Top Cars of Fast and the Furious

If the movie’s tagline – “one last ride” – is, in fact, true (Vin Diesel may think otherwise, however), then Furious 7 – is the last hurrah for a franchise that has gone from being a street racing kid’s wet dream to a proper action series that can go toe-to-toe with The Matrix and Die Hard alike.

With that in mind, we take a look back at the mechanical stars of the film; the muscle cars, street racers and off-roaders that, even in this last iteration which features a host of acting talent, remain the staple of the franchise.

Dom’s 1970 Dodge Charger R/T (The Fast and the Furious, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious7)

Yes, it’s the most prominent automotive feature in the series – all menacing black with a massive air scoop – but it’s the version from Fast & Furious that we’ll have; by adding bigger wheels and lowering both the ride height and the height of the BDS intake, it looks that much more menacing, and that much more able to actually out manoeuvre the baddies, as opposed to just overpowering them. Not to mention, it’s in the presence of this car that Dom utters those now unforgettable words: “I live my life one quarter-mile at a time.”

Of course, special mention has to go to Dom’s “Charger” off-roader (it’s really just a Charger body on a stadium buggy chassis) from F7; car builder/guru Dennis McCarthy was quoted by theAFICIONAUTO as saying that this car, in particular, was his outright favorite from all the films.

Brian’s Nissan R34 GT-R (2 Fast 2 Furious)

This is an interesting one because not only did it look fantastic an oh-so-street-racer in its silver/blue paintjob (with matching blue neon underneath, of course), but it was the first time many North Americans this side of the Gran Turismo video game crowd really learned what the Nissan GT-R was. Now, it’s a staple in the performance car world, both here and abroad. Give Brian and the rest of the 2F2F crew credit for being ahead of their time!

Dom’s (sort of) 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (Fast Five)

“Sort of” because it’s a replica and “sort of” because Dom only really has it in his possession for a limited time, the ‘Vette GS looks awesome, has been tuned (in real life) to handle off-road Thunderdome-style pursuits, and is privy to one of the most extreme set-piece escapes the series (and perhaps the action genre in general) has ever seen. Who can forget the slo-mo shot from the rear of the car as it catapults of a storeys-high cliff, Dom and Brian slowly emerging through the open roof like two extreme parcourists?

Letty’s Dodge Challenger SRT8 (Furious7)

Like the Corvette above, it’s this car’s involvement in such derring-do that merits its placement on this list. It also presents a juicy tidbit of irony, too; if it weren’t for that import-tuner rear wing – the kind of thing muscle car people are often not too fond of – how would Brian have ever made it? Hmm? Bonus points for its being part of the fantastic let’s-drop-some-cars-from-a-military-transport-plane sequence, and managing to look cool even without the sky-high ride heights and burly off-road tires of the rest of the cars involved.

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