- 1. Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600 – Fast & Furious 6
- 2. 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT – Furious 7
- 3. 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback – The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
- 4. W Motors Lykan HyperSport – Furious 7
- 5. Toyota GR Supra (RX-7 Homage): F9
- 6. 1970 Dodge Charger R/T – The Fast and The Furious
- 7. 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse: The Fast and The Furious
- 8. VeilSide Mazda RX-7 – The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
- 9. Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34): 2 Fast 2 Furious
- 10. Mk4 Toyota Supra: The Fast and The Furious
- Special Mentions: Flip Car and Space Fiero
Hypercars, supercars, JDM and American muscle – F&F spoils us with different cars
When being asked what you find to be of utmost importance within your life, does your answer involve “family”? If not, then maybe this feature isn't for you. Dating back all the way to 2001, the Fast and Furious movie franchise has spoiled us with years of action, travel, and, of course, cars. Universal Pictures has spared no expense in producing the Fast and Furious movies, particularly from the vehicular side of things.
We've seen appearances from JDM icons such as the Toyota Supra and Nissan Skyline GT-R, scenes including American muscle cars from Dodge and Ford, and even hypercars from the world's most prestigious manufacturers; Bugatti, Lamborghini, and even W Motors have all been driven on the limit (or from skyscrapers) for the camera.
Choosing the best Fast and Furious cars is quite the task, as there are so many to choose from, but we've compiled a list of 10 of the most iconic vehicles from this big-screen series.
1. Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600 – Fast & Furious 6
Each character typically has a type when it comes to their cars of choice, and for Brian O'Conner, played by the late Paul Walker, it was usually Japanese sports cars. But that didn't stop him from driving other types of cars in the series.
A movie filled with action and high-speed chases, Fast & Furious 6 cemented the transition from street racing and underground meets to the action scenes and drama first introduced in Fast 5. In an attempt to chase Shaw down, the team purchased a slew of classic vehicles from an auction in London, including this Mk1 Ford Escort.
The car was used when going after Shaw in a tank flying down the highway. True to the Mk1 Escort RS1600's rally heritage (RS stands for Rallye Sport), the car was equipped with rally-ready suspension, letting O'Conner land a large leap across the highway where he rescues Roman from being crushed by a tank.
2. 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT – Furious 7
The stunts became more and more outrageous as the Fast Saga progressed through the different films. We've seen the team take out a prison bus, jump across highways, tow a bank safe with two cars, and jump cars out of a plane. Mr. Nobody, a government agent looking to take advantage of the crew's skills, provides the team with a warehouse of specially kitted cars for their antics in Furious 7, of which one was this green Dodge Challenger driven by Letty Ortiz when the team was trying to save the hacker Ramsey in the Caucasus Mountains. The green Challenger stood out from the Fast and Furious movie cars, particularly thanks to its aggressive front bash bars and a rear spoiler. This spoiler provided Brian with something to grab hold of and stop him from falling off of a mountain.
3. 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback – The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
Sean Boswell, a character we're first introduced to in Tokyo Drift, was a street racer with some skill. After taking on the high school bully in a street race where Sean drove an 800-horsepower Chevrolet Monte Carlo against a Dodge Viper, a crash and subsequent arrest for property damage sees Boswell moving to Tokyo to live with his father. Here, he encounters driving, and at the end of the film, he takes on the Drift King in a full touge drift battle in a Ford Mustang with an RB26 engine from a Nissan Skyline GT-R.
Several Mustangs were built for the movie and were actually 1968 models. Sean Morris from Toprank Imports built the various film cars, taking two months to get the Nissan GT-R engine into a car. A total of six Mustangs were used, and thankfully, not even one was trashed during the making of the film. The RB26 used in the movie made a respectable 320-330 hp. Most of the cars used in the film, however, were stunt cars and housed regular old V6 engines, they were sold off after the movie for $14,000 to $22,000.
4. W Motors Lykan HyperSport – Furious 7
The 7th film had some of the coolest cars ever seen in the Fast and Furious saga, ranging from Subarus and Dodges to McLarens and Bugattis: the film had it all. The star of the film is the W Motors Lykan Hypersport, a vehicle Dom proceeded to jump between three skyscrapers.
Although falsely sounding like a V10, the car is actually powered by a twin-turbo boxer flat-six engine sourced from Ruf, making 780 hp and propelling the lightweight hypercar to 62 in under three seconds. The car was made famous in the movie, but with only seven ever produced, we can be happy that the model destroyed on screen was a model and the damage predominantly down using CGI.10 stunt cars were made, and the hero car was auctioned off after the film.
5. Toyota GR Supra (RX-7 Homage): F9
During the activation of the newly discovered device, Han and Mia show up in a 2020 Toyota GR Supra, painted to match Han's old RX-7 from Tokyo Drift, a double nod to Brian's original Supra and Han's Mazda. The most ridiculous part about the car was the massive electromagnet fitted to the Supra. At the end of the scene, Jakob uses the magnet in the Supra together with Dom and squeezes the 18-wheeler, causing it to flip forward.
Although slightly cosmetically altered, this was just your average Toyota GR Supra. What exactly does that mean? Well, no Veilside widebody, no engine swaps, and no 10-second quarter miles. In its 3.0 guise, the Supra produces 382 hp from a BMW-derived straight-six.
The Fast franchise paid further homage to the VeilSide RX-7 with a new VeilSide Z driven by Han in the latest film.
6. 1970 Dodge Charger R/T – The Fast and The Furious
The car that started it all for Dominic Toretto, this classic example of a Dodge Charger has become synonymous with not only the Fast and The Furious franchise but also Dom's character, often being referred to as “Dom's Charger.” The Charger was built by Dom and his father in his younger years, but Torreto was notoriously fearful of the car.
It could apparently cover the quarter mile in the 9s while doing a wheelie and simultaneously doing a burnout.
In reality, this isn't possible, and the actual Charger was made up of parts from its 1968 and 1970 counterparts. Mecum claims the Charger made 950 horsepower and had a nitrous system from NOS. The engine seen when we were first introduced to the car was from Chuck Taylor Racing Engines and was only used in that scene and then shipped right back. The engine sounds were false as well, being recorded prior to the scenes with a standard Hemi V8, hence the lack of a supercharger whine.
7. 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse: The Fast and The Furious
The car that gets Paul Walker's character introduced to Dom Torreto in the very first film, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, perfectly captured the essence of car culture and underground street racing at the time. It was painted bright green with blue side decals and had an APR rear spoiler, a full body kit, and neon under glow, among other upgrades. The Eclipse was around for a very short part of the movie but set the scene for what was to come in the next few movies.
Brian was an undercover cop and used the Eclipse to impress Dom, entering a street race under the pseudonym “Brian Earl Spilner.” During the race, Brian pushes the Eclipse to the limit, pumping in nitrous and yielding some of the film's funniest inaccuracies, like damage to the manifold somehow resulting in the passenger-side floor pan dropping out.
This Eclipse was actually sold at a Mecum auction for $170,500, boasting Toyo Proxes tires, a 2.0-liter DOHC inline four-cylinder engine, a genuine carbon fiber hood, and Sparco racing seats.
8. VeilSide Mazda RX-7 – The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
Han was no stranger to drifting and saw potential in Sean even after he embarrassed himself against DK (Drift King) at Sean's drift meet in Tokyo, crashing an RB-swapped S15 Silvia in the process. When Han decides Sean needs to pay him back, he picks him up from school in one of the franchise's most iconic cars: the orange and black VeilSide RX-7.
Originally purchased in red, the RX-7 was repainted in orange for the movie but kept all modifications made by VeilSide. The 13B under the hood has an HKS turbo strapped to it with a titanium exhaust to better emphasize that iconic rotary sound. Other modifications include an Alpine sound system and a nitrous bottle, although it's unclear whether it was just for display or not. Nevertheless, this is one of the coolest cars ever to grace the big screen.
9. Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34): 2 Fast 2 Furious
You can't mention the Fast films without talking about the Skyline GT-R, and the affiliation is arguably why these cars cost so much in the US. That's despite the fact that while the R34 Skyline is legal to import, the GT-R variant is still illegal. However, that didn't stop a batch from somehow making it stateside with exemption, including the one used as the hero car in the opening exchanges of 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Famous for its silver and blue livery, the car was originally Bayside Blue and was returned to such by its owner after filming and the media tour were complete.
Under the hood, the RB26DETT engine was upgraded with HKS 2540 Turbos, upgraded injectors, cams, downpipe, and more, with 420-450 hp without nitrous. Speaking of, the GT-R has a 150-hp Nitrous Express system. It was a genuine beast of a car, capable of a 12-second quarter mile, and was one of only 11 US-legal Nissan GT-Rs at the time.
Its iconic styling also included a C-West body kit, carbon rear wing, and wore Toyo T1R Proxes rubber on HRE 19-inch wheels.
10. Mk4 Toyota Supra: The Fast and The Furious
This list wouldn't be complete without the first film's hero car, the not-so-fast “10-second car” Brian owed Dom.
After losing to Dom, Brian has to pay his debts by providing Dom with a 10-second car, rocking up at the garage with a beaut-up old Supra with its 2JZ engine intact. After a lot of work, they got the car up and running, and looking the part with its sleek orange paint taken from a Lamborghini Diablo.
It featured in the scene with one of the most memorable movie lines in car film history, too:
“What's the retail on one of those?”
“More than you can afford, pal. Ferrari”
But these days, it's actually the Supra that costs top dollar.
The Supra used as the film's hero car was so loved that it broke a new auction record, selling for more than half a million dollars. But it was never actually that special. You'll be disappointed to know that it housed a completely stock engine and was paired with a four-speed automatic transmission. But it looked great thanks to a Bomex kit, genuine APR rear-wing, 19-inch Dazz Motorsport Racing Hart M5 wheels, and the iconic Nuclear Gladiator decals. This Supra wholeheartedly created a new generation of car enthusiasts and set the tone for the early 2000s car modifying scene.
Special Mentions: Flip Car and Space Fiero
A car capable of crawling across lanes at speed and being invincible to oncoming traffic, the flip car from Fast & Furious 6 was piloted by Owen Shaw and posed a threat like never seen before. With the push of a button, a ramp would deploy on the front of the car, making any vehicle that hit it fly into the air.
Speaking of ridiculous stunts, why would anyone use a rocket to get into space when they could use a car? In order to destroy a satellite, the team had to find a way to get themselves into space. Built by Sean, Twinkie, and Earl from Tokyo Drift, they strap rockets onto a Pontiac Fiero and fire it into space. Not impossible at all.
Keyword: Fast And Furious Cars: 10 Of The Most Iconic Rides From The Fast Franchise