Okay, McMissile. I'm here. It's time for the drop.
„
~ Rod Redline arrives in the bathroom to prepare his meeting with Finn.
Rod "Torque” Redline is one of the two overreaching protagonists (alongside Leland Turbo) of Pixar's 12th full-length animated feature film Cars 2. He's the American agent that Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) were supposed to meet until circumstances forced him to pass crucial information to Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), whom the two British spies mistook for Redline wearing a "clever" disguise. He was voiced by Bruce Campbell, who also played Ashton "Ash" Williams from the Evil Dead series.
Rod "Torque" Redline is considered by many as the greatest American spy in the world. Recruited after the Cold War for both his brains and brawn, Torque is a tough-as-nails Detroit muscle car with a mastery of disguises. In his latest deep-cover operation, he obtained vital information about the plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix. So Rod plans a rendezvous with his British counterparts to share his discoveries at the World Grand Prix welcome reception in Tokyo, Japan. But with the bad guys hot on his tailpipe, Rod was forced to ditch the intel early and with the first party guest he sees — a rusty American tow truck named Mater.
He was first seen on the oil rig (at the beginning of the movie) disguised as a Gremlin. Rod later came to the Tokyo party to exchange info with Finn McMissile, but his plan was infiltrated, and he was ambushed by Acer and Grem, who damage him heavily. When Mater comes across them, Rod passes the device with the info onto Mater's undercarriage when nobody was looking. After doing this, Rod was captured by Grem (Joe Mantegna) and Acer (Peter Jacobson), who brought him to Professor Zundapp (Thomas Kretschmann) in their secret lair, where he was restrained with three Denver boots. He was then pumped with the fuel "Allinol", which he claimed was good for cars. However, Professor Zundapp demonstrated, on the agent himself, what happens when cars fueled with Allinol are exposed to an electromagnetic pulse generator disguised as a camera. As Allinol began to react, the lemons demanded to know who Rod passed the intel to, putting up a slideshow of all the cars he made contact with. Rod resists, but he has an involuntary reaction at an image of Mater, which Professor Zundapp catches. Rod could only show horror at allowing an oblivious civilian tow truck to become an assassination target, before he was killed from the spontaneous explosion of Allinol.
After his engine was blown, his corpse is visible slightly among flames in the reflection of the screen. He had sacrificed himself to save both of his beloved friends Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell, respectively.
Personality[]
Rod has a cool manner. He does not worry even though he knows there is no chance for him to live even after the encounter with the lemons. Instead of worrying, he tries to keep up a smile and even insults the lemons. Under his disguise, he is seen smiling at everybody he talks to except when meeting with the lemons.
Trivia[]
When Rod has his Gremlin disguise, his eyes are brown instead of blue.
While in his Gremlin disguise, Rod is seen talking to Shigeko.
Rod is downloadable in Cars 2: The Video Game, even though he was killed in the film. However, since all the tracks are just simulations, it's possible that Rod is part of the simulations.
According to his license plate, he is from Michigan. Michigan is the birthplace of his voice actor Bruce Campbell.
Rod's design is chiefly based on Dodge Challenger.
In Cars 3 a pace car called Pat Traxson reuses Rod's model.
In the theatrical and original home release of the film, Rod was groaning in pain as the EMP weapon is about to kill him. This was removed in later home releases and Disney + version of the film, likely because it shows how dark the scene is.