Susie The Little Blue Coupe

In Cars, Pixar artists were compelled to use their imaginations to make the characters' movements and gestures fit with the design to achieve the fullest range of performance and emotion possible. Crucial was the design of a special eyelid and eyebrow for the windshield to communicate expressiveness that cars don't have.



This design was inspired by the classic 1952 Disney short, "Susie The Little Blue Coupe", directed by Clyde Geronimi and featuring the voices of Sterling Holloway and Stan Freberg.



Susie is an automobile in an auto showroom who is bought by a man who is taken with her. She finds it hard to fit into high society but copes with it. Eventually, she becomes old and hard to operate and her owner trades her in. Another man notices her and buys her but this men is considerably less genteel leaving her out in the cold and mistreating her. Much to her horror, she eventually discovers she is a stolen car and is chased by the police during which she is totalled in an accident. Now Susie is kept in a junkyard but, when all looks hopeless, another man notices her, buys her, gives her an overhaul, and has her back on the road in no time.

Unfortunately, you can't find this short in the Disney shorts section of the iTunes Music Store. But, you can find it on "Walt Disney's It's a Small World of Fun, Vol. 2". This excellent volume also features classic shorts Peter and the Wolf, Brave Little Tailer, Crazy With the Heat, The Olympic Champ and Pedro.