Famous rotary-powered sports car could fetch more than $370K at auction this week
Less than a week after Paul Walker’s R34 Skyline sold for $2 million in Belgium, another famous member of the Fast and the Furious car cast is up for grabs, in the form of Dominic Toretto’s 1993 FD Mazda RX-7.
Yes, this is the car in which Vin Diesel’s character famously fled the street racing meet when police showed up in the first movie, but you’d never guess it because this is also the car driven by Orange Julius (Amaury Nolasco) in the sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious.
To make it look unrelated to Toretto’s car in the first movie and give it a completely new identity, the RX7 was wrapped in unique yellow ‘Modern Image’ digital graphics and fitted with a Versas body kit, J-Spec fibreglass bonnet, RO_JA R2-5 wheels, Greddy muffler and revised (custom) interior including Sparco racing seats and harnesses.
Originally built by Eddie Paul, this is one of five RX-7s built for the opening Fast and Furious movie and is largely stock beyond the obvious cosmetic upgrades and ‘flamethrower’ exhaust system.
But that doesn’t mean a significant amount of money hasn’t been invested into the car. Mecum Auctions estimates about $US40,000 has been spent purely in upkeep and maintenance, the bulk of which focused on the engine, transmission and wiring.
Hiding under the bonnet is a twin-turbo 1.3-litre 13B rotary engine that, when new, produced 188kW/294Nm and sent its power to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission.
“This RX7 holds the VIN ending in 9865, was the second unit stunt car and was used in both the 2001 film and the 2003 sequel,” Mecum Auctions said.
“The sale will include the outfit worn by Orange Julius and paperwork documenting the VIN and use of this RX7 for the first two films of the franchise.”
The Wisconsin-based auction house is expecting the star car to sell for between $US175,000-$US250,000 (up to $A373,619) when bidding goes live at the Indy 2023 later this week.
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Keyword: Dom Toretto’s Mazda RX-7 is up for grabs