Cars

Tow Mater is a jolly, out-going tow truck who lives in Radiator Springs, a near ghost town on historic U.S. Route 66. He owns, operates, and lives in his own salvage yard called "Tow Mater - Towing & Salvage" with an adjacent impound. He saw great success in Radiator Springs as the town's tow truck but, after the town got bypassed by the interstate, hasn't seen any real work in years and as a result has failed to maintain his exterior appearance in the time since.

Clay concept model of Mater with Sally and Doc Hudson

After meeting Lightning McQueen in the impound for destroying the town's main road, Mater quickly tries to warm up to him and become friends, much to the racecar's initial annoyance. When Lightning is assigned to repave the road as community service, Mater takes the opportunity to befriend him, but is met with little success. After a few days of being mostly ignored, Mater manages to talk Lightning into joining him on his favorite pastime hobby called "tractor tipping", which results in the pair narrowly escaping Frank, a large red combine harvester.

On the drive home from tractor tipping, Mater shows Lightning his special move; the ability to drive backward with extreme precision by using his rearview mirrors, dubbing himself the "world's best backwards driver". Lightning is amazed by this ability and slowly begins to open up to Mater about his fast-paced life as a Piston Cup racecar. After agreeing to let him go on a helicopter ride if he wins, Mater declares that he made a good choice in choosing Lightning as his best-friend.

Mater is as disappointed as the other cars after Doc Hudson forces Lightning out of Radiator Springs. Disappointment quickly turns into excitement after Doc reveals that he was once a famous racecar himself and brings Mater and many of the other residents to help Lightning in the tie-breaker race. During the race, Mater serves as a part of Lightning's pit-crew and cheers Lightning on as he drives backwards to counter Chick Hicks' dirty racing. After the race, Mater can be seen riding in a Dinoco helicopter above Radiator Springs like Lightning promised him.

Cars 2

Mater replica on tour for Cars 2

Five years after the events of Cars, Mater, having no idea that he would soon be dragged into a life-threatening espionage mission, patiently awaits Lightning McQueen's return from a long Piston Cup season. As soon as Lightning arrives in Radiator Springs, Mater immediately goes on his favorite hobbies with him all day until Lightning leaves to spend time with Sally in the evening at the Wheel Well in Tailfin Pass.

Mater decides to sneak into the Wheel Well that evening and act as Lightning and Sally's waiter, but gets distracted by the announcement of the World Grand Prix, an event promoting a new alternative fuel called Allinol, on the Mel Dorado Show. When Francesco Bernoulli, a Formula One inspired racecar competing in the race, claims that he is a better racer than Lightning on the show, Mater goes in over the phone to defend him. Lightning drives in to defend Mater after Francesco starts insulting them both, and decides to become a competitor in the race in order to get back at him. Lightning invites Mater to join him as his crew chief to make up for not letting him come to his other races, and they set out from Radiator Springs to Tokyo for the inaugural race.

At the pre-race party, Mater is mistaken for an American spy by British Agent Holley Shiftwell after Rod Redline, the real American agent, is caught and plants his intel device on Mater. Mater is mesmerized by her beauty and falls for her immediately. During the first race, Mater becomes sidetracked with Holley and meets Finn McMissile for the first time, but costs Lightning the win in the process, resulting in him lashing out at Mater after the race for seemingly telling him imaginary things over the radio. Feeling rejected, Mater decides to retire as Lightning's crew chief and return home, only to be taken back into the spy mission by Finn. Meanwhile, Lightning receives a note from Mater telling him that he left before he could apologize, and realizes that he inadvertently hurt their friendship.

Finn, believing that being a tow truck is only part of Mater's cover as a spy, becomes convinced that he would be an indispensable ally on his and Holley's mission and invites him to join them in meeting an informant in Paris, France. From Paris, the trio head out by train to Porto Corsa, Italy where Mater receives his first task as a spy; infiltrate a secret meeting being held by the Lemons in order to find out who the mastermind behind the sabotaging of the racecars in the World Grand Prix is. Mater learns that the Lemons intentionally made Allinol defective in order to create sentiment against alternative fuel and drive more profit into their oil business, which in turn would pay for their repairs. When Lightning chooses to continue using Allinol during the final race in London despite the danger, the Lemons decide to kill him. Mater immediately becomes terrified and accidentally blows his cover, resulting in him being set to be crushed by the large gears inside Big Bentley along with Finn and Holley.

After escaping Big Bentley, Finn and Holley go after Zündapp while Mater rushes to Lightning's pit stall in the midst of the race to warn everyone of a bomb that will explode if Lightning gets close, only to learn that the bomb is actually inside his air filter. Just then Lightning arrives completely unaware of the danger and desperately tries to apologize to Mater for his outburst in Toyko, leading to a high-speed chase between the two ending in a final confrontation with the Lemons. Mater quickly realizes that Axlerod is the mastermind behind the plot against alternative fuel and is granted an honorary knighthood by the Queen, and Lightning gets to restore his friendship with Mater, telling him that he is officially coming to all of his races from now on.

After returning home, Finn tells Mater that he has approval from the Queen to take part in more spy missions. Mater respectfully declines, believing that he is meant to live with his lifelong friends in Radiator Springs, but competes in the unofficial Radiator Springs Grand Prix with Lightning by retaining a pair of rocket jets, part of the weapons arsenal he acquired from Finn and Holley.^[10]

Cars 3

Mater remains McQueen's best friend and supporter, going as far as wearing over-the-top novelty hats to encourage McQueen during his races. He is there with Sally to comfort McQueen after he crashes, and is among the rest of the Radiator Springs residents to witness McQueen make the decision to continue racing. Mater decides to stay with the other cars in Radiator Springs while McQueen heads to the Rust-eze Training Center to prepare for the Florida 500, and asks McQueen to call him after he has arrived there.

Later in the film McQueen video calls Mater, and they both have a heart-to-heart conversation. McQueen asks Mater for help after seeing that nextgen racer Jackson Storm has set a new speed record. In response, Mater helps McQueen remember Doc Hudson's mentor and crew chief Smokey, and he decides to locate him and ask for his advice.

During the Florida 500, Mater becomes aware of Sterling's selfish plans and buys McQueen some time by distracting Sterling, allowing McQueen to get Cruz Ramirez to replace him during the race. Mater later returns with everyone to Radiator Springs, and is there when McQueen reveals that he would continue racing but first spend the rest of the season as Cruz's crew chief. In a post-credits scene, Mater is seen singing in his junkyard. He receives a call but accidentally knocks his stand over.

Mater and the Ghostlight

Mater and the Ghostlight takes place after the events of Cars and follows Mater's new hobby of pranking various residents of Radiator Springs at night. His final prank on Lightning McQueen is the most successful. Everyone starts laughing at McQueen, and Mater teases him by saying that he looked like he had seen the Ghostlight.

Sheriff admonishes Mater for "mocking the Ghostlight," an urban legend amongst the cars. The Ghostlight is described as a "glowing orb of blue, translucent light" that haunts Radiator Springs, and hates nothing more than the sound of clanking metal. He concludes with an overly cheerful "Well, g'night!" The population of Radiator Springs then leave within seconds, leaving a very nervous Mater by himself.

After Mater reaches his salvage yard, he is frightened by a "lightning bug" (a tiny flying Volkswagen Beetle with bright headlights). As he relaxes, a bright blue glow suddenly appears behind him and, thinking it is the Ghostlight, goes into a blind panic, racing around Radiator Springs until he is exhausted. The Ghostlight, however, turns out to be a glowing blue lantern placed on Mater's tow hook by McQueen and Guido as payback for the pranks Mater pulled on the other cars.

In a post-credits scene, Mater finds that he has a huge construction vehicle behind him, snarling and carrying the license plate "Banshee." Mater does not realize what is though and warns it of the Screaming Banshee before driving off, bidding the confused vehicle a good night.

Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales

In Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales, Mater returns as the main character with Larry the Cable Guy reprising his role. Each tale begins with Mater telling a far-fetched story of his past. In the story, Mater finds himself in an inescapable predicament. When McQueen questions Mater over whether the events in the story actually occurred, Mater responds, "Don't you remember? You was there too!", and continues the story including McQueen's sudden participation. The short series end with Mater leaving the conversation, often followed by characters or references to the story that was being told, putting up a possibility that the story might have been real.

Cars on the Road

A restored Kan-O-Tex Service Station in the former mining town Galena on U.S. Route 66 in Kansas. "Tater", a 1951 International Harvester boom truck used to hoist equipment from mine shafts, is the basis for Cars character "Tow Mater".

After the events of Cars 3, Mater reveals that he has an older sister living at his childhood house in the eastern United States, much to the awe of Lightning McQueen and the other residents of Radiator Springs. He spontaneously announces his decision to drive across the country to attend her wedding, but laments that he has not seen her in ages and is not looking forward to the trip. To make Mater feel better, Lightning offers to go with him and make it a road trip; Mater happily agrees. During the trip, Lightning and Mater make stops at various events and landmarks across the country, including a dino-park, a haunted hotel, and a movie production. Mater is often more open to meeting new cars and trying new experiences than Lightning, which often tends to lead to something unexpected and uncomfortable for him.

When Mater and Lightning finally arrive at Mater's childhood house, Lightning is immediately shocked at the enormous size of the house and the obvious wealthy upbringing of Mater. Lightning and Mater soon discover that Cruz Ramirez is also at the wedding; her cousin, Mateo, is the groom, meaning Mater and Ramirez will become family. When Mater and his sister, revealed to be named Mato, finally see each other, their appearances and personalities sharply contrast from one another. Mato prods Mater on and reveals their competitive rivalry over who is better. They initiate several competitions with one another, delaying the wedding. With help from Cruz, Mater and Mato are able to work out their differences, and the wedding proceeds. At the dinner, Mater gives an inspirational toast. This prompts Lightning to think about the time he and Mater spent together during the road trip, and that taking the road back with Mater would be a better decision than to take an airplane home. The series ends with Mater and Lightning beginning the drive back to Radiator Springs.

Video games

Mater with other Disney/Pixar characters advertising Disney Infinity

Mater appears in all Cars video games with Larry the Cable Guy reprising his role in all games to date (with the exception of Cars 3: Driven to Win). In Cars, Mater is a playable character in Arcade Mode, "Tractor Tipping", and "Rustbucket Race-O-Rama" levels. He does commentary for the "Radiator Springs Grand Prix" and the "Radiator Springs GP". He teaches McQueen how to drive backwards in "Mater's Backwards Lesson". Mater is also a playable character in both the Story and Arcade Mode of Cars Mater-National Championship. Cars Race-O-Rama introduces three new rivals to Mater: Bubba, Tater and Tater Jr., all of them tow trucks, who challenge Mater to a race for the towing rights to Radiator Springs. Mater also makes an appearance as a playable character in Cars 2: the Video Game as well as Disney Infinity, Disney Infinity 2.0, and Disney Infinity 3.0 as a playable character and a figure.