While talking to other Hot Wheels collectors about the Fast & Furious Premium Series, the topic of the background cars often comes up. Hot Wheels have made a few Fast & Furious cars that appear only in the background of a scene for couple of seconds, or even less than one second, like the BMW E46 M3 for example. Some people want the Hot Wheels Fast & Furious cars to be only the memorable ones, but personally, I don’t really mind.
As long as we still get those fan favourite star cars, I welcome the background cars as an additional supplement to the series. Hot Wheels would want to make the most of their partnership with Univseral Studios / Fast & Furious and a car that’s only in the background of a scene might give them an opportunity to make a new casting, or give us a new version of an existing casting. If that’s the case, I say “bring it on!”
I had a great time watching the movie, scanning the background with an eagle eye, looking out for cool cars, and I found quite a few which I think would make for really cool Hot Wheels. There are quite literally hundreds of cars in the background of The Fast and The Furious, and a lot of them are cool enough that they’d be great Hot Wheels even without the Fast & Furious connection.
The background cars aren’t everyone’s favourite part of the Fast & Furious Premium Series, but if Hot Wheels are going to continue making them, these are some that I think would be cool to see.
These three Honda Civic Coupes and a EK Honda Civic Hatch are part of Hector’s crew. The blue Civic with the dragon decal is pretty cool and can be seen multiple times in the movie if you look hard enough. I was impressed that the group of background cars that roll with Hector remains consistent over the several times we see them on screen. It’s a great continuity detail that you’d only notice if you were keenly looking at the background cars like I was.This black Mitsubishi Eclipse with silver and green stripes actually appears in three scenes throughout the movie. Here’s Hector and some more of his crew. The yellow Mitsubishi Eclipse could be an opportunity to reuse the Eclipse casting as we’ve only seen it in Brian’s green paint scheme so far. The white Honda Del Sol is a cool 90’s car which doesn’t seem to get the love it deserves. It was Honda’s attempt to compete with sporty Targa Top cars like the Toyota MR2. I think it would be an awesome new casting. Speaking of MR2’s, there’s one of those in this scene too! Matchbox have recently unveiled their version of this model MR2, so it would be cool to see Hot Wheels’ take on it! Hot Wheels haven’t made this model MR2 since the rally version they did back in 1991. Four Hondas! Two red Civic Coupes, an EG Hatch and a black Del Sol. The Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder is definitely more famous for its role in 2 Fast 2 Furious, but if Hot Wheels do that version, this car could be an opportunity for a second release of that casting. Alongside it is a Honda Accord Sedan, another very cool car. The Honda Civic Coupe is one of the most common background cars in the movie. Blue and yellow make for an interesting colour combination on this one, but I think it works!How many interesting cars can you spot here? I can see a white Acura Integra, and a orange Honda Civic Coupe among many!Street’s closed, pizza boy! This gold Honda Accord Wagon makes several appearances throughout the movie and I think would make for a great Hot Wheels casting. I’m not sure how they’d be able to faithfully replicate this car, there’s no ‘bling’ wheels in their current selection of Real Riders designs, and it has an exposed engine which could be tricky to cast and limit the re-usability of the casting, but I’d love to see it done. A Mitsubishi Eclipse escapes the police bust. Even a relatively plain car like this would be a cool Hot Wheels as it would appeal to the people who aren’t into the wild graphic designs that most tuners and Fast & Furious cars have. Here’s another multi-car shot. We can see a yellow Honda Civic Coupe, a Honda S2000 and a Mk2 Toyota Supra. I know it’s only in the movie for a couple of seconds, but this could be a great chance to get a Mk2 Supra casting in Premium, especially since it’s coming to basics soon. I’ve seen a few collectors on the internet say how they’d love to see Hot Wheels make Brian’s Supra as it was “before”. That would be interesting, but I have my serious doubts that Toyota would license Hot Wheels to make a beat up version of their car, so we might have to leave that one to the customisers. The Supra arrives to Toretto’s workshop on the back of a pretty cool GMC Sierra flatbed truck though, and that’s something we might have a chance at seeing Hot Wheels make one day, it would be a great new casting in the Team Transport series. This Mitsubishi Eclipse is quickly seen in Toretto’s workshop and could be another potential use of the Mitsubishi Eclipse casting. After Hector and his crew come in to Harry’s to purchase performance parts, Brian spies on them at their workshop. Hector has a lot of cars in his crew, but there’s one car which stands out to me more than any of the others, the white Honda Accord sedan. It would be an awesome Hot Wheels casting, and it’s one I’m surprised they haven’t done yet. Not only would there be unlimited potential for ‘tuner’ versions, but also real race cars too. This model Honda Accord won the 1997 Japanese Touring Car Championship with notable cars featuring Castrol and JACCS sponsored liveries. After Vince and Dom bust Brian acting suspiciously at Hector’s, the trio break into Johnny Tran’s garage to spy on what cars he’s working on. We see a Honda Civic Coupe and an Acura Integra on the ground, and a Toyota Paseo on a hoist. When Johnny arrives with his entourage which includes his Honda S2000 and a Lexus GS300, Dom’s team take cover behind two Honda Civics. Out of the handful of cars in this scene, we only get a full, clear view of the Paseo and Lexus. Brian takes the Supra to Race Wars and pulls up next to Dom’s team which includes Leon’s R33, Vince’s Maxima and this Airstream Trailer. We haven’t seen Hot Wheels make an Airstream Trailer since the 100% casting 20 years ago. I’m not sure how or where this trailer would appear in a Hot Wheels series as we don’t see what vehicle could have towed it, but it would still be cool to see!The Race Wars scene has lots of wide shots which show crowds of cars, like this one where we can see a Honda Prelude, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Supra and a Honda CRX. All four of these cars have existing castings.Here’s a wide shot with a 7th generation Toyota Celica in the foreground. Hot Wheels made this model Celica back in 2001, but that casting has fallen out of use and it’s well overdue for for a new Premium casting. Parked behind it is the BMW E36 which Hot Wheels already made, so there’s no reason why they couldn’t make the Celica as well.I know I’m stretching the definition of a background car here, but that white Eclipse behind the S14 and Accord Wagon is too cool not to mention. There’s a quick clip of a drag race between a Honda Accord and a purple Lexus SC400 with a big dragon design on the side. Hot Wheels made an SC400 casting back in the 90’s and it’d be nice to see it return to the lineup with a new Premium casting.
The Fast & Furious Premium Series has already provided Hot Wheels collectors with so many cool cars, but despite that, it still has its detractors. Some say that the series has overstayed its welcome, but I don’t believe that’s true. It still holds a huge amount of potential. It would be an enormous missed opportunity if Hot Wheels were to stop making Fast & Furious cars now. For Fast Fans, there are dozens of memorable cars which could still be made, and even for those who aren’t fans of the movies, it’s a great avenue for new castings as evidenced by the 20+ that we’ve seen already.
The cars I’ve identified here are only from the first Fast & Furious movie, there are 11 movies in total. They’re full of cool cars that Hot Wheels could make, enough to keep the series going for many more years to come.
There are tones of background cars in Tokyo drift, but unfortunately we don’t really get a clear view of many of them. The parking garage scenes are really full of people that block the cars. I’m looking forward to talking about some of them though!
I wasn’t expecting such an extensive coverage of the background cars! Good job! There’s a few cool cars here but if I’m gonna be really honest, only two or three excite me enough that I want to see as Hot Wheels. The GMC flatbed (as a team transport truck) is one, and an excellent contender, and the others are the Lexus GS 300 and the Honda Accord saloon. Seeing as these two are in stock form (the Accord looks nearly stock), these would be brilliant to have in the arsenal of premium castings, and as you mentioned, the Accord has a tonne of potential for racing liveries. Even though I’m a bit tired of the endless stream of Japanese cars, I would be very thrilled with having these. Especially the Accord, cause I am an Accord fan. And if an F&F background car is our ticket to getting this casting (although I’d personally prefer if it debuted in Car Culture), then I do not mind at all.
BTW, I apologise for pointing out a mistake but – that Eclipse Spyder is a 2G, not a 3G, so not the same as Roman’s purple car from 2F2F. Very unlikely that they’ll make a 2G Eclipse Spyder, and if they were to do an Eclipse Spyder, I’d rather they do Minka’s silver one from the Turbocharged Prelude.
Thanks for the feedback. A lot of my reasoning behind these cars was that they would have an equal chance at being made and have a similar level of significance in the movie, as the other cars that they’ve already done. Out of all these, my personal favourites are the Accord sedan & wagon, Del Sol and the airstream. And thanks for picking me up on that Eclipse. I’ve gotta up my game on the model codes of Japanese cars.
Look at how the things played out! One day before the convention I posted this comment saying I’d love a 3rd gen Accord and now, a day later, it has been revealed that they ARE doing a 3rd gen Accord! And a JTCC at that. I hope it gets released in Car Culture first, but seeing how the casting seems well suited for the movie car, I’d welcome a F&F version as well. A plain white Accord JTCC with plain white wheels and no bs graphics would be a dream come true for me.
P.S. – I do understand and agree with your reasoning. What I meant was, the cars themselves don’t excite me that much. Sure, a plain Civic coupe would be lovely to have, as would a few others, but there are dozens of other cars I’d rather see and would get far more excited about (such as the Accord, though that has now been checked off) than a Civic.
The shot of race wars you showed us first could make a whole set. If the copper sedan behind the prelude is an Audi A4, that would be the fifth car hotwheels have tooled from the scene. Just turn the CRX to premium and boom, a set with all new cars
Another great article, Reece! Now do the background vehicles from F&F 2 thru 9… hahahahaha.
Thw background cars in Tokyo Drift would be awesome!
There are tones of background cars in Tokyo drift, but unfortunately we don’t really get a clear view of many of them. The parking garage scenes are really full of people that block the cars. I’m looking forward to talking about some of them though!
I wasn’t expecting such an extensive coverage of the background cars! Good job! There’s a few cool cars here but if I’m gonna be really honest, only two or three excite me enough that I want to see as Hot Wheels. The GMC flatbed (as a team transport truck) is one, and an excellent contender, and the others are the Lexus GS 300 and the Honda Accord saloon. Seeing as these two are in stock form (the Accord looks nearly stock), these would be brilliant to have in the arsenal of premium castings, and as you mentioned, the Accord has a tonne of potential for racing liveries. Even though I’m a bit tired of the endless stream of Japanese cars, I would be very thrilled with having these. Especially the Accord, cause I am an Accord fan. And if an F&F background car is our ticket to getting this casting (although I’d personally prefer if it debuted in Car Culture), then I do not mind at all.
BTW, I apologise for pointing out a mistake but – that Eclipse Spyder is a 2G, not a 3G, so not the same as Roman’s purple car from 2F2F. Very unlikely that they’ll make a 2G Eclipse Spyder, and if they were to do an Eclipse Spyder, I’d rather they do Minka’s silver one from the Turbocharged Prelude.
Thanks for the feedback. A lot of my reasoning behind these cars was that they would have an equal chance at being made and have a similar level of significance in the movie, as the other cars that they’ve already done. Out of all these, my personal favourites are the Accord sedan & wagon, Del Sol and the airstream. And thanks for picking me up on that Eclipse. I’ve gotta up my game on the model codes of Japanese cars.
Look at how the things played out! One day before the convention I posted this comment saying I’d love a 3rd gen Accord and now, a day later, it has been revealed that they ARE doing a 3rd gen Accord! And a JTCC at that. I hope it gets released in Car Culture first, but seeing how the casting seems well suited for the movie car, I’d welcome a F&F version as well. A plain white Accord JTCC with plain white wheels and no bs graphics would be a dream come true for me.
P.S. – I do understand and agree with your reasoning. What I meant was, the cars themselves don’t excite me that much. Sure, a plain Civic coupe would be lovely to have, as would a few others, but there are dozens of other cars I’d rather see and would get far more excited about (such as the Accord, though that has now been checked off) than a Civic.
The shot of race wars you showed us first could make a whole set. If the copper sedan behind the prelude is an Audi A4, that would be the fifth car hotwheels have tooled from the scene. Just turn the CRX to premium and boom, a set with all new cars