It is probably nonsense to provide a very detailed description regarding the Fast&Furious franchise, since for those looking into this article, the Fast and Furious movie series has been probably watched and enjoyed several times until now. Earning over $3.5 billion in box-office, the series represents Universal Picture’s biggest success so far.
If one thing is certain, cars are all over the movies. After all, the initial film and its sequels are all concentrating over the life of several main characters including Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker); both are portrayed as highly experienced drivers in illegal racing. A lot of high performance cars are featured, so it would be a good idea to provide a list with some of the best that got the screen time they deserved.
1970 Dodge Charger
Found at the end of the first Fast and Furious movie, the 1970 Dodge Charger is presented as owned by Dominic Toretto’s father. Kept in a garage and never driven for years, the Charger was supposedly getting out over 900 horsepower from a supercharged V8 petrol engine. Since that wasn’t probably enough to reach the 900 figure, a nitrous oxide tank was also added by Dom, along with a few other great features: stainless steel mesh grille, pistol grip shifter, steering column ignition and a heavy duty brake set. However, it seems that the brakes couldn’t do much to stop the Charger from hitting a semi and rolling over at the very end of the movie. It looks like Dominic really had reasons to be scared by this car.
1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse
The overly tuned Mitsubishi Eclipse can be found rolling in the second Fast and Furious movie. Although it plays only a little role in the film, as Brian O’Conner drives it for a few scenes and then ruins it, this JDM piece caught the attention for several reasons. A 4 cylinder, 2.0 liter engine with dual overhead cam was to be found under the hood, propping the Eclipse to 165 horsepower before the turbo. On the outside, a Robo Car Aero Armor Eclipse Body Kit was covering the car along with a few other GT inspired body panels. The car was over-solicited by Brian due to NOS injection, causing it to start dismantling, and also causing O’Conner to lose the race against Toretto.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII
Provided by the police in order to aid Brian and Roman Pearce in getting a job from drug lord Carter Verone, the Evo VII was fully bugged with tracking devices. Since not even Jimmy, the mechanic from Tej’s garage was able to remove all tracking devices from the car, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII was used along the Roman’s Mitsubishi Eclipse in a pink slip race. Popping the hood, the Evo revealed an in-line 4 2.0 DOHC 16v engine accompanied by nitrous system injection. Nitrous was definitely game changing for Brian, as he managed to win the 2 vs 2 pink slip race by just an inch.
1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34
Also driven by Brain O’Conner (Paul Walker), this Godzilla painted in House of Kolor Platinum Pearl is probably the most famous car of the series. It is featured in the second movie, as the one that successfully makes the jump over the bridge in a race hosted by Tej Parker, where Brian actually wins. A twin turbo 2.6l line-6 RB26DETT engine roars underneath the hood of the GT-R R34. Apart from this, the Skyline features a ton of other visual and racing grade improvements: JIC Magic shocks, Goldline sport springs and Stop Tech brakes are also part of this racing machine. Brian looks confident all the time behind the MOMO wheel, thus letting the viewer know he has personally worked on the car and knows it’s every strength and weakness.
While there are definitely other cars out there in the series that got some spotlight, it is a popular opinion that the four models listed above actually provide the image and soul of Fast and Furious movies: racing to the limit using heavily modified cars, all for the greater… speed. Or, in the words of Dominic Toretto, a car in which you can “Ride or die”.
Take a walk back in the history lane and watch these talked about beauties with OSN.