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| © The Racing Joker - YouTube One of the coolest Fast and Furious cars also has one of the coolest back stories. |
While many Fast and Furious fans will tell you the first movie was the best, just as many will argue Tokyo Drift was better. Like every film in the series, it had flaws, but it was an interesting look into Japanese car culture that many viewers had never seen before. The cars were a big part of why it was so great, and none made a bigger impact than Han's custom Mazda RX-7.
According to Craig Lieberman, technical advisor for the first three Fast films, the rebodied FD was built well before its starring role in Tokyo Drift. Assembled by VeilSide in the early 2000s, it used the company's Fortune body kit and Andrew Racing Evolution V wheels, giving it those distinctive looks that made such a big splash on the big screen. Though it was built to bring to shows to market VeilSide's parts, it was far more than just a show car. It had an HKS turbocharger, bigger brakes, a Titanium exhaust, coilovers, a Nitrous system plumbed, and, of course, a fully decked out audio system.
The car was on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon in 2004 when the production team, who was on the hunt for cars that would be a good fit for the movie at the time, came across it. Picture car coordinator Dennis McCarthy struck a deal with VeilSide to buy the car, which was red at the time, and have it shipped back to the States.
Of course, that exact car only played a partial role in being Han's RX-7. Universal Studios commissioned a total of nine (!) VeilSide RX-7 stunt cars, some of which stayed in Japan to be filmed for scenes that needed to be shot on location. Lieberman says just two survived filming, and were both sold to a dealer called Newera Imports in Japan, which has since sold both to private parties.
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The car was on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon in 2004 when the production team, who was on the hunt for cars that would be a good fit for the movie at the time, came across it. Picture car coordinator Dennis McCarthy struck a deal with VeilSide to buy the car, which was red at the time, and have it shipped back to the States.
Of course, that exact car only played a partial role in being Han's RX-7. Universal Studios commissioned a total of nine (!) VeilSide RX-7 stunt cars, some of which stayed in Japan to be filmed for scenes that needed to be shot on location. Lieberman says just two survived filming, and were both sold to a dealer called Newera Imports in Japan, which has since sold both to private parties.
