Car Supervisor Dennis McCarthy shows off the new cars and motorcycles that will be featured throughout Fast X. McCarthy is one of the most important people in The Fast And The Furious franchise. He is responsible for building and modifying the cars and motorcycles that so often steal the show in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. A big part of McCarthy’s job is not only making sure the cars will work for the stunts but also the characters and story itself. Taking into account color, model, and modifications and what each element of the vehicle says about the person driving it.
McCarthy estimates that 700–800 cars are used in Fast X, but as for the cars they’ve built in the shop, it is roughly 250–300. He also explains that because they shoot out of order, they will have to damage a car to fit the consequences of a stunt and spend the night fixing it for the next day. McCarthy gave Screen Rant, along with other press outlets, a tour of his garage, showing off the new vehicles that will be in the spotlight for Fast X while sharing insights into the car itself and the characters that drive it.
More About The Cars & Motorcycles of Fast X
Dante’s Harley-Davidson Pan American
The first vehicles that McCarthy showed will be featured in Act 1 of Fast X which will take place in Rome. McCarthy began with the Harley-Davidson Pan American which Dante (Jason Momoa) will ride. This is a stripped-down version of the Harley-Davidson Pan American with McCarthy removing everything that wasn’t necessary including the windshield, dash, blinkers, and more all in the name of speed. He also explained why this was the perfect motorcycle for Momoa.
“Jason Mamoa is also a huge Harley-Davidson fan. So it all really ties together. It doesn’t deviate in reality from what Jason actually rides on a daily basis. So perfect bike for the character, performed flawlessly, absolute blast to ride.”
Letty’s Honda
Next up is Letty’s Honda which is also very stripped down with smaller tires. This gave her the ability to do impressive stunts and tricks. And while Letty has ridden Harley-Davidsons in the past they were more of a “scrambler” style. This was built by Alex King, a friend of McCarthy’s. McCarthy explains the style they shoot for with Letty’s motorcycles.
“Several times I’ve tried to give her kind of a vintage, kind of a cool vibe. We don’t want to just give Letty off the show room production model. She’s more of a motocross.”
Dom’s 2022 Charger SRT Hellcat
Dom is known for his love of Chargers and that trend will continue in Fast X with the Charger SRT Hellcat. These are cars that McCarthy and his team have struggled to find ways to improve over the years because they look good as is. He did reveal some of the changes that the new model has including narrower grill, a slightly different spoiler, and a wide body which McCarthy believes is a huge improvement. McCarthy teases some of the stunts that Dom will pull off in the Charger, “The car does everything that you can possibly imagine, going upstairs backward, hitting all sorts of crazy objects that I won’t give away.” McCarthy did detail the changes that they did make to the Charger in order to have it fit Fast X both in style and practical use.
“This is kind of the best of the best as far as Dodge Chargers go. The only deviation we made was the Whipple supercharger, which we kind of tried to tie into the Dodge thing of the shaker hood. So it’s like a shaker hood, but with a little more mechanical look to it.
We always feature the car as a six-speed, which we’ve built some in the past. This particular one is not. It’s a tremendous amount of work to convert one of these to a six-speed. I’ve requested to Dodge several times, ‘Hey, let’s make a Charger with a six-speed.’ I don’t think I’m ever going to get that wish, but when needed, we build our own. Dodge is always there to support us and give us everything we need to make that happen.”
Han’s Alfa Romeo
Although this may not be what The Fast And The Furious fans would expect McCarthy shares that this car was chosen because of the environment. Shooting in Rome means navigating narrow streets and the Alfa Romeo fits both in size and as an Italian car. He praises the agility of the car, which will also be talked about by characters in Fast X. McCarthy also shares why he believes this car works for Han.
“The color is what really ties it into Han’s character, but I think everything about it does. It’s just his style. Typically, you envision a Japanese car, something JDM style, but I think when in Rome this is the car for Han right here.”
Roman’s Lamborghini
In contrast to Han’s car is Roman’s gold Lamborghini. McCarthy describes it as, “pure Roman.” McCarthy reveals, “Initially it seems like the wrong choice. But at the end of the day, Roman pulls off some moves and the car’s finish actually comes to be an advantage in the sequence.” And while this is the final key vehicle from Fast X Act 1 that McCarthy showed us it there will be a ton more in the movie.
“There’s just cars coming out of everywhere. There’s trucks. There’s everything, everything you can possibly imagine, but these are really the key vehicles to focus on and act one when you see Fast X.”
Isabel’s Datsun 240Z
Moving on from Rome McCarthy showed off three of the four cars that will be a part of the trademark four-car drag race. Starting with the yellow Datsun 240Z that Isabel (Daniela Melchior) drives. McCarthy explained that it is important to have a variety of cars, not just imports and muscle cars, so they can fit the car to the character. McCarthy also revealed that Sung, a car guy in his own right, is planning to build this car the way it is described in the movie because the actual car doesn’t quite fit the specs as described in Fast X. McCarthy shares insight about both the car and its driver.
“This one, when you see the movie, there’s quite a bit of dialogue about it. This car’s driven by Isabel. Isabel is a new character. She’s actually the sister of Elena [Elsa Pataky], the woman that Dom married going all the way back to Fat V and had little B with. So there’s a definite family connection here with this car and with Dom.
So, this car, when you see the movie, she describes the motor. It’s an RV26, basically like a GTR Skyline motor that’s been transplanted into the 240. In reality, we actually have a 350 cubic of small block Chevy in it.”
Dante’s Impala
McCarthy explains that this car fits Momoa and his character perfectly, in part because of how much they discussed it. He reveals that Momoa was “very particular about” including the color, which is based on his wardrobe. They worked hard to match the color with McCarthy matching it to the color of Momoa’s fingernails over Facetime. Momoa also wanted the car to be big, fast, and have big tires. He describes Momoa as an asset to the franchise and reveals that this car was a last-minute change during production.
“This car does have a 540-inch big block under the hood. This car was actually purchased. A lot of times things change as we go through production. This car was one of those last-minute changes. I actually found this car back East, and it was really an existing race car. So that’s why it has that look to it. But it really enhances that whole race to have something like this.”
Dom’s 1970 Charger
Now, the most iconic car in the entire franchise, Dom’s Charger. This will go head to head with Dante’s Impala which McCarthy found especially fun as the classic Chevy vs. Dodge. McCarthy also teases, “There’s a lot going on in this race. There are a lot of decisions that Dom has to make through the course of this race. Right on the line of winning the race or doing the right thing.” McCarthy also reveals that with this being Fast X he wanted to take it back to the heart of how this car was initially introduced after so many incredibly crazy stunts centered around Chargers. While this is clearly a Fast and the Furious style Charger at first glance McCarthy details the impressive work they put into it.
“What deviates on this is we just modernize the supercharger with the Whipple unit, the bug catcher being out of carbon fiber. Not quite as old school as the BDS, which I do love. The wheels were a long process that HRE was kind enough to help me with. I wanted something that looked vintage, a five-spoke design. You have to have a wheel that’s 18 inches to clear the big brakes, and they’re a necessity with the stunts that we do and everything else. Rebel’s been making a brake package for us for years, but it’s a six-piston front caliper, twin caliper rear, so you have a slide break that will never ever fail you.
But anyways, as always, the Charger’s the car that gets the most love in my shop. [We] always put the most effort, the most time into these. I think on this film, we built 14 of them, 10 of them around this level. This car is the actual hero car. I always apologize when we come to this point after the car’s been shot, it’s been used and abused. So you see marks, scratches, cracks, repairs, it’s just the way it is. But this car being the hero car, what really is significant about it, this car has a manual six-speed trans with a sequential shifter, which I just think is a cool visual, kind of a Ken Block thing where you have a shifter, you have a digital readout, and I think it really adds to the chase sequence. There’s nothing exciting about putting a car in drive, but there is something exciting about a clutch pedal and banging a shifter.”
Tess’ 2023 Nissan Z
This was a no-brainer for McCarthy because Brie Larson, who plays Tess, is a spokesperson for Nissan. The car wasn’t available when they initially started working on Fast X, but by the time Larson came on board and the script was written they were able to get the car in just under the wire. He explains that while they didn’t make many changes there are a few modifications and teases more of them in the future.
“Not much [was] needed because it’s a great-looking car. It’s a fun car. I had the pleasure of driving one for a few months a little, just recently. We basically just put some HRE wheels on it, a little bit wider. This one doesn’t represent it, but we did lower it just enough to make it look right. But very cool cars. And I know that they’ll be making a reappearance in the next one for sure.”
