Car coordinator Dennis McCarthy is no stranger to the Fast and the Furious franchise. He was the picture car coordinator on Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious and returns for the hat-trick on Fast Five. The latest installment will feature a hefty 21 cars, including Dom Toretto’s trademark Dodge Charger.
In the last chapter of Fast Five week, we take a look at the many cars of Fast Five during an interview with the film’s car coordinator, Dennis McCarthy. If the last three films don’t give him enough credibility, McCarthy is also the man behind the vehicles of Green Hornet and Death Race.
McCarthy kicked off the interview by telling us the selection of cars is “a lot different” than the previous films. Nearly every cast or crew member interviewed during our set visit mentioned the new look of the cars in Fast Five. Each film has possessed its own vehicular identity, but now that Dom, Brian and the gang are on the run, their car selections are bit less high profile. Of course, low profile cars for car junkies like them aren’t so low profile.
Dennis McCarthy: It’s due to the location and the circumstances. They are down to their last pennies. They’ve transferred all the way from the U.S. on the run down to Brazil, so they don’t have the money to buy a brand new Skyline. So it was just character, environmental, and based on their means.
Now that we know a little more about the relevance of the cars in Fast Five, let’s check out what vehicles will catch some screen time. Of course, some cars are more prevalent than others. Certain characters are attached to certain cars, but other vehicles make brief appearances.
Car Coordinator Chris McCarthy on set of Fast Five in a 1966 Corvette Grand Sport
McCarthy gave us a crash course on the wide range of cars that appear in Fast Five:
DM: Okay so at the beginning of this film the vehicles would be: We have a Pantera – a Classic 1971 Pantera. We have a GT40 – the original one. We have a Corvette Grand Sport – a 1965 Corvette Grand Sport. Those are the first three cars that you see in the opening sequence.
We have a vehicle built – basically we call it the “Heist Truck”. It was kind of a one-off, custom-built vehicle. Big tires. Almost a kind of monster truck style but built for a specific purpose. No flash, no cosmetics, just pure function. That was probably the most challenging sequence of the film, just because we were out in the middle of the desert at 120 degrees, in the sand and the dirt. Just keeping things running in those conditions is always tough.
We have the Charger back. We have the ’70 Charger back. Basically when you first see the guys down in South America, Vin [Diesel]’s in his Charger, as you’ve seen it out here. It’s not quiet the same. It’s not as flashy. It doesn’t have the motor. He’s trying to make it a little bit more inconspicuous so he could make it all the way down. That’s when you see Paul Walker in the ’72 Skyline. Another car you see down there is the character Han has a Ford Maverick, which seems like another odd choice but if you look at the cars of South Polo, and Rio, the car culture there, Maverick is one of the top muscle cars. It’s just one of the cars that Ford’s produced down there. So you have Maverick, which is another hot car. Unfortunately we tried to get one here. We have a car called the Chevy Opala. That’s like your Chevy muscle car and your Ford muscle car in South America…
We have a 370Z. We have a brand new Subaru, which Subaru basically donated to our cause. Those cars are once again modified by Rhys Millen. They’re all used here. There’s a sequence where they are zipping through the auto plant, kind of like an obstacle course. We have a Porsche GT3, which is basically something that we cloned. We did bring back a Toyota Supra. Some of those right hand drives are back in. Early Skyline, we have a 2010 Skyline in the film. We have a Lexus LFA, which I was very happy to get.
McCarthy’s car knowledge is unrivaled on the set of Fast Five. Even car enthusiast and star of the film, Paul Walker, has nothing on the experienced car coordinator. Even though CGI has been used to enhance the car chases of the Fast and the Furious franchise, it is important to have a wealth of car knowledge on set to create the most realistic portrayal of the characters we have grown to love.
If the expansive run-through from McCarthy is too bulky for you, check out our condensed list of the Fast Five cars below. He also didn’t mention every vehicle in the film and some of the years are off, but Universal gave us the official dossier and images of each car. Unfortunately, they’ve asked us not to share the photos in an effort to keep the essence of Fast Five under wraps. Rest assured, the cars look awesome and are worth the wait.
- 1963 Ford Galaxy
- 1966 Ford GT40
- 1966 Corvette Grand Sport
- 1967 International Scout
- 1970 Charger
- 1970 Ford Maverick
- 1972 Nissan Skyline
- 1972 Pantera Detomaso
- 1996 Toyota Supra
- 2002 Porsche GT3
- 2006 GMC 2500 Yukon
- 2009 Nissan 370Z
- 2010 Dodge Challenger
- 2010 Subaru STi
- 2010 Lexus LFA
- 2010 Modified Vault Chargers
- 2011 Dodge Charger Police Interceptor
- Gurkha LAPV
- Ducati Street Racer
- Train Heist Truck
- Koenigsegg CCX
There are quite a few cars in Fast Five, but it wouldn’t be the same without them. Even though the cast and crew have mentioned that Fast Five takes the spotlight off the vehicles a bit, it will still bring in plenty of car lovers. Needless to say, they won’t be disappointed.
Fast Five Week is officially over and this concludes our coverage from the set visit. Stay tuned as the release date nears for new trailers and TV spots. If you missed any of our coverage from this week, catch up with the franchise with the articles below:
- Fast Five Director Justin Lin: “CGI Never Replaces The Real Thing”
- Paul Walker Talks Being On The Run In Fast Five
- Vin Diesel Says Fast Five is Part of a New Furious Trilogy
- Dwayne Johnson Talks Fast Five: “I’m Still Kicking Ass”
- Fast Five Set Visit Report
Fast Five slides into theaters on April 29th, 2011.
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just to let you know, It was a Koenigsegg ccxr not the ccx. Anyways awesome movie and wicked awesome cars
i love how theres all of this american muscle talk….especially for the new 5.0 mustang. i could buy a 2011 wrx sti and beat that mustang it in every aspect aside from top speed. plus the new gtr would smoke most new “muscle”….and dont even lie, 3/4 of the people on here have either never heard of koenigsegg or had to google what the “black cars at the end of the movie were”….if you want to learn about cars watch top gear(uk) and read up people…we need to learn about cars in america. im sick of this “muscle” crap nowadays. go back to the early ’70s and let america drive decent cars now
LMAO!!! Seriously?? I know you’re joking right? I’ll be impressed with the WRX if it was doing 13.5 seconds on a 1/4, while the 2011 Mustang GT are already posting times of 12.8 seconds bone stock and even as low as 12.4 seconds with the factory optional 3.73:1 rear-end. And bone stock they’re keeping up with the BMW M3 on the track.
And what more can be done to the WRX? Isn’t it already twin-turbo’ed? Do you have any clue what will happen if you twin-turbo or supercharge the 2011 5.0 Mustang??? LMAO!! People are buying one brand new, slapping on a supercharger, and pushing well over 600 horsepower in the new Mustangs without even breaking a sweat. And it’s not like you’re getting such a great deal with the WRX, the STI STARTS at $34,000. I could go to a dealer right now and get a 2011 5.0 Mustang GT for $30k out the door. Not only will I beat you stock for stock, but give me that $4k I saved for mods and I’ll extend that margin.
Yah, great choice. I guess you actually like the sound of the factory standard fart can they put on that exhaust since actually hearing the engine wouldn’t be that cool for that car…
And I don’t know, while you needed to google Koenigsegg, I’ve known about them since they were putting Ford V8′s in their cars. I’m sure you knew that too, I can almost hear you typing away on google right now to check to see if I’m right, lol. When you find it on google, please tell me what years and models those were, because I can’t remember off the top of my head, thanks.
you stated a good point yes the new 5.0L mustang could easily wipe the floor with the wrx sti because its a crappy car to begin with. but nissan puts out some of the best high performance motors. like that 5.0L mustang would easily be staring a tail lights if it raced the new nissan GTR or the nissan skyline. because as much as i love the roar of muscle you gotta get real. tuners will mess up muscle all day. just giving you a little reality check. cause i actually know my stuff
LMAO, Ok, a Nissan GT-R costs $90,000 – $95,000. A 5.0L Mustang GT costs $30,000. I wonder how fast $60,000 worth of mods on the 5.0L Mustang will make it. I’m sure it’ll make a complete shame out of the GT-R. You realize that people are buying the 5.0L and slapping on a supercharger (about a $5,000 – $10,000 upgrade max) and it’s pushing over 600 horses right? Yah, I’m sure the GT-R will stand a chance against that…
I’ll just take your word that you “know your stuff” since you picked the typical tuner fanboy fallback, the GT-R/Skyline… LOL
the skyline is just better then a cheap American peice of s***, the skyline is quality and fast with AWD and launch control they beat mercedes/mclaren slr so get out of your not so great American cars and take a look around dick face
LMAO, yah, because no American cars have AWD or Launch Control. That was invented by Nissan Skyline, hahaha. Anyway, thanks for the not so great response, guys like you make my job easy.
“Ken J.” even if you compare a new mustang GT with $60,000 dollars the only category you will be able to compete and possibly beat a GT-R in is Straight-line racing. The true test of a vehicle is to have excellent handling to compliment an insane power-to-weight ratio. I am neither an exclusively tuner or muscle advocate. I admire all vehicles and favor the ones with outstanding performance in all aspects and beauty without being biased by a “brand”. People criticize so many things. I have an idea why you don’t create a better car then the one you down-talk, and I don’t mean upgrading an existing vehicle.
The new GT-R completely obliterates vehicle’s 2-3 times it’s value. I know for a fact getting a stock 5.0 mustang vs. a GT-R (which is about 3x more valuable), the mustang will never obliterate the GT-R or even come close. It beats vehicles with better acceleration, speed and handling characteristics. This is because of the “ATTEST ET-S” all wheel drive system. It starts out with a 2%-98% front-to-rear ratio for RWD like launches, and can instantly start adjusting ratio all the way to 50%-50%; Which controls front to rear and even left-right torque split. The AWD system has it’s own ECU which uses data from ABS sensors(wheel speed), a three-axis G sensor, gearbox and engine ECU sensors to actively control power in real-time to each and every wheel. All the sensors(wheel speed, etc..) are updated and adjusted thousands of times per second. This provides a major performance advantage to the handling and ultimately the cornering exit speed for this vehicle. Oh and congratulations on knowing about the existence of the Koenigsegg vehicles before other people. You will always have people who learned about and invention or idea after you do… Just because you learn about a vehicle before someone else doesn’t make you any more likely to have contributed to any factor of it’s performance.
@headahe
If you said that last year, you might be close to being right. Although even then, with $60,000 to spend, you can make a straight-line car into a track car. But that isn’t even an issue anymore. You realize the new 2011 5.0 Mustang GT is more than just an upgraded engine but upgraded suspension right? It’s still a live rear axle since you lose less powertrain loss with that compared to independent suspension in the rear, but even with a live rear axle, you realize a STOCK 2011 Mustang matches a BMW M3 on the track, not straight line, on a track. And the 2011 Boss 302 destroys the Audi R8, also on the track. And that’s. $100k car… So I think you should rethink the whole “Nissan GT-R is untouchable” mentality because it’s quickly becoming a bad fall-back for ricers to name when they get proven wrong in everything else… Soon they will need a new fall-back…
Only problem is Mustang’s can’t turn, so in a drag race yes,Mustang would win, but round a track it wouldnt stand a chance. Also having used to have had an Sti, you can tune them to 500-600bhp (they are single turbo), but they would probably win off the line due to their AWD
@A Jones
Really? Is that how the 2011 5.0 Mustang GT was able to match a BMW M3 on a track? And how the new Boss 302 Mustang can mop the floor with the $100k Audi R8 also on a track? Neither of these were on a straight line, and both had plenty of turns, I wonder how that happened…
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK YYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! Biyatch
Are you actually serious? the GTR has a 0-60 time of 2.90 seconds, which is nearly as fast as the Bugatti Veyron, a car the makes the price tag look like chump change. Even if you put that 60 g’s into that mustang, it still would still not out perform the Nissan. But hey, if you want to go out and buy a mustang, illl gladly race you in my GTR.
@Tony
LMAO, wow, are you serious? with 60g, I can make a freakin’ Honda Civic outrun a GTR… Hell, with 60g, I think I can pretty much build a car from scratch that can outrun any street legal production car on a track… Do you know anything about building race cars??? Or do you just read numbers in magazines and think you know how to drive them?? LOL
And thanks for naming yet another highly overrated car, the Veyron. Yah, it’s fast, BUT IT BETTER FREAKIN’ BE costing $2M with SIXTEEN CYLINDERS losing a whole THOUSAND horsepower in its cooling system alone… It’s about the LEAST efficient car ever made. Hilarious since Shelby Super Cars built a street legal car that was able to outrun a Veyron with only EIGHT cylinders, forcing those people at Bugatti to hit the drawing boards and tweak their Veyron to beat the SSC by a tiny little bit so they won’t lose their title so fast, LMAO. Not to mention, the car cannot do both top speed and track performance at the same time. You have to pick one or the other while the car is off using a selector switch on the door jam using the ignition key… OVERCOMPLICATE MUCH??? LMAO!!!
But I’m glad you’re impressed by the numbers game. Enjoy your magazines.
I get a kick out of the dialogue about rice burner vs old muscle cars, can you say supersnake 750+hp and it handles pretty good considering. In all seriousness if you look up BOSS-302 they were made and held the track records in their class, I don’t recall ANY rice burners but then I’m old school. Getting to the real issue todays cars can be driven by old ladies because everything about handling is done for you, Old muscle, well if you couldn’t drive you better get out and walk or the car would take control.
Me, I’m partial to the car of cars 427 AC-Cobra I believe 1966 183MPH with a three speed oh! and it turned Farrari away for 3years. That says enough don’t you think, Oh! did you guys forget the GT-40 and don’t even mention the LS-6 because the 40 makes it look BAD. Have a great day guys.
Look out for the 2013 model year GT500 Mustang. 650hp and 600 ft-lb of torque. With the low-end torque and gearing, it goes to 62mph in first gear, lol. Let’s see a little ricer do that…
62mph in First gear is great coming from 650bhp Mustang. But If you look at a 1999 Ford Escort With a 1.8litre Engine With only 180bhp and Doing that Speed In first Gear then You can Kick your Self in the teeth.
Um, unless you have some hard data to back you up, I highly doubt they put such a tall gear ratio as their first gear for it to reach that speed. First of all, it didn’t have 180bhp, it’s more like 100-120bhp, and it only had like 120 ft-lbs of torque. With a gear ratio tall enough to reach 62mph as their first gear, that little amount of torque it will stall out for sure… I’m pretty sure it had a pretty standard 3:1 gear ratio as first, which for that engine would probably move the car to 15-20mph on first gear… Again, if you have hard data to prove this wrong, please feel free to provide it…
right i have a 392 hemi and put it in a 1973 charger its amazing im somking little import i even beat a viper srt8
But then again, you would still be another ricer homo in a Jap ride. Boring.
I dont get why people actually pay money to go see yet another franchise of the same crappy plot that was in the 4 other lame scams these people call movies. Gee I wonder what the next horrid waste of time will be about. Granted the only thing they have managed to do was improve on more than just rice burners.
the story is already screwed up anyways….. the cars is the only reason to watch it my opinion of course.
If I wanted to watch oem cars running around, I would rather watch Top Gear UK. At least they are entertaining. This franchise was built on the tuner scene, that’s what made interesting. That and the near naked girls. LOL
No Mitsubishi Evo’s
You forgot to mention the Nissan GTR Paul Walker drives at the end of the movie in the closing scene…
you miss one, Nissan GTR
yah
nice movie and the cars Damn hot!
Ok I know the plots are kinda weak, but I watch these movies for the cars and racing. The hot chicks are good to. Even the 2nd movie that had the worst plot at least had nice cars and RACES . This movie had hardly any racing and almost NO cars. It was all about the actors. They raced police cars, I know the idea was the cars were identical so it was driver skill but still they were crappy cars. Then the 2 dodge magnum coupes.. I’m sorry you guys think they are chargers. The 68 in my garage is a charger. Then what might have been a cool race the 70 charger against the Porsche isn’t even in the movie thats about racing. Plus they would have never pulled the vault, The big truck might have but the cars don’t have enough weight for traction even if their engines and axles were beefed up. The few good cars in the movie you barely see except the 70 charger but never see it race. They need to concentrate on the real stars of the movie the cars with a good mix of muscle , import , exotic
@Conan
I understand your feelings exactly about the new “Charger.” At least they did better with the new Challenger. But still, the second one was just all rice burners. The most used “upgrade” in that movie were neon lights. The plot sucked AND the cars sucked in my opinion. That whole movie (except the part where they had to cheat to beat the muscle cars, lol) was garbage.
Agreed. More races with more cars that make you drool. I did like the story line however, nice to see all the past characters working together. However I hate unrealism in movies. No way can two muscle cars alone pull a safe of that size let alone rip it out of its foundations where it was placed. In addition why the hell would the palm reader on it still be working after they have shoved the thing through a bloody building and all other kids of stuff. they should have used tanks to drag the thing…
Bad intel… That was a 2011 STi not a 2010… The 08-10 model was used in the 4th movie…
was disapointed with the movie confused with the story line wat ever went from car culture to some action movie
dose anyone know what to cars the two guys drive in the end that look the same
2007 Koenigsegg CCX R Edition(s) that Roman and Tej each show up with, near the end of the movie. The CCX R Edition, of which only six were made, had an asking price of $2 million when new. All six were sold
there are only 4 made of them
Hey, what was the car that Mia the girl was driving. The scene where they help vin diesel escape from the prison bus. Any one know, i thought it may be an nsx-r
it was
Mia was driving a Honda NSX-R At the start of he movie. To be fair Even though Its almost 10 years old now, The NSX Is a beautiful car.
THE best CARS i’ve ever seen WhowhooT!!! LOVE IT!!
Honda nsx???
It’s a Koenigsegg CCXR, not a CCX
I really like those Dodge cars.
@ Eat it: “I dont get…”
… and you never will.
what about that honda the girl is driving when they break vin deisel out of the prison bus? that car was sexy and i don’t remember what it’s called. lol
The car in the start of the movie that Mia is driving its a Honda Civic, same car as the ones in 2fast2furious that they use to rob the trucks. i think its 1998 Honda Civic Type R
What was the vehicle used by Dwayne Johnson in the fast five movie?
the car that Dwayne Johnson drove is a Gurkha LAPV
Every poster is a fanboy that needs to get a kife. Who cares if your car is fater than another persons as it proves absolutlh nothing. Some cars were meant for differnt uses, demographics, etc. Just because a car is faster, doesn’t make it better or nicer. All of your moronic arguments are based on stats that are made to suit your argument and take nothing else into consideration. Lets make up fake stats and post impossible statistics on xars we don’t own or drive and talk crap in other cars we neber owned nor driven. people that comment on crap they never owned, experienced etc are as trustworthy and credible as a 10 year old talking about sex.
@Amiller315 the car Mia drove at the start was an NSX type R and not a civic as Kata replied.
@airbair Most of the great cars America is known for are muscle cars, right up to your corvettes. all the greats from the mid to late 60′s through the 70′s to the early 80′s were muscle cars. during that time nobody in their right mind would have bought a subaru, a mitsubishi or a nissan, the only cars that were near as good were the holden’s from Aus, which were also muscle cars. meanwhile the british were making automotive art with aston ang jag and the jenson interceptor and the itallians had a number of classic ferraris and the lamborgini miura, even the germans had some great mercedes and porches. basically everywhere in the world was more advanced then japan and the only reason japan is good now is because of the computer age and learning from the rest of the world.
—————^ ACTUALLY IT’S CALL A KOENIGSEGG CCXR
coolest, train heist truck. best, charger, the old.
The Porsche was a GT3 RS
Muscle over foreign any day! Im tired of hearing a bumble bee race by me!
Well. if you were driving an import rather then muscle, they wouldnt be racing by you all the time.
Hey, don’t forget all of the stickers, they add horsepower. But remember to put them on the right side first to prevent torque steer…
Everyone is fighting over which car is better then the other, blah ,blah, blah….
but i have to say i definatly favor the 5.0 Mustange GT!!!!!!
ive never driven or been in a Nissan GT-R…but i gotta say i like the look of it!!!!!!!!!!!
At the end of Fast 5, Vin Diesel’s new charger goes up against Paul Walker’s new ride for a no-money involved race.
What kind of car is Walker driving?
The symbol in the middle of the grille is a capital “R”.
This is NOT a Rolls Royce OR a Renault…So, what kind of car is it?
It’s a Nissan GT-R
What is the exact name and specification of the ‘train heist truck’ “mongo” ???