Tag: fast and furious

Here are the cars rejected from 2001’s “The Fast and the Furious”

From the Mitsubishi Eclipse to the Toyota Supra, the original 2001 hit “The Fast and the Furious” turned many cars into stars. But even more cars didn’t make the cut, as Craig Lieberman, a technical advisor for the early films in the franchise, explains in this video.

First off, the original movie focused on tuner cars, and producers only wanted cars that were available in the United States at the time. That ruled out JDM models, rare muscle cars, and supercars, although some exceptions were made (including Dominic Toretto’s Dodge Charger) and these rules were relaxed in later films.

Many cars that met those ground rules still didn’t make the cut, though. Producers turned down the Volkswagen Beetle, Mazda MX-5 Miata, and BMW Z3 for not being “manly” enough. Lieberman also noted that convertibles were usually avoided because it made it hard to hide stunt drivers’ faces (remember that Johnny Tran’s Honda S2000 was always shown with the top up).

1992 Toyota MR2

The script also originally had Brian O’Connor starting out in a Mitsubishi 3000GT, then switching to an Eclipse. However, none of the modified 3000GTs that showed up to the car casting call impressed producers, and the Supra was a better fit because of its removable large roof, which was needed for the truck-chase scene later in the movie, Lieberman said.

Toretto was always slated to drive an FD Mazda RX-7, but other members of his crew could have ended up in different cars. Lieberman originally suggested an E36 BMW M3 or Audi S4 for Jesse, who got a Mark III Volkswagen Jetta instead. Initial car ideas for Vince included a Toyota MR2, Lexus GS, and Honda Prelude, but Lieberman’s own Nissan Maxima was chosen instead. Leon went from a Toyota Celica to an R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R.

The original script also named a Ford Mustang as Tran’s car (and referred to the character as “Pete”). That didn’t make sense in a movie about tuner cars, but the change from Mustang to S2000 actually came about because producers saw a modified black S2000 they liked. Villains always drive black cars, the theory went.

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January 24, 2021
Deep dive: The Buick Grand Nationals from “Fast & Furious”

“Fast & Furious”—the fourth installment in the franchise—is noteworthy mostly for reuniting most of the original cast from the first movie. But it also gave an iconic muscle car some long-overdue screen time. This is the story of how a Buck Grand National ended up on screen—as told by Craig Lieberman, a technical advisor on many of the movies in the franchise.

The Grand National only appears in the opening scene of the 2009 hit, driven by Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto during an attempted heist of a gasoline-tanker land train. On screen, the car is shown driving in reverse at speed for an extended period of time—not something any production car can do.

To make the scene work, two cars (a 1985 model and a 1986 model) had engines mounted in their trunks, with rear-facing steering wheels, pedals, and dashboards behind the front passenger’s seats. Clever camera angles were used to hide the literal backseat driver, but in at least one shot it’s still apparent that the rear wheels are steering, rather than the fronts, Lieberman noted.

1986 Buick Grand National from

Eight cars were used for filming, including the two reverse-driving ones. All were real Grand Nationals from various model years. One car had its 3.8-liter turbocharged V-6 replaced with a V-8 in order to improve acceleration off the line, Lieberman said. The 1980s-era stock turbo setup was prone to period-typical turbo lag.

All cars got modified suspension for a lower stance, riding about 3.0 inches lower than stock, Lieberman said. Brakes were also modified to make the cars easier to slide.

As of mid-2020, most of the cars still survive, according to Lieberman, mostly in museums or private collections.

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January 3, 2021
DENNIS MCCARTHY INTERVIEW: THE MAN BEHIND THE CARS OF THE FAST AND FURIOUS – FC THROWBACK

Welcome to this week’s FC Throwback, where we take a look back at some of our favourite previous features. This week it’s an interview with Dennis McCarthy from 2013. Forget your Vin Diesels and Paul Walkers. The real hero of the Fast And Furious Series is this fella – the bloke who gets ‘em the cars!

Feature taken from Fast Car magazine. Words Midge Photos Universal

So Dennis – how would you describe your job?
I supply cars for movies, it’s that simple.

And how many have you worked on?
Quite a lot over the past few years, like 25-movies. All kinds like Die Hard 4.0, Batman Begins, Total Recall and, of course, every Fast and Furious movie since Tokyo Drift.

How do you co-ordinate so many cars for the Fast and Furious series?
They’re out and out car movies, so you have to. I have a large, dedicated team though, both here and at every main location. Anything we can source locally we do, anything else we ship. The trouble is it’s rarely just one car, you need to find multiples for all the different shots in a movie.

Did you have a favourite European you had to find?
The Mk1 Escort was cool. It’s kinda like the UK’s ’69 Camaro. It’s a legend and not easy to find a great one, let alone 7. It was one of the special hero cars, I think it definitely had the most character.

What others can we expect to see in the European sequences?
It was a big deal and I had to have a huge team over there. In all we had to source around 300 cars for Europe. There’s everything from Aston Martins and Mercedes and a whole fleet of BMW M5s. Only then can we get the parts to make them all look the same.

Who modifies them?
We do – it’s all done in-house. We roll into town like some sort of huge messed up circus bringing our workshop, transporters and 60-70 staff with us. It’s a vast, vast operation.

How do they differ from other films?
Each movie is different. These tuner cars are awesome and built to be modified. In some other films you have to go crazy with machine guns and custom builds. The cars in the Death Race films were fun, but a lot of work.

What’s the most of any single car you’ve had the find?
Working on the Green Hornet I had to find 27 1965 Chrysler Imperials to modify. I think we had every one in the US – we had to go to Canada for the last one.

Do you ever get sad at them getting wrecked?
I used to, but you become immune to it. Taking a sledgehammer to the side of a brand new M5 is just part of the job. It is a shame with some of the older, rarer stuff but, to be fair, most of the cars we buy in that category start out as wrecks. The vast majority are rebuilt shells that would never be able to go on the road anyway. There are plenty of recycled ones too.

Recycled?
Yeah some of the ‘69 Chargers in Fast and Furious 4 were former General Lees from the Dukes of Hazard. That sort of thing, you’d be surprised what turns up.

Do the enthusiasts get on your back when you break ‘em?
Sometimes when they don’t understand. If it’s mega rare and important we generally don’t kill it. In Fast and Furious the rare Buick GNXs we wrecked sent people nuts – in fact they were only dressed up Buick Regals.

How do you decide on the cars?
The script usually dictates the cars, like in Fast and Furious the muscle stuff is usually Vin’s and the tuner stuff Paul’s. A lot of times there’s a few they ask for and we suggest the rest.

Where do you get them?
Apart form the ones realised by the manufactures, mostly the same as anyone else. Trawling through classified ads, on the web, car auctions, pretty much how you would find one.

Do you tell the owners where their cars are going?
No, never.

Do the manufactures ever refuse to give you cars?
Yes, all the time, sometimes even if you’re paying, but I don’t push it. You can’t be too insistent because you can wreck a whole fleet of cars from a company and then it all gets cut out of the film. When you’re condensing 6-hours of film into 2 hours sometimes that happens.

Do you have to work on a strict budget?
Of course, in Hollywood there’s always a budget – or we’d be smashing up Veyrons all day long.

What do you drive yourself?
Not a Veyron, and certainly not a Prius! I have a Cadillac CTS-V which is a bit like a 567 horsepower Vauxhall. I also have a ’65 Chevelle SS and a few bits and pieces knocking around.

And what did you do before you got into film?
Just build fast cars, I always have, I always will.

Interview taken from Fast Car magazine issue 330, as promotion for Fast & Furious 6

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November 26, 2020