TOP FIVE: Cars From Fast & Furious Series

5) 2003 Honda NSX

Most of us can’t afford a Ferrari.  So Honda came up with a solution — produce a car that could keep pace with a typical Italian super car, without the super cost.  Honda may be known best for their Civics, but their defining car was probably the NSX.  This black late model is Mia Toretto’s and can be spotted during the bus hijacking and several other times in Fast & Furious (2009).  This is sometimes wrongly labelled Acura NSX but the Honda badge is right there on the hood and it is left hand drive.  It is an original and it’s too cool for school.

4) 1993 MK IV Toyota Supra

We are going way back to the original 2001 movie with this one.  On the street racing scene a Supra can easily be seen to show up with 1000BHP+ under the hood, without N20.  That is seriously impressive potential from a 6 cylinder car.  This was O’Conner’s vehicle of the show next to the Charger being Toretto’s.  The car was involved in some of the more “1990s-ish” chase sequences considering this was from 2001 as well.  Would it really have beaten the Charger, good question.  Good answer – impossible to tell since the fictional specs nor real specs of both vehicles aren’t really known.

3) 2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R R-34

While Toretto had a thing for Chargers O’Conner had a thing for R-34s.  It wasn’t long a secret that this vehicle was a highly tunable ‘Ferrari killer’ on the street.  A no-nonsense twin turbo family car and another that could be tweaked beyond 1000BHP without losing its practicality.  For my money it also looks sweet, better than it’s successor for sure.  This is the second R-34 to appear in the series, choice of this one over the first comes down to simply having a better paint coating.  The late Paul Walker, a confirmed NISMO fanatic actually owned this car until it was stolen.  At least the thieves had taste.

2) 1970 Dodge Charger

This car appeared several times throughout the series.  The first appearance was in the original movie, then again in Fast & Furious and Fast Five, with a slight alteration in Fast Five.  The fake supercharger from the first has been replaced with a smaller and less stupid one in Fast Five, but still fake.  The only time the car had a real hemi engine was briefly in the original movie for a interior shot.  It didn’t run though.  To me this is the best manifestation of the vehicle.  Everything is more subtle.  It has been modernised quite nicely, removing some of the chrome overkill of the first appearance.  It’s a pity they can’t introduce the car without repeatedly destroying it.

1) 1973 De Tomaso Pantera GT5-S

This would be my favourite car to appear in this series.  It’s not a common vehicle and was only given a cameo, right at the start of Fast Five (2011).  It wasn’t even what it appeared to be as the interior of the car was stripped out — no seats, no panelling nor electronics.  But it belonged on that train of prestigious rides.  This is the coolest cat of the series, it sure has the x-factor.  The Pantera has chick pulling power like the gravity of the moon, in a league of its own.  The actual car in the movie existed in two forms.  A hero shell (shown) and a three wheeled version with an ugly and worn exterior, but home to matching interior parts missing in the non-running hero car.  Both were sold together on eBay for a small fee of $36,000.  For a 40 year old car, they really did have the modernisation down, subtle was the way to go with a lady like this.  Beautiful.  Ever heard a real Pantera roar?  Time to.