For those of us who’ve been following the Fast and the Furious series since it was first launched in the Summer of 2001, know of the metamorphosis that the first six films have gone through.
First heavily geared towards the import scene in the first three installments; covering both SoCal and Miami street racing, then drifting in Tokyo Drift, we welcomed Fast and Furious (4) with open arms when we saw how many musclecars they crammed into the film.
Everything from a Grand National, a ’70 Chevelle, ’69 Z/28, a few Mopars, a Gran Torino, and that YearOne ’77 Trans Am BANIII at the end. Oh, and the F-bomb Camaro and a couple of third-gens make cameo appearances, too!
Hoping they would carry on that formula of the fourth installment for the following film, we were slightly disappointed when they chose to turn a film franchise about racing into a heist movie series with more imports and exotics for the fifth film… and the sixth film… and apparently, now, the seventh.
The fourth film is probably our favorite, with such a GM-centic cast of cars.
Hoping they would carry on that formula of the fourth installment for the following film, we were slightly disappointed when they chose to turn a film franchise about racing into a heist movie series with more imports and exotics for the fifth film… and the sixth film… and apparently, now, the seventh.
We’re not saying that they’re terrible movies, that’s open for you to decide. But we are getting to the point to where we would like to see the series wrap up. They’re becoming the Harry Potter of car films.
From what we hear, the ‘Race Wars’ racing event that we’ve last seen in the very first film returns for the seventh installment. Apparently, musclecars and exotics are welcome to join in on the fun this time around, too.
The seventh installment, due out in April 2015, picks up where the last film left off, and finally succeeds the 3rd installment (4-6 were prequels to Tokyo Drift). This one has Dom, Brian, and the crew heading from L.A., to Georgia, to Europe, and then to Tokyo to avenge Han’s death. We’ve attached the trailer above.
With Paul Walker’s unfortunate and untimely death (with the series retiring his character as a result), as well as the death of two major characters between Fast 6 and Tokyo Drift, we hope this will finally end the series. If not, we can only hope for more featured GM cars the next time around.
Naturally, the black ’70 Charger returns from the grave one more time to serve as Dom’s chariot of choice.
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of AutoCentric Media, the parent company to Timeless Muscle Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the magazine’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next round modifications for his own cars.
