Fast X – The Car’s The Star

Vin Diesel (full name; Vehicle Identification Number Dieselman) doesn’t have friends, he has family. He also has one of the world’s – love it or hate it – most successful movie franchises under his belt in the form of the Fast and Furious series. And later this month, the tenth and penultimate film hits the silver screen – Fast X. And normally, this wouldn’t be something that would pique the interest of us here at Car & Classic, but it seems this addition to one of cinema’s biggest juggernauts seems to be dripping with more classic metal than ever. The franchise’s picture car coordinator, Dennis McCarthy seems to have leaned into classic metal harder than ever, and we’re here for it.

If you want to know more about the history of this now-old-enough-to-drink-a-Corona movie franchise, you can do so by having a read of this article we wrote last year. If you want to know about the vehicles in Fast X then stay right here. We’ve done the digging, we’ve watched the trailers roughly four-hundred times and we’ve got the screen grabs. And all our research tells us that this should be a proper cinematic slice of fun. Just don’t forget to take your family.

The Film

Fast X is the tenth film in the franchise, and also the penultimate one. Apparently, this one won’t end with the family having a BBQ in Dom’s back yard, but will instead be some sort of fraught, tense cliff-hanger. In this one, if you’ve been keeping up, we revisit Fast 5 to be shown how that film’s antagonist died, but his son didn’t. All of this happened off camera in the fifth film, obviously. But some CGI and clever editing will create our introduction to X’s antagonist, Dante Reyes, played by Jason Moamamamnanna. Or Aquaman, to use his other name. And to Jason’s credit, he seems to be having fun with the role, which should be good. Anyway, this is Car & Classic, not Empire Magazine so you can get a better overview by watching the trailer here…

The Datsun 280Z

One of the first cars that caught our eye in the trailer was this very, very yellow Datsun 280Z. Amusingly, the film will say it’s powered by an RB26 Nissan engine, however you’ll note the turbo sticks out of the wrong side for that. It’s probably because it’s not a real turbo, as the movie cars were powered by V8 units. An RB would be cool in the real world, but for films with take after take and constant high stress situations, reliability is key. This is why almost every car is indeed powered by an LS of some sort. Off the shelf parts and easy to fix in a pinch. Anyway, we suspect we’re only going to get a short amount of screen time to enjoy the 280Z, as it ends up… exploding.

The Dodge Charger

It wouldn’t be a Fast movie without Dom’s Dodge Charger, and this inclusion into the saga embodies that, in a good way it seems. Dom’s cars have got bit… silly, of late. Ice Charger? Really? In Fast X we start with the ’70 Charger looking decidedly faithful to how it was in the first movie. Then, later, it evolves into a more menacing machine, but one that is ultimately still a Charger. Though, there is some irony here, as the cars used in the film were, according to McCarthy, about 85% aftermarket. No original cars were harmed in the making of this motion picture. 14 were built, and three survived. And again, the bits sticking out of the bonnet are for show, while an LS handles the forward motion.

The Alfa Romeo

We’ve never seen an Alfa Romeo in a hero role in the franchise, so this is a welcome change. This orange and black 1971 2000 GT Veloce (apparently) is the vehicular weapon of choice for Han, the fella from Tokyo Drift, who was dead until he wasn’t dead because the script said so. Anyway, not learning from his last mistakes in a black and orange car, Han seems to be putting in some serious, serious wheel time in Fast X with the Alfa. We see it keenly sliding around, doing brilliant Alfa things. We love seeing it. It shows that the guys making the cars for the films really are passionate. But then, so is the cast. Han Lue, who plays Han, reportedly bought one of the Alfas for his own collection. That’s cool.

The Chevrolet Impala

For Fast X the baddie, Dante, does the right thing and goes against Dom in a massive slab of American iron, and to drive the sense of rivalry home, that iron is a Chevrolet, namely a 1966 Impala. Unapologetically purple, this car was in fact bought as a legitimate, pre-built drag car. They built others for the shoot, but they were all based on the car McCarthy and his team found. But that’s not uncommon for the production, as past movies have used real life cars and paid homage to them, David Freiburger’s ‘F Bomb’ Camaro being a case in point. These cars are built by car people. And again, the stars have a say, too. Dante was going to be in an R35 Skyline, but – and we’re telling the truth – this Chevrolet matched Jason Moama’s character’s nail polish. Brilliant.

The Chevrolet El Camino

The 1967 Chevrolet El Camino was not the best El Camino to ever be built. However, it seems that if you pop John Cena in it and strap a load of rocket launchers to it, said El Camino becomes far more exciting. We don’t know why, how or for what purpose, but it should serve up some exciting scenes in Fast X because, well, how could an El Camino with rocket launchers not do so? From what we’ve seen in the trailers, the El Camino doesn’t survive, but its legacy will live on as one of the wildest creations in Fast history. Other than the Pontiac Fiero that went to space, but we don’t talk about that. No sir.

Fast X hits cinemas on May 19th 2023.