Anthropomorphic cars that have existed during the Chevron era were characters from the Disneyland version of Autopia.
History[]
Background[]
These cars that existed in 2000 were created for Autopia as part of Chevron's sponsorship to Autopia. They would often appear during the vignette section with moving mouths as well as headlights used for eyes, the animated billboard section, as well as being heard in the safety spiel audio.
In addition to various unnamed cars that existed during the Chevron era, there were at least three individually-named anthropomorphic cars. They were named Dusty (voiced by Matthew Howard[1]), Suzy (voiced by Audrey Wasilewski[2]), and Sparky respectively.
Development History[]
When Chevron began its sponsorship on June 29, 2000, the attraction was remodeled where it introduced various anthropomorphic cars. The cars were made as part of Chevron's sponsorship to the attraction where they would either be seen on animated dioramas as well as on the billboard. Additionally, the voices of the cars were also heard through safety spiels (replacing the Jack Wagner audio) throughout the attraction itself. Four years later, the safety spiel was re-recorded in 2004 in order to remind parents to watch their children.
Chevron ended its sponsorship to Autopia at Disneyland in 2012 with Honda taking over as its sponsorship. As of March 24, 2017, all remaining elements that existed during the Chevron era were removed with a new story added throughout the Autopia attraction. The cars from the Chevron era were replaced by ASIMO, a humanoid robot, and his robotic bird sidekick who is named "Bird".
Appearances[]
Autopia[]
The cars were sporadically seen throughout the attraction during the Chevron era. During the queue, dioramas included animated projections of cars talking to each other often providing entertainment for guests - specifically in parts showcasing a gas station, a camping site, or a highway. Additionally, an animated billboard showed a video screen of Dusty, Suzy, and Sparky (whose colors can vary depending on the segment) seen in a simple comic strip panel dialogue - often in parts where they make jokes related to cars as well as Auto Motto segments where either Dusty, Suzy, or Sparky would give out a tip on how to drive a car on Autopia. Later, the safety spiel audio contained the voices of one of the Autopia cars giving a safety spiel to guests on how to ride on a car just before guests board on one of the cars to drive safely.
Trivia[]
- Matthew Howard, who did the voice of Dusty, was the youngest voice actor to provide safety announcements in a Disney attraction.
- Coincidentally, two Autopia cars, Dusty and Sparky, would later share the names with two characters from the Planes franchise (which is a spin-off of the Cars franchise): Dusty Crophopper and Sparky respectively.
- Suzy also coincidentally shares the name with the titular character from Susie the Little Blue Coupe.