Cars of Fast and Furious 8

By Alvin Uy April 19,2017
Havana’s slowest car, aka Dominic Toretto’s 1951 Chevrolet Fleetline, against a 1955 Ford Fairlane coupe

Havana’s slowest car, aka Dominic Toretto’s 1951 Chevrolet Fleetline, against a 1955 Ford Fairlane coupe

 

Photos from the FF photo gallery and Internet

In case you are wondering why some of the malls in the metro have muscle cars and super cars parked near their cinemas, it’s not a car show but a teaser display for the premiere weekend of the eighth installment of the Fast and Furious movie franchise.

Without sharing too many spoilers, here’s a look at some of the hottest cars on the FF8 set.

Havana’s hottest Chevy

A US embargo prohibited American filmmakers to make movies in Cuba, and FF8 was the first major Hollywood movie to be filmed after the embargo was lifted.

Havana is a virtual time capsule known for its American cars dating back to the 1950s.

Letty Ortiz’s 1966 red Corvette

Letty Ortiz’s 1966 red Corvette

Since the embargo, Cubans were forced to use these cars and whatever salvage parts they could buy or trade to keep their cars running. This served as a perfect backdrop for an old hotrod-themed street race involving Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) against a local thug with a black 1955 Ford Fairlane coupe.

Dominic Toretto’s “Ice Charger”

Dominic Toretto’s “Ice Charger”

Using a 1951 Chevrolet Fleetline fastback, dubbed as Havana’s “slowest car,” Toretto had to quickly improvise and using a marine engine turbocharger, a Coke can ring to crimp the waste gate line, and an antiquated 1950s nitrous bottle from a nearby dentist clinic to beat Cuba’s fastest machine.

Even if this was Hollywood, boosting the engine to 30 lbs. using gutted out Garrett turbo parts meant a fiery end for the ’51 Chevy.

New York’s finest

Even if you haven’t seen the movie, the New York scene was pretty much summed up in the online teaser videos with a hundred cars being smashed up and running amuck on the streets of New York on “zombie” remote pilot mode controlled by cybercriminal mastermind Cipher (played by Charlize Theron).

Luke Hobb’s “Ice Ram”

Luke Hobb’s “Ice Ram”

The more notable cars were Toretto’s Plymouth GTX, Tej Parker’s (played by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) Mercedes-Benz AMG GTS, Roman Pearce’s (played by Tyrese Gibson) Bentley GT with Air Ride suspension, Letty Ortiz Toretto’s (played by Michelle Rodriguez) 1966 Corvette which was a copy of the Brian Hobaugh autocross race car fitted with a 400 hp Chevy crate engine, Wilwood brake kit and power brakes, and ex-villain turned ally Deckard Shaw (played by Jason Statham) driving a new Jaguar F-Type coupe in British racing green color.

Frozen delights

Towards the end of the movie, the scene takes the FF8 team to an ice lake, and the hero car comes in the form of a 1968 Dodge Charger that’s been fully modified complete with a custom all-wheel-drive system, special CV axles with up to 41 degrees of steering angle and quick steering system, and a 550-hp LS engine since the car will be driven sideways most of the time.

Letty Ortiz’s “Rally Fighter”

Letty Ortiz’s “Rally Fighter”

The body panels of the Charger were customized by Speedkore, the same folks who did some of the muscle cars in FF7.

The “Ripsaw” driven by Tej Parker

The “Ripsaw” driven by Tej Parker

Like in previous FF movies, the latest franchise featured heavily modified military vehicles that were mostly used in the frozen lake scene.

There’s the “Ripsaw” snow tank driven by Tej Parker, the “Ice Ram” driven by Luke Hobbs which, much like the driver, is a Ram pickup truck high on testosterones, and Letty Ortiz’s “Rally Fighter” which is a custom-built coupe with a beach buggy platform.

An unmanned Russian nuclear sub chases after the FF8

An unmanned Russian nuclear sub chases after the FF8

A Mercedes-Benz AMG GTS driven by Tej Parker, and in the background, the Bentley GT driven by Roman Pearce

A Mercedes-Benz AMG GTS driven by Tej Parker, and in the background, the Bentley GT driven by Roman Pearce

Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.