Fast X Cars Included Easter Eggs, a Rad Classic, and a Missed Opportunity
Fast and Furious 10 (called Fast X) is in theaters. The cars the filmmakers chose perfectly represented all-new characters, called back to old movies, and–in the case of two of the fastest electric vehicle prototypes—missed an opportunity to film the drag race of the century.
The cars of Fast X included easter eggs for the entire franchise
As far as I can tell, the filmmakers of Fast X referenced every other movie of the long-running franchise with at least one vehicle featured in the latest installment. Considering The Fast and the Furious has spawned a franchise running for nearly twenty-five years and across 10 films—including multiple spinoffs—this is an impressive feat. But the team did it.
- The Fast and the Furious – Dom and his son “Little Brian” drive the 1970 Dodge Charger R/T family heirloom that he introduced in the first film
- 2 Fast 2 Furious: In the film that introduced Roman Pearce, he revealed a penchant for flashy cars by claiming a purple convertible. In each film he one-ups himself, culminating in his recent gold-plated Lamborghini.
- Tokyo Drift: During the Rome heist, Han drives an Alfa Romeo with an orange and black paint job that’s a callback to the Mazda RX-7 FD that fans first saw him in.
- Fast and Furious: Dom isn’t just teaching Little B to drive, the two of them are restoring a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS together, the same car Dom drove back to LA when he returned to the franchise.
- Fast 5: This film is referenced throughout Fast X, and we even get a flashback to the safe heist. In addition, Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood) drives an armored truck identical to Hobbs’ from Fast 5.
- Furious 6: When Han and company visit Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) he has a new-and-improved version of his brother’s “ramp car” that appeared in Furious 6.
- Furious 7: Dom replicates the famous plane-drop stunt when he backs another Charger out of a cargo plane to rescue Little B.
- Fate of the Furious: [Spoiler Alert]. In the beginning of Fast X, Aimes casually mentions that the nuclear submarine highjacked in Fate of the Furious was never recovered. And, of course, it pops up at the end of Fast X.
- Fast 9: Many fans loved the film’s flashback to Jakob Toretto racing Dom with his fox-body-generation Ford Mustang. It turns out the car is still running, as Jakob uses it to transport Little B in Fast X.
- Hobbs & Shaw: The film even nodded to this spinoff when Deckard Shaw slid behind the wheel of a very similar McLaren.
Jakob Toretto is one cool uncle with the perfect car
When Jakob Toretto picks up his nephew Brian, Little B runs up to a Ram 1500 TRX parked on the street, assuming it’s his uncle’s truck. It turns out the Stellantis product placement moment is just a joke, because Jakob points at a 30-year-old Ford Mustang and says, “That’s mine.”
Brian seems shocked by his cool uncle’s beater. But Jakob tells Little B about how he bought it himself, fixed it up, and even raced Dom with it. He gets a bit somber and says, “You can’t help what you love.” Truer car-enthusiast words have never been spoken.
Unkle Jakob and Little B end up enjoying their drive in the Radwood-era classic. They listen to cassette tapes and talk about the family.
Later, Jakob opens the Mustang’s trunk. We find out that while the car looks stock, it’s anything but. In the trunk, Jakob’s installed a hideaway safe with weapons and a passport printer.
We haven’t learned much about Jakob Toretto yet. But we do know he’s an accomplished international spy, assassin, and driver. And we also know that he disappeared off the Toretto family’s radar for decades, so he’s talented at keeping a low profile. It makes sense that he would drive an unassuming yet fast car, modified with exactly the gadgets he needs.
Fast X could have made history…but didn’t
Another bit of Stellantis’ product placement in Fast X was the all-new electric Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee parked outside the Toretto family home. Considering the franchise has featured multiple classic Chargers, and also always previews the latest greatest offering from SRT, it tracks that the prototype EV appeared in the film.
But the Charger Daytona EV in Fast X also represented a major missed opportunity. This is because the all-electric DMC DeLorean Alpha supercar prototype also appeared in the film. Like Dodge, the resurrected DMC must have been eager for its latest car to appear on screen.
While we do see Cipher climb out of the DeLorean, neither car made it into an action scene. And this is a missed opportunity, because an all-electric 10-second drag race between these cars would be all any enthusiasts could talk about. A DeLorean vs. Charger Daytona drag race might actually get car lovers to go to theaters and watch the Fast franchise again.
