As the Fast & Furious movie franchise has evolved, it strayed away from its roots in car culture towards an action hero genre. Of course the newer movies are more enjoyable for a general audience, but for car enthusiasts like myself and I’m sure most of you too, the first few movies are my favourites because that’s where all the iconic cars come from.
In the first movie, The Fast and The Furious (2001), there’s three cars that stand out in particular as Stars. Hot Wheels have already made two of them, but I think if the castings were slightly modified, they would be amazing.
1994 Toyota Supra Mk4
Brian’s Toyota Supra from The Fast and The Furious is easily one of the most recognisable cars from the movies, and one that we’ve seen Hot Wheels do quite a few times. The versions that we’ve seen so far have been nice, but there’s one improvement I’d love to see… a Targa Top!
The Targa Top is an iconic feature of the Mk4 Supra and is integral to it’s role in The Fast and The Furious. The Supra was cast in the movie specifically because of its Targa Top which was required for the climatic truck heist scene where Brian pops the top off and jumps out to save Vince and throws him back into the Supra through the open Targa Top. The Supra has the Targa Top open nearly every time it is on screen, so it would be awesome to have a Hot Wheels version with an open top too. It would also be nice to see it with a silver rear wing and 5-spoke wheels.
1970 Dodge Charger
There aren’t many cars that could take claim as the most iconic car from the Fast and Furious movies, but Dom’s 1970 Dodge Charger is definitely one of them. A Dodge Charger is driven by Dom in nearly every movie, with some more different than others, but to a lot of folks, none of them can top the original.
We’ve seen it replicated only once in Premium in its gloss black paint scheme from the first movie. That casting was developed for the Mainline in 2011 and while it’s still very nice, the exposed engine lets it down. If it had an engine with the same level of detail as the Premium ‘Ghost Rider Charger’ casting from 2018, and some fat rear tyres, it would be perfect.
1994 Honda Civic EJ1 Coupe
The black ‘heist’ Honda Civic Coupes are towards the top of many Fast Fans lists of cars we want to see in the Hot Wheels series, mine included. These sinister black Civics with green underglow are the first cars we see in the movie and serve as the major plot point. They are the foundation of the entire film series. It’s a wonder that we haven’t seen Hot Wheels make them yet!
We have a Honda Civic Coupe casting in Basics, but it hasn’t been modified for use in Premium yet. That casting represents an EK Civic instead of an EJ like this one, and features two prominent hood scoops, while the cars from the movie do not. So if Hot Wheels were to use it in Premium, it would be nice to see it modified to be an EJ and with a smooth hood to be accurate to the movie car.
Stay tuned for the next part where I talk about some other memorable cars which are featured in supporting roles.
Search for Hot Wheels Fast & Furious on eBay!
I’m surprised that you think the black Civic is more iconic than Brian’s Eclipse, seeing how I’ve seen countless cars trying to imitate the Eclipse, with that green colour, the graphics, black bonnet, large wing and blue neon lights (although that’s not to say I haven’t seen people trying to replicate the Civic either, but that one is more model specific than the Eclipse) and also the fact that some of the most iconic lines of the franchise stem from the Eclipse.
As I’ve mentioned before, seeing how Hot Wheels have boldly used inaccurate castings for F&F cars in the past (and even wrong generations of the car entirely), I don’t see how it’d be problematic if they did the heist Civic on the existing EJ1 Civic. This casting has a premium version, although the recent retooling will need a new metal chassis, and considering how it’s just a black Civic with no graphics, I don’t think people would mind it either. But for accuracy’s sake, obviously I would love, and prefer, if they do a proper, correct gen EM1 Civic coupé, with the right bodykit and rear wing. I actually find it surprising (and silly) that they haven’t already done it in the last 4 years, given that this one was of the easiest cars to do from the first movie. I can only hope that we will see it soon.