meet and greets, his mirrors turn in and out as an effective way of saying "Hi".

Trivia

 * A possible toy version of Red was seen in the Butterfly Room in Toy Story 3.
 * A fire engine bearing a resemblance to Red is seen in The Incredibles.