(B)aT the Movies: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

[music]

The Bring a Trailer podcast.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the

Bring a Trailer podcast. Alex Porter

here in the San Francisco headquarters

of BAT joined in the studio by three

folks by Zach, Beck, and Cam. Hey gents,

>> what's going on, Alex?

>> Today is the much teased and uh I'm very

excited about it episode where we're

going to talk about fast. Actually, the

fast and the furious, right? It gets a

little confusing, right? Yes. Action/

unintentional comedy.

>> Camera's out. He thought we're doing

Fast Furious.

>> Oh, totally. Well, okay. So, there is

another one that's right. That's what

that's Fast and Furious or something

like that.

>> We'll get to it eventually.

>> Yeah, we have to talk about the like

extended universe cuz this launches I

guess 10 actual Fast and Furious movies,

but then there's spin-offs, too. So many

spin-offs that I had no idea were out.

Apparently, Fast and Feel Love is one.

Oh my gosh. Don't know about that one.

>> Wow. This is a G-rated podcast. Okay,

Cameron.

>> And there's a musical, too, I believe.

>> You're kidding me.

>> Go deep on that. I still got to see it.

It's like a satirical musical in a great

way.

>> Have any of you seen all of them?

>> No. No.

>> No.

>> Okay.

>> I tapped out at Tokyo Drift.

>> That's early, isn't it?

>> That's pretty early.

>> Yeah, it's very early. And also, it kind

of comes back. I would argue there's

some later ones that are more

>> There's some people who swear by like

five and seven. I know those are very

popular.

like the even numbers versus the odd

numbers, maybe.

>> I like when everything feels like a

tuner car from the early 2000s.

>> Totally. Oh, I I want to spend maybe the

largest chunk of time talking about that

era of cars, like the era of cars in

2001. But first, what's your history

with it, Zach? When did you see it

first? Do you remember?

>> I don't have a good history with it, but

I remember it coming out, being obsessed

with cars, and my parents telling me I'm

not allowed to see it because it's

PG-13.

>> You I mean, you were like eight years

old when this came out. 10. You were 10.

Okay. You don't remember the first time

you saw it?

>> I honestly don't remember the first time

I saw it, but then it became kind of

like a comfort, you know, Friday night

after a few beers, just kick on Fast and

Furious. It was definitely

sometime around high school because I

remember being so let down that the only

Honda Prelude in the entire movie is,

you know, when they go to the Drags.

>> Yes. You mean the street?

>> No, no, no. Hold on. We've got a I've

got a whole section for race wars.

>> Yeah. He must have [laughter] 100 grand

under that under that car. Totally. Uh

there's one prelude with an AutoZone

aluminum spoiler that's like [laughter]

running down the strip that you see for

like a second and that's the only Honda.

>> Not even in that early scene where all

the cars show up for the street race.

There's no

>> It's actually a little light on Civics.

It's a little light on Hond's in

general.

>> I mean the ice car.

>> Oh yeah, that's right. The the three

Civics

>> going under the truck.

>> That's right. the but the at the races

themselves it's a little lighter on

>> sedan and jaw rule had the red integra

>> oh I guess that's right maybe it is like

less light than I would think

>> oh come [laughter] on

>> oh yeah we're going to talk about all

that about you back you're a little

closer to my age did you see this in the

theater

>> I don't remember seeing in theaters I

definitely remember watching it in

friends garage or basement you know on a

Friday night that sort of thing I was 16

when this came out it was definitely

didn't really feel it felt too flat ashy

and too fancy to like relate to in any

capacity even though I was driving at

this point.

>> Did you have any interest in tuner cars,

import cars?

>> I like the idea, but I didn't have the

money to do any of this kind of

modification stuff, which was sort of a

theme I felt like while watching this

movie is you wonder like why is it these

front-wheel drive cars that are never

going to be good at this, but you

realize like

>> a lot of this comes from the car that

you could like afford or you were given

when you were 16, like a hand-me-down.

And in that situation that you just sort

of like deal with what you have and

that's what all four.

>> That's such [laughter] a great segue to

Jesse's car.

>> Oh my gosh. Exactly.

>> Oh yes. Like the world's worst drag

racing cars.

>> My dad gets out of prison. [laughter]

>> Oh my god. There's so much good stuff.

Uh what about you, Cam? When do you come

to it? You're the youngest of us here.

>> Well, yes. I would have been four years

old when this movie came out. So I know

that I saw this movie well after I saw

Too Fast Too Furious.

>> That was definitely my intro to this.

for both of you. Was this your first

though for Zach and Beck? Yeah. Okay.

>> And you were so inspired by Tyrese

wanting the [laughter] convertible.

You're like, I got to see the fruit of

this.

>> That the purple is a purple Eclipse.

>> The purple

cars like I want the convertible.

>> Like in my head like the silver GTR and

that purple Eclipse are like the iconic

Fast and the Furious cars for me. But I

specifically remember driving out to a

baseball tournament in Las Vegas and

watching this movie in the back seat

with my brother. And I know that that

was the first time I saw this one. I

don't have a ton of like memories or

what my takes on it were at that point,

but yes, I even might have watched

another one before I had seen this one.

I kind of caught this one late.

>> Have you seen a good number of them?

I also feel like Tokyo Drift is when I

kind of dropped off and when they

started to get into the more like

military tactical let's build custom

vehicles

>> once the rock shows up.

>> Once they are superheroes

not in the fourth one. Neither

[laughter] am I. Once once Ludicrous is

out I'm kind of done,

>> dude. I think Ludicrous is in all of

them. Is he?

>> He's not in this one, is he? No, he's

not in this one.

>> He's not in this one. But he becomes a

staple. He becomes like part of the

team. I think

>> it's Ja Rule in this one. Uh, it is Jaw

Rule. But isn't Ludicrous at the drags

in the beginning?

>> No, that's too fast. Too

>> furious. I'm mixing up Hector.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> Hector pulls up also in a Civic hatch.

The gold one

>> with no hood. That is actually one of my

favorite cars.

>> But yeah, that's certainly my my intro.

>> Okay. But Ludacris did the intro song

for Too Fast Too Furious, which is still

a banger.

>> Yeah. So good. I saw this movie in the

movie theater. I remember it distinctly.

I for some reason I always remember this

being 99 which is when I got my driver's

license. So but 2001 I was with my buddy

and later roommate Jared who had a super

comp dragster which is like a mid-enine

kind of classic dragster but they don't

have a wing. They run about 8second

quarter miles and we were at Pomona the

famous drag strip and we went to go eat

in and out and watched this.

>> What car did you drive to the movie

theater? He took his tow vehicle like so

it was like a DY Suburban modified

Suburban that had had dualies added to

the back like a late '80s Suburban.

>> Did your family have the Civic Si at the

time?

>> No. And in fact, I was a Porsche sports

car guy like because of my dad and was,

you know, helping crew helping in air

quotes, uh, a crew on a dragster with a

540 cubic inch engine and, you know,

like thought of these kind of cars as

lame, but we thought we'd go see it as a

lark. And I remember we both really

enjoyed it, Jared and I, and then drove

back to the drag strip. Really like had

a really fun time. And I remember the

parking lot at the movie theater in

Pomona filled with like lowered Civics

and Underglow Zach and all that kind of

stuff.

>> That was unreal. leaving all the

frontwheel drive burnouts getting out of

there.

>> Totally. People like revving up their

1.6 L as far as they'll go. So, I

remember this movie really fondly. It is

definitely still my favorite of all of

them, although there's some contention

there. Do you guys Is that Are you all

in unanimous agreement there?

>> I think we're going to have to just edit

that question out. That's That's just an

objective truth in this world. It is the

best one.

>> Whoa. Interesting.

>> Oh, you think No. What? I mean, like I I

was telling you, I I truly didn't have

much insight into this movie because it

had been so long since I had watched it.

And so, watching it with fresh eyes and

having Too Fast, Too Furious and Tokyo

Drift much more on the forefront of my

brain, I just remember enjoying those a

lot more than I did this one.

>> Fascinating. This one's a simpler

plotline. I learned a lot of interesting

time you rewatch the second one. I

admittedly

your enjoyment level watching them

today.

>> Fair enough. Fair enough.

>> Maybe that'll be our next movie pod. We

can do Tokyo Drift or what's the next

one that comes? Is it

>> too fast?

>> Too fast too furious. Okay. And that's

the Eclipse convertible.

>> Yes.

>> Okay. What's the one with the actor

who's not very that Tokyo Drift?

>> Tokyo Drift is no Paul Walker Wow in

what he's in a Scion XP in Japan with

all the subs.

>> Yeah.

>> And there's like an opening scene where

they race a Viper or something like

that. Is that

>> That's the reason why he gets sent to

Japan. I could see like crashes his car

into the housing development.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> But that's definitely next.

>> This is my favorite as well, Zach. This

is I think by far the best one. And I

hadn't seen it in a very long time. I

probably 10 years since I had watched it

again. But I've definitely seen between

the first time and now a lot of the Fast

and Furious movies. And going back and

seeing this felt so refreshing. It feels

so much more real. It actually feel even

as as ridiculous as it is in certain

moments, it felt even more authentic to

a certain degree because it wasn't cars

jumping from a building to another

building in that sort of sense.

>> They didn't go full Mission Impossible.

You start to lose it lose the plot a

little bit.

>> Well, it's like more like a detective

cop drama. Like it's got more in common

with Bullet than you would think. And

it's not it's not an action franchise

yet, right? And later it turns into like

an action movie franchise.

>> No. And it's been a while since I've

seen Point Break. But isn't it like

pretty pretty accurate to the plot of

>> point? Did you did you guys read? So I

didn't know this till I did the research

on this. This idea comes from Paul

Walker for this movie. Did you guys read

that?

>> So the director had worked with him on a

different movie and came to him. I mean

Paul Walker is this handsome guy by the

way 27 years old when he made this

movie.

>> That's the parallel I'm drawing for

Point Breaker. Like handsome blonde guys

that are police officers surfer type

that

>> back. You might have to be on plot

police again, by the way, because this

one also has a semic complex plot. I Is

he the FBI? Is he LAPD? It's unclear. I

think

>> he's not a cop.

>> Yeah, that's right. [laughter]

>> The director came to him and said,

>> spoiling the ending. All right, I'm a

cop. [laughter]

When he calls for the medevac, very

deeply emotional scene.

>> Uh, but the director said, "What's your

dream movie?" And he said,

>> "Can we also just shout out? We just

sold Paul Walker's Ford GT."

>> Oh, we definitely should. It was really

good. No stripe car, too. Man, it was

>> no stripe, staggered wheels, 19s and

20s, had an exhaust.

>> Great car.

>> Great looking stuff. Um,

>> he said he wanted to do a mashup of Days

of Thunder and Donnie Brasco. And that's

like kind of what this is a little bit.

So, he must have had a car interest

already. I didn't do a deep dive onto

his car background, but he I mean,

obviously a legit car guy and must have

been interested in cars already.

>> Well, I'm Yeah, I'm curious. I didn't do

too much research of his background

prior to filming this movie, but I would

have to imagine like

>> you're not a big She's All That fan.

>> I can't say. Yeah,

>> that's the next movie we're doing.

[laughter]

>> Totally. Uh, part of the reason why I

think it's pretty good and simple and

the police plot line is great and Zach,

we need to talk about the house where

the police are set up at some point.

>> Okay, good. One of the writers, it's got

three credited writers, but David Ayer

is one of them who wrote like a bunch of

awesome movies. Fury, do you ever see

the movie Fury, the tank movie? That's

one of his.

>> SWAT, which I actually really like. I

wish that had a little more cars in it

so we could sneak. Yes, totally.

Training Day. He wrote Training Day. So

he like wrote a lot of like really cool

cop the

>> there's a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and

Michael Pino where they're LAPD partners

that's really good that's written of

watch if you ever seen that really good

movie so really good writer on this

which I think maybe is part of the

reason why it's really good the director

Rob Conn so many great movies to his

name and also problematic in later days

but I think it is a pretty well-directed

movie for the most part

>> I really liked I could be wrong in my

timing but I feel like you don't there

is no talk of him being an undercover

cop for the first at least half an hour

of the movie before he gets, you know,

put in handcuffs, taken to that house,

and then that's when it's revealed for

the first time, which I I really enjoy.

>> Totally.

>> Little bit about the movie before we

dive into scenes and cars and

everything. Uh $38 million budget, so

not that expensive. 207 million box

office, which is a pretty good return,

but doesn't necessarily make you think

like, oh, this is going to be I mean, is

this

>> I It's kind of amazing for its time,

though.

>> It is big, but does that make you think

like this is going to be one of the

biggest action franchises of the 21st?

Is this the biggest action franchise of

the 21st century?

>> What did it do at the box office?

>> 207.

>> Rush Hour 2 did 226 that year.

>> So,

>> so maybe I'm wrong.

>> I think that was pretty big for its time

and its return on investment is pretty

>> return investment is very big.

>> And I think it took a while, right? It

wasn't obviously the the second movie,

the third movie, those are not the ones

that make this into the big giant

franchise.

>> No, it's the rock

buildings era. Yeah. all the the p bits

and pieces that they need, the right

number, the right specific people, and

and they convert them into just the the

tactical mission style thing.

>> Okay. Gladiator the year before did uh

186.

>> Oh, wow. That won best picture. One of

my favorite movies. Wow. Okay.

>> Pictureizing the 2001 release of Fast

and the Furious.

>> Yeah. I'm from the Mario billion dollar

era for franchise IP. Uh this wasn't

designed.

>> I love it. You're like $200 million. Why

is it so low? I guess my thought was

like certainly when I watched this I

wouldn't have thought it would spawn I

mean it was before there were so many

sequels to everything you wouldn't know

that it would spawn

>> your point like the first car movie that

was relevant to that generation and

seemed to be a little more universal

than you'd think.

>> So based on a article from Vibe magazine

like that was their thing Racer X.

Didn't you guys read that?

>> No.

>> Oh okay. We got to link to it. It's a

really interesting listen. It's got one

main character who's racing a Civic that

he gets down into the 11s. So, it's

actually pretty fast. It's like a

hatchback DX Civic, like early '90s

Civic, and the article specifically

talks about the multiculturalism of the

drag racing scene at night on the East

Coast. And so, like, you can see where

they get at least the vibes for this

movie. And that felt pretty different,

right, from the era of like big buffed

out white guys in action movies to

something that looks very different.

>> Mhm.

>> I actually kind of like what this movie

has to say about race. It's like it's

the moment that Paul Walker is just

called white boy multiple times and he

laughs it off. I find that hilarious and

I think it actually says something about

young people of that time versus what

you're referencing before as far as who

probably the drag racing community was.

Uh it's a little bifurcated. It's a

little these people stay over here,

people stay over there, which wasn't

necessarily my childhood in that time,

but I did at least like that it it made

fun of it to a certain degree and and

Hector is a great character. I think

bringing that in I I thought that was a

pretty honest and pretty decent job at

it.

>> It definitely looked different than

action movie.

>> Pull up his IMDb. He's literally played

Hector in [laughter] every single role.

He just is Hector in every single It's

unreal.

>> Speaking of race and race wars, the

unfortunate name for their Drag Race

thing. That's actually in the article,

too, but it's called Drag Wars. And I

don't know if they were more scared

[laughter] to call it Drag Wars, so they

changed it to race wars. But that's like

a real place that the people go in the

Vibe magazine article to race their

Honda to be Zach the fastest Honda on

the east coast because the fastest Honda

on the west co No this article takes

place on the east coast but the fastest

Honda on the west coast was 10 and a

half seconds. This is 25 years ago.

>> Yeah, we got to get into the 10-second

car. I've got some opinions there.

>> Oh, for sure. For sure. a few other

people in the cast. I didn't realize how

Vin Diesel was 33, but uh Michelle

Rodriguez was 22 when they made this

movie. They filmed it in October of

>> 2000. She looks exactly and Jordana

Brewster was 20 when they made this. So,

I mean, these people were young.

>> She can't have a Corona.

>> No, [laughter] I don't remember if she

does. She definitely drives that Acura

in an interesting way. She has an

interesting driving position.

>> The Integra sedan. Why don't we dive

into the actual scenes themselves? One

of the things I thought we could do to

start it up is like what are the are

there cars in your guys' head that are

iconic in this one separate from we can

have the Charger Supra debate later, but

like some of the peripheral cars.

>> I feel like we got to get into the mods,

but I wasn't sure if I should stack this

at the beginning or end, but you got to

give a huge shout out to Craig Leverman,

who is the technical adviser. Did you

read up on him at all?

>> No.

>> He's basically the guy that sourced all

of the cars

>> and picked them to some extent.

>> Yes. and he has an amazing YouTube

channel. I'd give everyone a

recommendation to go deep on it. I think

it just is. Say his name again.

>> Craig Lieberman. And his YouTube's just

Craig Lieberman. And then he has this

fantastic I mean, one of the best things

about the entire film is the fandom all

around it. There's so many good wikis.

And yeah, Craig has his own website

called fastandfuriousfacts.com

with so much sweet inside baseball of

how it all came to be. So,

>> did he do the mods on the cars, too? Did

he like choose He's clearly a huge car

enthusiast himself and the Supra was his

personal car at the time. So, there were

strict parameters of what they could use

for the movie and not which is why you

don't see an NSX. You don't see a 300ZX.

You were supposed to see a VR4. That's

what Brian's Supra was originally going

to be.

>> Oh, interesting. Just didn't work. So,

one of the big parameters they had was

you had to have four of every car in

order to film the movie and then they

had a max budget of 2 million bucks. So,

that's why some of the higherend stuff

like NSXs were out.

>> And then, does that mean they had four

R33 Skylines?

>> Well, so the R33 Sky

>> That's my favorite,

>> man. I I've got more to say about Craig,

but you can go deep on that R33. Do you

know the story behind that?

>> No. The yellow car with the graphic with

the guy pointing on the side,

>> which is so out of place. one cuz you're

like at the time I didn't totally get it

but watching it today you're like how

did they get an R3 that's only like a

5-year-old car at that point or

something like that.

>> Yeah. And it's just hilarious seeing it

roll with that blue Maxima which also

has an interesting story. So the R33 was

an early Moto X car.

>> Oh

press and development car

>> and the owner

>> Give the TLDDR on Moto X for anyone who

doesn't know about it.

>> We'll get there. Okay. Yeah. We'll come

full circle. Don't worry. The owner at

the time was Shawn Morris, who runs Top

Rank now.

>> Yeah.

>> Which is a crazy arc. I didn't realize

he was quite that old, but he was

rolling that car around when he was 26.

They got it that exact yellow car.

>> Yeah. And I think they were able to get

away with the not having multiple rule

because it's in so few scenes. It's

pretty much only in the beginning.

>> It's the police spotter scene.

>> Yeah. So, I mean, that car is like

insane. and was going to also be one of

the candidates for Brian's Supra or

instead of his Eclipse, but they

couldn't have four of them, so it

wouldn't work as like a hero car. So,

that car was imported by Moto X. It's

filmed. It's in the movie. It goes on to

be sold in 2012. The owner is trying to

sell it. And of course, there's a ton of

PR around this car. So, Cameron's up on

this. and he's trying to sell it and it

turns out it doesn't have a VIN

>> and he's telling the buyer, "No big

deal. I can get you a Florida title for

it."

>> This all comes to light. The government

catches on and they crushed the car.

They seized it and crushed it cuz it

wasn't properly imported. Moto X didn't

properly import that car at the

beginning.

>> That exact one.

>> Yeah.

>> Wow. 2012.

>> Now it's a block. That's so it's

interesting one because I kind of

thought a lot of the crushing of

Skylines was a myth. So that's

interesting that a fairly famous one

>> it's such a good intersection of the

Fast and the Furious trivia and bring a

trailer of his title situations all

coming together.

>> I've seen two separate stories on that.

I've seen a story that he got crushed

and I've seen one story that it actually

got sent to Germany and has been on

display somewhere there but I couldn't

find any confirmation of that or of the

car.

What I was reading was the owner at the

time was basically begging the

government to let him have it leave the

country and it doesn't appear that they

let him do that. If you're out there in

Germany checking out that R3,

>> there's no there's no photos of a

crushed R33 either, right?

>> Yeah. It's just it's Amelia Airheart

taking a selfie in front [laughter] of

the R33.

>> Totally. And there's a

>> the Roswell crashes in the background.

Uh that's so interesting, Cam. I have

been on the telephone with a person at

the DOT and I actually asked them one

time about the Moto X cars and they were

like, "Oh, we consider those legitimate

and we don't really crush cars." So

that's interesting.

>> So crazy. I mean, also crazy

intersection with Sean Morris who's a

big player in importing Skylines now.

That's like early inception for him. So

anyway, there's Craig's website has all

these awesome facts like Johnny TR was

going to be Peter Tran and Peter Tran

was gonna roll a Mustang, not not a

Honda 2000.

>> Yeah. 2000.

>> Interesting.

>> And also a lot of motorcycles for those

guys, too, which is interesting.

Motorcycles and interesting guns.

>> So, I don't know. Use 11s or something.

>> Yeah.

>> But if Brian's car was a 3000GT, would

Supras not be what they are today?

>> Great.

>> That's a good That's a good question.

>> And all these VR4 owners would be

validated that we're dealing with so

much cooler than I have to say.

>> Those parameters though in the end made

it so the cars were ones you actually

saw.

>> Yeah.

>> Right. If it was a bunch of NSXs, then

you wouldn't necessarily I don't know.

You It wouldn't be cars you see on.

>> Well, the the Eclipse in particular,

there's a couple times. Is it supposed

to be a GSX or a GST? Cuz there's a

couple times you can see underneath in

the back and I'm like, "Oh, that's a

front-wheel drive car." But so I presume

it's supposed to be a GSX.

>> It's like the Evo in Too Fast Too

Furious is like just a Lancer Rally,

whatever. It's not an actual Evo. So I

think that goes back to [clears throat]

them needing four of them. Totally,

smashing them, stunt cars, all that. So,

the blue Maxima also has a super

interesting story. It's the taller guy

that I think uses some colorful

language. Yeah. Yeah. Mesh t-shirt guy.

>> Yes. Oh, yeah.

>> Multiple. So much.

>> You got to bring that look back. Alex, I

can't believe Cam probably could do it.

[laughter]

>> I don't know. So, he was originally

supposed to roll an SW20 MR2.

>> Oh, that's cool.

>> Which is another iconic tuner car that's

missing from the

>> Yeah, I was going to say no MR2s though.

>> He was too tall for it. And then my

earlier comments, the next in line for

that was a fifth gen Prelude, but he was

also too tall for it.

>> Really?

>> So the Maxima I think was Craig

Lieberman's car and he was basically

like, "All right, he can just cruise

this around for one scene and we'll get

it over with."

>> Fascinating.

>> Probably no one wants to put the actors

on blast. Like I'm very curious how many

of them knew how to drive manual

transmissions. If they had to throw

automatics in these things,

>> those are stunt doubles in the drag race

scene in the beginning. Downshifting.

Oh my god.

>> Isn't the Supra actually an automatic?

When it went to auction, I believe it

was.

>> Yeah. Quite a few of them are actually

automatic cars, just looking at the

auction results for them, which makes

sense if you got to put actors in them.

>> For sure.

>> Yeah. Frankie,

>> we know our guy Paul Walker knew how to

drive a stick, but I don't know how many

of the other people did. And by the way,

the classic iconic American drag racer

is always an automatic, right? It's like

a if you've got a big rear wheel drive

muscle car, it's always got an automatic

inverters.

>> Yeah, totally. So anyway, we can go deep

on Craig Liverman, but everyone should

check out his website if you're a fan of

>> Did he do all of them? Did he do the

2000 and the Mark III Jetta and all that

stuff?

>> He's only up till Tokyo Drift, which is

part of why I start to lose interest,

too, because I think he's such a good

job of sourcing the cars and the

modifications are just nailed. So once

he departed, the direction of the films

also started to change a little. The two

scenes, the scene where Vin Diesel and

Paul Walker first meet and all the cars

kind of come together in that like

industrial setting. It feels pretty

authentic to like what a nighttime car

show would be and then the first drag

race where it's a street race, not the

racing itself, which we need to talk

about separately, which like I don't

understand the double clutching comment,

but the vibe there before everyone shows

up. Both those feel like I was wondering

if they just invited kids to bring their

cars out because it just looks like a

bunch of people getting together with

import cars.

>> He's on a bunch of podcasts and stuff.

talks about it all, but I think that and

the race wars, they basically put out an

invite for anyone with a modified car to

come out there.

>> And then most of the cars for the movie

were rented from private owners.

>> That's also how Mia got that Integra

sedan because

>> it was some other woman that lived

around Los Angeles that like applied to

have her car used and then the director

saw a woman was driving it. They're

like, "Okay, it's believable."

[laughter]

There's a great montage at the arrival

of that uh race and whatever though the

warehouse where they're all sort of

meeting up at first where they're sort

of just cutting between just like

phenomenal moments in time. There's like

a whole shot just on a guy on a cell

phone cuz like that's like an amazing

thing. This this like young guy got he's

got business to be had sunglasses too.

So at night [laughter] just

>> so perfect.

>> And I also love I love that Paul

Walker's work truck for his like

modified parts shop that he works at is

a SG Lightning.

>> I think arguably the best cast car in

>> those my second favorite car other than

the R33 is the Lightning. I've even

drafted it with Zach and some of our

things before and we discussed it

multiple times.

>> Yes. one shot where he comes skidding to

a stop and

>> he goes into this part store that I

could only dream of as a kid that has

just grey exhaust and [laughter] he's

picking up an air intake. It's unreal.

>> The NS branding in that store. The

Racers Edge garage. NS is everywhere. Do

we know what the car is in the

background of that shop?

>> No.

>> There's actually a red car in the back.

It's a Miata NA Speedster concept

[laughter] out that's parked in the

back, which I thought was like a wild

thing to just have that. I don't know

how that showed up, but maybe it was

Lieberman put it in there.

>> And we are led to believe that Paul

Walker is living in that place

>> and bringing girls home [laughter] as

well.

>> Well, I think Paul Walker could bring

pretty much anywhere.

>> I meant not him specifically, but to his

place of work/home.

>> That's right.

>> Only he I feel like could bring a girl

back. Yeah, I'm living where I work.

It's okay.

>> Totally. It also looks like his cot is

like directly adjacent to the front

counter. It's like one door away.

>> I also love that he'd pick some girl up

and she'd be like, "Um, your floorboard

is gone." [laughter]

>> Just that diamond plate piece of metal

that exists for no reason at all.

>> Totally.

>> I also love the car itself is not

extremely iconic, but the line that it

breeds is quite iconic. The 355 Spider

that they pull up next to.

>> Absolutely.

>> What's retail on that? more than you can

afford, pal. [laughter]

Ferrari,

>> good casting,

>> which is great because now F35 spiders

and clean Supras are like even to% to

the Supra.

>> Totally edge to the Supra. I was

thinking exactly.

>> I'll probably say this multiple times

while we're chatting, but

>> the Supra is supposed to be a 10-second

car. They just spent all this work

building this 10-second car, and they're

even with this F355 Spider.

>> We should address this. The big thing

that falls down to me on this one, and

like this is true of essentially every

movie about cars and racing is just how

bad the everyone always has another gear

they can grab. They can downshift in the

middle of a drag race that appears to

take about 60 seconds. You're actively

changing your tune with your laptop

while you're driving in a straight line.

>> I mean, it's it's rough. It's really

>> manifold pressure, Zach. Manifold

[laughter] pressure.

>> Stage two isn't ready yet,

>> dude. How many stages? Uh, yeah, that's

always tough. I get it because it's very

cinematic to shift gears, so you like to

do that as much as you can. This is a We

haven't done it yet. We're going to have

to do Days of Thunder at some point, but

like a lot of downshifting in Days of

Thunder, like down into third gear to

like Oh, sorry. You weren't already

going as fast as your car could go.

Interesting. Very interesting. I should

have looked this up. Granny shifting

instead of double clutching. Why would

you double clutch when you're drag? I

mean, I It doesn't make sense. And

what's weird about is there's actually

some phrasing throughout the movie

that's technically right. And it you

feel like, oh, they actually got that

right. And then there's there's a bunch

of these ones that make you feel like

there was almost two writers. Three

writers. Exactly. [laughter] That

slipped in additional lines that they

didn't know what to do. They just, you

know, someone told them to put it in

because it it feels so weird and

unfortunate. But yeah, that's

>> And that's that's during the iconic

speech. That's the living my life

quarter mile at a time speech. Tough

tough stuff. Can we talk Jetta real

quick? Oh, I'm so glad.

>> Okay, the two worst car I mean actually

that same super comp dragster I went out

to LACR one time with those guys to do a

test and tune night long gone now was a

drag strip in the Analopee Valley and

that was like I presume you can still do

this at place you come out and pay 20

bucks or whatever and you can just run

down the dragstrip and it was right when

the Civic SI came out here the EM1 and

there were a bunch of people out there

running 17.1 seconds you know another

Civic in the other lane 17.2 two seconds

and we were out there running eights and

it like the car looked like a

>> that was like a myth.

>> It looked like a spaceship next to all

these.

>> He ran a 14 n totally stock.

>> Totally. And it was at night and the

whole thing. But you know like people

have made those cars fast obviously in

the article this is based on the guys

running 11s low 12elves in a Civic. Like

it's pretty fast for a front-wheel drive

car. The two most unrealistic are the

S2000 which like I can't think of a

stupider car and the Mark III Jetta. Oh,

there's way stupider cars S2000, but I

want to hear your take on that. And the

Mark III Jetta, it also has a backstory

of how they got the S2000 to know that.

>> Okay. The S the S2000 was brand new at

the time. Like it was a brand new car

out. And I remember thinking like, man,

that that's a cool car, but it's like no

torque, right, is the whole point of an

S2000. So like using that as your drag

race platform.

>> Yeah. But that drag $1,000 under the

hood though, so it's perfectly fine.

>> It lasts a full minute. So [laughter]

the torque doesn't even matter off the

line.

He's at the top of sixth gear.

[laughter]

>> Okay. Do you want to venture to guess

what the other two candidates for

Jesse's car was before they got to the

Jetta?

>> One of the interesting things, it's one

of the few non-Japanese cars. That's one

of the things I was thinking about. Um,

>> were they Japanese cars for him?

>> They were not. He was always intended to

have a European car.

>> They're strong picks. They're

>> frontwheel drive or rear drive.

>> Your rear drive.

>> A 911 Turbo would have been

>> E30. A BMW.

>> Super close. E36. okay,

>> was number one. And number two was a

B4S4, which were both big tuner cars at

the time and had a ton of aftermarket

support,

>> but they couldn't find any locally in LA

that were modified enough. They

>> Wow. So,

>> they should have come up to slowly about

[laughter] I know I've seen some clapped

out. Oh, they were they were clapped out

when they were new. People were

modifying them.

>> Oh, man. Those would have both been so

much stronger. And to your point about

the S2000, well, Johnny TR, who was

originally be Pete Tran, was supposed to

roll a Mustang,

>> which would have been more a drag car.

>> Totally. Fox Body, do we know Fox Body

not being in this is tough cuz in 2001,

we were talking about all this

downstairs with Randy yesterday. When I

was in high school in 2001, all the kids

who wanted to go fast in a straight line

in my high school all had Fox bodies.

>> I always thought of a Fox body as a

great dumb car. Like, good for Vin

Diesel. It would have been perfect for

him.

>> Yeah, they must have used one

eventually. They've gone through every

interesting car ever in this franchise,

right? I saw a clip from one the other

day when I was doing research for this.

They used a Jensen Interceptor in one of

these. So, [laughter] like they've

really gone through almost everything at

this point.

>> Well, and I'm just confused cuz in the

movie Jesse refers to the Jedha having a

V6, but it is not a

>> VR6.

>> It's not a VR6. It has a 2 L inline 4,

but I'm just I'm wondering if that was a

script error or like just a intentional

Jesse not knowing what his car is error.

>> But he's supposed to be like the boy

genius. All right.

>> Ripping sigs. Ripping sigs.

>> Morning cigarettes, Alex. [laughter]

>> Sorry.

>> Remember that scene when he's at he's at

the Dell PC with all the tuning maps?

Something about engines just calms me

down.

>> 100%. So many great scenes like that.

actually like I watched this twice in I

love this movie. I actually think it's a

really fun hang.

>> So I'm on board with the S2000 and part

of how it got there was because Craig

Lurin was like no American cars. So they

got the Mustang out and then either one

of the directors or a producer or

something had that black S2000 and he

said at the time villain cars were black

and they're like oh perfect

>> interesting

>> and it was compact supercharger.

>> Then how does the charger fit in? like

that was always going to be the kind of

hero car at the end.

>> I don't know. I think it's all the

backstory around Dom's dad being a

criminal and that's like a good, you

know,

>> some good dramatic acting from Vin about

>> That's a great moment. It actually is

good. It's very strong. It's good.

>> I think that's actually the first I live

my life quarter mile reference. I think

that's the moment he make

>> He gives a different speech at the drag

race. You're right.

>> Yep. And then he repeats it or there's

an over. Oh,

>> it's your first or your last is the

first one. You're either Yeah. Right.

Nobody cares about second place. I

almost had you that whole thing.

>> It don't matter if you win by an inch or

a month.

>> That's right. Good. Good call.

>> I actually do like his RX7.

>> Yeah, his RX7's cool.

>> Yeah, very much so.

>> The Yeah, the red one.

>> The Charger's sick at the end

>> with the NOS under the seat. [laughter]

>> I've also read a story also unconfirmed,

but I think that red RX7 then went on to

be turned into the full Veilside for

Tokyo Drift.

>> Oh, wow.

>> Which was car. Isn't there veilside

livery on it in the but it doesn't have

the full kit? I don't think just maybe

the front bumper with the lights.

>> Part of the reason I like it is it's a

little less

>> like all the other cars movie. It's got

the sticker.

>> Yeah. [laughter] Yeah.

>> That's like that's worth 90% of the

actual modification itself.

>> It's a little more understated than some

of the other ones. And when he lifts the

tan leather seat up, you can see it's

already cracked and falling apart in

2001.

>> Did [laughter] you guys have any friends

that had their mod stickers on their

front fenders?

>> Oh, yeah.

>> No. And I had friends who hid their

nitrous, too. Like that was like a real

thing for street racing.

>> I didn't know anyone with nitrous.

>> Oh, yeah. I had one friend who had the

switch in the ashtray in his Camaro. So,

you'd pop open the ashtray and the

switch was in there and the bottles were

hidden down where the spare was in the

back. And the other thing people would

do is because the fittings were often

anodized, they were blue and red to

attach them to the carburetor. You'd

electrical tape over it. So if somebody

lifted your hood and looked underneath,

they wouldn't immediately notice like

kind of stock looking and then two

braided lines of anodized fittings going

into the

>> Do you remember the fender decals on

your friends cars?

>> Well, what I remember is people would

put decals on that weren't because a lot

of people had Grey, but a lot of people

did not have turbos.

>> Sure.

>> What does Jesse say at the thing? We

need to talk about Kronos and me

familia, but like uh thank god for ball

bearing turbos. That's like one of my

favorite lines in the whole thing.

>> Trying to remember what the other ones

were. Oh, a lot of con and god, what's

the other gas pressure strut that

everyone

>> am intake?

>> Oh, a yes.

>> Am engine management. And you meant you

had $150 cold air intake. Correct. That

would just give you vapor lock if you

had a puddle.

>> I believe I believe the words standalone

are used in this movie somewhere.

Standalone was a hot hot word in the

late 90s, early 2000.

>> Was Tokiko one of the big ones?

>> Is that a strut? Yeah, I think that

might be right.

>> Uhhuh. That's right. with the little

stuffed animal strut. Was anyone rocking

Underglow?

>> I saw Undergllow. Like I said, I'm

almost positive when I went to see the

movie. There were a lot of Lowered

Civics and stuff at my high school, but

no Undergllow.

>> There was a little bit, but I lived in a

small like pretty policed town that was

super uptight. And the rumor is always

like, "Oh, underglow is super illegal."

Yeah.

>> So, some kids would have it with like a

switch that if you saw them at night and

they saw you, they'd flip it on all of a

sudden, like, "Oh, he's got" and then

super paranoid, just flip it off. So,

yeah, my neighbor up the street had

underglow on his E36 M3.

>> Sick.

>> And I always imagined that they were

actual neon tubes. Were they actually?

No way. Now they're LED.

>> They were tubes. I don't know if it was

real neon or not, but they were like

light tubes.

>> Got it. So yeah, there was some sort of

like fragile probably pretty heavy thing

that you're putting on the underside of

your car just for

>> definitely not doing it on a car you're

actually street racing.

>> One of the other ones, right?

>> But now with the LED strips that I've

seen on the underside of cars that come

through BAT occasionally, it's like a

nothing ad. It's incredibly easy.

>> The lighting game

>> really inspiring me to put some under

LED under light strips. Oh my god, guys.

On my cargo wagon.

>> Wow. [laughter]

>> I can flip it on. The kids have a remote

and they can change the color and do

auto lights and everything while we're

going through West Portal.

>> The lighting game on modern luxury cars

is like we go rent these BMWs from six.

Yeah. And you open the doors and it like

projects BMW on the ground. I don't even

think you can option them without that.

That's just you just get that horse.

>> That's like not helpful like to actually

light your way because it just casts

more shadows.

>> But in this new MDX we bought at night,

you know, there's lighting everywhere

and it is interesting to me. I'm just

like, "Oh god, all the stuff's going to

break. [laughter]

Talking about the Supra though, going

back to that the first initial race

which you're right goes on for I forget

I don't know the exact timing but an

incredible amount of time.

>> I'm sure somebody's time that [laughter]

wonderful CGI going through like the

transmission and through

>> Oh, I actually kind of like that.

>> I think it actually ages very well. But

of course,

>> you go through the pistons at one point,

don't you? go through the Pistons and

then police radio chatter happens and

they everyone scrams and they run away

and then eventually the biker gang

catches up with Paul Walker and Dom

>> by the way some great police car

>> Capri bunch of Chevy Capri those tires

cannot handle the weight [laughter] of

that car every time it turns it just has

to slide then the car gets shot up right

blue flames explode which supposedly

blue flame does not happen with NAS but

whatever uh it explodes for the longest

time when I didn't know Japanese cars

very

I actually assumed that the Supra that

gets brought to the garage for the glow

up montage was the car that had been

shot and exploded cuz I didn't know

these models very well when I was a

teenager. And then it wasn't until like

way later I realized, oh, it's a

completely different car. And then I

started realizing when I was watching it

again, they never explain where he gets

it from.

>> I think they do drop a line that he

bought at a salvage auction for 10

grand.

>> I don't remember something. Maybe I'm

making this up. It goes from crappy to

nice very quickly. [laughter]

>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's like that's what

the Frankie Munz character, I forget his

name. Guy who drives the Jedha. He's

like, [laughter]

>> "Good, good pull, Jesse." Jesse, he's

like, "Yeah, you drop 15 grand into this

thing. It'll be great." But he never I

don't think says where they get it from.

But it is pretty accurate in that I'm

sure back in the day they're pulling

2JZ's out of old scrapped Supra.

>> Oh, 2JZ does get a reference in this,

doesn't it? 2JZ GTE. Yeah, 2JZ. One of

those iconic things that probably this

movie had a big hand in. I mean, Zach,

you mentioned that earlier, like this is

a big part of why Supras are so iconic,

don't you think? Is is that the true

hero car from this movie or is it the

Charger?

>> And I had this discussion a lot because

Robbie had been wanting it's classic

Robbie Pile like doing things before

they're cool. He's like, I wanted a

Supra and then that movie came out and

then I felt uncool and got one. But

Supras [laughter] won the last

production year's 98. So there's already

a vibrant tuning community around them

with the known potential of that motor.

So I do think the film launched it into

collector status that it is now. But I

think that motor's renowned enough it

would still have a super elevated

status.

>> Yeah. I just forgotten that they say the

words out loud. The Charger, the Supra,

and the Eclipse or the three icon like

hero cars from this movie replicate.

>> Yeah. Do you think the Supra or the

Charger is the most iconic?

>> I think the Charger's still in the

movies, though.

>> Dom has like a long lineage of Chargers.

I know like his first [clears throat]

Charger makes an appearance in one of

them.

>> I'm not sure if that like original 69

continues on, but it for sure keeps a

line. I personally think the Supra is

the more iconic of the two to the film.

>> Dom mentions that the Charger does a

9sec quarter mile at Palmdale. Did you

ever race at Palmdale?

>> That's LACR.

>> Wonderful. That's Yeah, I've went there

many times. I never raced myself, but

that's where that test and tune

happened. Uh where I saw a Civic, brand

new Civic SI running 17 second quarter

miles.

>> Would you have been quote scared to

death to drive that Charger?

>> No. [laughter]

>> Like not What's crazy is like I mean

there's guys doing these drag weeks

where you have to drive your street car

and do a pass every day at a different

drag strip. And these are like cars that

are like they're not that streetable,

but they're technically street. They're

running like sixes. Cars have gotten so

freaking fast. 9 and 10 second was wild.

But if you have enough money, can't you

go buy a hyper car that'll run a 10sec

mile?

>> Five grand and buy a Tesla Model S off

the site and run 10.

>> I mean, that's insane.

>> So, a 10-second car, which is another

thing that it felt so unattainable

growing up based on this movie. Now,

right around 2015 or so, has become kind

of

>> and it requires no skill in a Tesla. You

just mash the pedal and go, right? Like

that's it.

>> Yeah. Like all that skill in the Supra

in the movie. [laughter]

>> The last drag race is a little tough for

me.

>> Tracks.

>> Yeah. That's like where it's like going

to you can see how the action franchise

that it all launches from.

>> Well, it bookends, so it's got the same

slow motion sort of cutaways. It takes

way too long, but it's it's closing up

what was them racing together in the

first one. And I would argue it's

probably one of the best misdirects is

when they hop the train, you're like,

"Oh my gosh, they made it." And I

remember that time seeing the big rig

crash into the Charger and just how that

engaged extremely well. It looks

phenomenal when you can see the

reflection of the car like on the wind.

>> It is pretty sick cuz it's like it's

real. It's like a practical effect.

Yeah.

>> Uh it's also I'd forgotten how abruptly

the whole movie ends too. It's like he

lets him walk and that's it. Hands the

keys like vertically. The way Paul

Walker hands it to him is an interesting

thing when he hands him the keys to the

>> Raven mentioned the semis of shooting

the harpoon guy.

>> For some reason the semis still just

maintain speed.

>> Brutal and the the the villain guy

getting his arm cut by the wire. And

that's all practical effects too. It's

sick. And I I apologize for forgetting

about the Civic. I actually like the

Spoon motor Civics. I think they're kind

of cool. The

>> three black cars with the green

underglow. Oh, yeah. I mean, those are

the iconic under the truck.

>> And they do it twice. I'd forgotten

about that

>> book ends as well. It happens in the

first part and the uh and then again in

the construction zone, right?

>> Me and everyone else of our generation

now in every road trip when you get up

next.

[laughter]

>> Could I could I whenever I see or you

often then see actually on those big

rigs is is there's something in the way.

>> They got [ __ ] hanging down.

>> They got stuff in the way. They've got

tires. Like, what? How am I supposed to

do this if you're going to carry around

a spare tire?

>> I just realized we huge missed

opportunity that we're not drinking

Coronas while we're recording this.

[laughter]

>> Can have any beer you want, Cam?

>> They can't say. We could just say that

we are.

>> Yeah, totally. Well, we usually clink.

>> Oh, we need to talk about the house. The

house is so sick. And you know the fate

of it, Zach. Is there a fade of it still

around?

>> I mean, they painted it and changed.

>> What?

>> Torn down. Completely gone. You

>> sure? I was just looking at I mean it's

in

>> it's actually kind of hard to find

articles about it but did you dig up

that one that talks about it?

>> So

>> I I assumed it was a more famous it's

actually not a super famous architect

but it's very much done in the style of

all the mid-century things that we love.

quote in the movie and what I liked

about this in the movie they referenced

that it's clearly odd that they're there

right like why are they walking into

this mid-century

>> which house are you talking

>> the mid-century where the set

>> oh you guys I'm talking about their

house

yeah

>> also

that's that's the house oh dude it's the

mid-century with the pool come

>> built for Jane Mansfield or whatever

>> Elizabeth Taylor Ed the quote is Ed Fer

there's a lot of scenes in it when

they're fighting with the FBI and stuff

and they're in the galley kitchen and

it's all curved. Oh man, I love it.

>> This this is where RIP Jesse runs out.

They just drive by

>> driveby.

>> And that's where that's me familia, too.

>> So, that's still standing, but I think

they've changed a little bit of it. It's

blurred out in Google Street View. It's

probably a great way to make yourself.

>> Toto market is also sick, by the way,

too. There's a lot of good venues. The

Speed Shop, both the TTO house and the

Tetto Market, but the

>> the market's still there. That's where

you can get the best photo. But if you

go and try and take a photo in front of

the

>> best tuna fish sandwich, Well, I was

going to say I've got the same order as

Paul Walker, so I'll [laughter] take

I'll take pride in that.

>> But tell what is called the Ridge View

House, the mid-century now.

>> The Ridgetop House designed by David

Fowler. It was uh at the time, I

believe, owned by a couple studios like

it had been sort of passed through a few

different LLC's.

>> It's got to be Hollywood Hills, right?

>> But they Yes. And what I love about it

though is that they they have to give

away this throwaway line to explain why

they're in this gorgeous mid-century

home. It's around the time where I think

mid-century is becoming kind of trendy.

So, it actually feels really cool that

they're in this space, but it was like a

year or two after this movie was made.

It was torn down by the Hyatt Hotel,

Anthony Pitker, uh replaced it with a

50,000 square ft home that is currently

for sale for $175 million and has been

on the market for $45.

>> Oh, man. It's such a beautiful home,

too.

>> It is the new version of it. It is god

awful. If you look up, you'll find it.

It's the second largest house in the LA

area after the Spelling Mansion.

>> What a shame. But you can see from the

view why somebody would want to tear

that down and build a horror show.

>> A great line when they're having one of

the arguments. They're all going to have

coffees.

>> Oh, dude. I think about this all the

time. The Ted Lavine line.

>> Yes. And he orders like, "I want a giant

decaf cappuccinos."

>> Yeah. He's like, "Uh, we'll take

cappuccinos." That's Buffalo Bill.

That's Ted Lavine. He's actually

secretly kind of my favorite character.

The sympathetic father figure of Brian.

>> Yes, for sure.

>> Uh, you know, that's puts the puts the

lotion on its skin and everything.

That's that same actor. Okay. I actually

think he's great.

>> Yeah.

>> My wife and I debated whether that's a

swimming pool that the little

>> Oh, it's more of a reflection.

>> That's what I thought, too. But she's

like, "No, that's a swing because they

you walk over that little bridge when

you're going into the house."

>> I think maybe you have some hired people

in that water when you have party.

>> Beck [laughter]

Beck knows about mermaids.

>> Uh, boy.

>> Well, I wanted to try to track down if I

could see who are the current owners of

the main hero cars from the movie. Oh,

good. Smart.

>> Um, and I was able to find that Jesse's

car. Dox him. Dox him right now.

[laughter] Cameron. Well, Jesse's car is

owned by a dealership in Germany, um,

called Chrome Cars, who has listed three

cars with us. Uh, last one was in 2018.

So, Chrome Cars, if you're out there and

you're listening and you ever want to

sell Jesse's car, you know where to

bring it.

>> Or send us a pick of it on display.

Yeah, exactly.

>> And lift that hood. Let's see if it's a

VR6 or if it's a 115 horsepower. their

feelings, but everybody's got a number

in their head right now, and I

[laughter] think it's a lot different

than theirs.

>> Uh, and then I was able to track down

the the main Hero Supra, which I believe

sold for like 550,000.

>> Sold at Barrett a few years ago.

>> Yeah, that's owned by someone in the

Netherlands now. Um, who

>> are these all going to Europe?

Yeah, totally.

>> And then some other interesting stuff

about these cars post movie. Sorry. No,

let me cut you off to say that Chrome

Cars also has the 18 Team van right now.

>> Oh, really?

>> Wow.

>> Yeah.

>> I mean, that's hard to authenticate.

There's probably so many replicas of

that.

>> They also, man, it says private

collection. I should dig into this. But

have allegedly the Charger from Bullet.

>> Oh, interesting. Two of those in there.

>> I mean, one of the things is like think

about how many I was just talking to

somebody about Marty McFly Toyota pickup

trucks today. about how many clones have

been built of all these cars. Didn't we

list a clone of the Eclipse at one

point?

>> Yes, but it was a Talon.

>> Okay, I'm kind of pro Talon. Okay, what

lot number was that?

>> This was lot number 209236.

>> Okay, pretty recently.

>> I thought I remembered that. I actually

um actually like Eagle Talent. My dad

had a buddy uh Charlie Humphre, God rest

his soul, who was the Latin teacher at

the community college in Bridgerest

where I grew up. Really ariodite guy.

had a bunch of interesting cars and he

as a side hustle would order cars for

the local Ford Lincoln Mercury

dealership and he ordered himself a

Talon TSI white with green leather

interior and when he passed away I only

had like 20,000 miles on it and he never

drove it. I was like, "Man, that would

be a cool car to have." I don't think

those held up very well, but man, what a

cool.

>> Yeah. And then

>> Talons and Eclipse and what was the

third one?

>> Is it a Dodge? What was There was three

cars. Laser.

>> Laser.

>> Laser. That's right.

>> Those three cars were in magazines

constantly. I felt like that was just

like a

>> like the test bed for everyone.

>> The first generation. Is it the first

generation Eclipse? The kind of more

square one. People modified the hell out

of that. Was like that was a big street

racing car when I was a teenager. I

remember that. A lot of people had

those. Uh and also

>> 2 liter turbo, all-wheel drive. Yeah.

And you get a ton of power.

>> And people put huge turbos on them. And

I think the motor was pretty sturdy. In

the Racer [clears throat] X article in

Vibe magazine, the the main character is

driving a Civic, but the initial drag

race they talk about that's like kind of

the lead of the story is a Starion and a

300ZX racing against each other on a

street, which is interesting. Neither of

those cars in the movie,

>> huh?

>> I was going to ask in your Lieberman

research, did you come across any of the

George Bars information regarding these

cars?

>> No, not at all.

>> Baris connection to Fast and Furious.

Well, apparently Baris a tried to

purchase the Supra from Lieberman after

the movie which Lieberman would not sell

it to him and Baris tried to bring

litigation against him because he

wouldn't sell it. But Baris got his

hands on one of the originalclipses

and did his own modifications and change

deliveries and apparently people just

kind of freaked out about it.

>> This is late in his life, right? I would

imagine. Yeah. And here's a Craig

Lieberman Instagram post talking about

here's what George Bareris did to one of

the screen used eclipses.

>> I mean another icon of movie cars and TV

cars obviously.

>> Yeah. I just think really interesting to

feel like he needs to purchase them and

put his mark on.

>> I wonder if he felt like I kind of own

TV cars and movie cars, right?

>> Kind of the way it comes off. Just an

interesting interesting part of the

history to it.

>> Man, this is definitely part of the car

movie cannon, right? The most iconic car

movies for sure. If you're going to list

your top 10, Fast and Furious has to be

on it with car movies. Even if you don't

like it,

>> it's also age dependent. But if you're

probably under 50, it's got a rank,

right?

>> Yeah. I would think even like I mean I

it's almost like

there Bullet Podcast and

>> the ven diagram of Fast and Furious

fans. I don't know that meets,

>> but this is like more of a car movie

than Bullet. Even though Bullet is

iconic,

>> I know, but like [laughter] this is like

more car culture, whereas Bullet wasn't

about car culture. There was definitely

important characters that were in the

position of a vehicle.

>> Actually, the middle of that ven diagram

is probably Gran Torino.

>> Nice.

>> Which I've actually never seen.

>> Oh, wow. Also not a car movie.

>> I am aware of some of the themes of that

film.

>> Well, I just feel like you'd actually

really enjoy them.

>> Well, I like Clint movies quite a bit,

so I should see it. But yes, I would say

this is much more a car movie just on

the whole compared to Bullet.

>> I wanted to do from two very different

eras, but there's like so many

directions we could go from here for our

next one of these. I'm excited to hear

the feedback on this one. I said my

favorite cars. What are your favorites

from this? Personal favorites.

>> The green Eclipse is the only one. When

I see replicas, I just I want to roll

one around.

>> Do you like eclipses in general separate

from that car? that era I think were

genuinely pretty cars with the

asymmetrical hump on the hood so good

you just assume there's a giant snail

right there underneath it and you never

see them they're all

>> yeah on pretty much so it almost seems

kind of exotic to roll one

>> 100% agree with you I think they're very

good-looking the first gen also has that

offset hump doesn't

>> it does but they're more angular

>> yeah those ones are so like serpentine

in their like aesthetics

>> do you foresee eclipses because so many

have been modified and kind of chopped

up. Do you see those going up in value?

Maybe.

>> We've already had a few big results, but

we only have seen, I don't know, maybe

five good ones over the years and really

nice GSX turbos. Bring the money. But

the problem is there's more good lasers

and

>> Talons out there. And

>> obviously, I'm just going to scoff at

those. It's not Eclipse. You want the

Mitsubishi.

>> They were hard to find back in the day.

Like I had a couple buddies who had

tuned Eclipses and they would often end

up with a GST because it was hard to

find the all-wheel drive ones even when

they were relatively new cars.

>> Just an Evo with a prettier body.

>> Yeah, totally. There were some really

fast GSX. It's the same motor. It's just

two wheel drive instead of four-wheel

drive.

>> Yeah, I agree. Eclipse is up there for

me. Um the red RX7 is up there for me.

But honestly, I'm going to I'll go

against the grain. The SVT Lightning, I

think, is

>> Oh, dude. It's number two for me. I love

I love it. I love it. What about you,

Beck?

>> The Charger. Oh,

>> this contrast with all of it. I think

it's such a great reveal when this

entire time you've been looking at tuner

culture and then he opens up the garage

and this sort of hidden gem is in there

and then additionally the moment that

really

>> he never quite explained Dom Toretto's

pivot from muscle cars into like tuner

cars.

>> It was his dad

what pitched what made him want to

change although he does drive one of the

few rear wheel drive cars I guess.

>> Correct. But is sort of throwing his

dad's history with that car.

>> And they're making all their money

boosting imported parts.

>> He's not going to show up to a me in a

>> That's right.

>> big muscle car.

>> Well, they're not boosting parts. So,

they're boosting pan

>> DVD players, which talking about things

that have not aged well. [laughter]

Panasonic DVD players. And at one point,

there's like one of those VCR TV combos.

I'm like, that's worth $1 today, even in

brand new condition.

>> Okay. the white Civic and the drag race

at the beginning. Him playing Gran

Turismo in that for sure.

>> My head exploded.

>> Iconic. Iconic. Also a lot of really low

posture in racing seats that don't look

to be very well like anchored to the

cars. There's some harnesses. I'm like

passroughs.

>> Totally. I'm like, what is that harness

attached to?

>> It's not a roll bar. [laughter]

>> Also, I'll shout out our Moto team. I

think they are CR250s and they've got to

be like mid90s models, but that's what

they're rolling around on. All the dirt

bikes that they just play fourcylinder

noises over.

>> Oh, you mean when the Johnny Trans crew

like

>> they're all dirt bikes and it's just all

highrung four-cylinder noises over the

dirt bike, single cylinders. Awesome.

>> Totally.

>> But at least it was all real cuz I think

these movies also turned into CGI kind

of nightmares, right?

>> Oh, yeah. I mean, all across the board

from CGI to fake sound and I mean like

the to fake people. Fake people. But the

the scene I think

>> Oh, right. Paul, they had to stitch Paul

Walker into it, right? Yeah.

>> Him over his brother. I

>> I forget what movie it is, but they jump

the Lykan Roadster like from a hotel to

hotel in Dubai or something. It's like

in someone's hotel room.

>> I think it's the two towers in Malaysia.

But yes.

>> Okay. Okay. But yeah, I kind of drop

off. Oh, I was just confused cuz I think

you could pay to do that in Dubai.

[laughter]

>> What about favorite characters? I have

to say I'm actually partial to Jesse.

He's my guy. I love Jesse.

>> I really like Jesse. What appeals to you

about Jesse?

>> Okay, so for me personally, and I'm

curious if this is true for you guys,

too, and also for the broader community

who likes this movie, part of the charm

of this movie is that it's like an

accidental comedy, right? Like I'm

laughing most of the time I'm watching

this, and Jesse is the character that

fits the most into that for me. It's

like, man, who wrote this? It's

unbelievable. Yeah. Like dad getting out

of prison, like working on engines calms

me down. Cigarette or non-cigarette down

to the nub. cuz he reminds me so much of

like the kids in autoshop that were kind

of burnouts.

>> I [clears throat] think that's what it's

supposed to be based on, but similar to

the granny shifting comment, there's

like a not very realistic. It's like

somebody read one article or met one of

those kids for five minutes and then

sketched out a character that's like

adjacent to it. It's like the AI version

of that person.

>> And it's a way of giving Dom like a weak

link without having to like hurt the Dom

character.

>> Is this guy going to be killed? Like can

you tell from the beginning? He's like a

red shirted Starfleet officer.

>> I believe one of the controversies in

the later films as well is that both Ben

Diesel and The Rock have like clauses in

their contracts. They can't lose a fight

>> and so they never lose a like and they

even fight each other at one point but

then neither of them actually like it.

It's like a I think it ends in a draw. I

think they literally like punch each

other or something like that. Um

[laughter] but it allows for him to be

like this like superhuman character and

that's what I think Jesse provides that

in a great way. Well, if you look at The

Rocks MDB page, it looks like he's lost

a lot of fights [laughter] getting roles

recently.

>> Oh, no. Um, what's the legacy for you

guys? Is it does it also amusing to you

as you watch it?

>> We're not even done on characters.

Johnny Tran is insane. Like the

backstory of this rich Asian guy who's

rolling around on motorbikes with a babe

with a machine gun just shooting up

cars.

>> His crazy brother with the like snakes

skin pants and like he's like the

trigger man. big time.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> But he gets a mean choke slam during the

bust montage.

>> The slot montage like it's like slow-mo

and there's like music playing over back

hand from his father.

>> That's intense. And it's definitely in

like Valencia or like Canyon Country

Zach.

>> I think that is what really resonated

with me. Like [laughter]

you just slapped him when they're just

actively machine gunning people and

trying to murder people and the

implication that's clearly why Dom's

dad's in prison. [laughter]

The motor oil torture scene from those

guys is intense, too. 490 weight or

whatever it is. That's tough.

>> And what's I didn't get that plot line.

Why was he missing? The engines were not

in the car. What What was the

insinuation there? That that guy was

supposed to build them for him, but they

just never

>> fast enough, right? He wasn't fast

enough for them for race wars.

>> No, I think he just he sold off the

engines because they commanded a premium

because he was so close to race wars.

>> Interesting.

>> Sold him to Hector.

>> Yes, maybe. Yeah. But honestly, in every

Fast and Furious movie I've watched,

there's been one scene that's kind of

just like made my stomach turn a bit. In

that one, it's the oil scene. And then

in Too Fast, Too Furious, they like put

a rat on some dude and put a bucket over

him and like heat it up. And I remember

that scene being like, "That's just too

much. I don't need that." Um,

>> Cam is like totally ready for Too Fast

Too Furious. I think we need to push

Grand Prix and all the other things that

we could do. We need to get straight to

Too Fast Too [laughter] Furious.

>> Got plenty of time, Alex. [gasps] Zach,

what about you? Any other important

thoughts or things you want to share?

I'm so glad you did the research on the

guy who built all the cars.

>> Oh, yeah. Craig Laborman's the man.

>> Yeah. No [ __ ]

>> I don't know if I have anything else to

say other than I mean I wish they got an

NSX in the movie. There's a few more

cars that would have been awesome to see

and see if they had a cultural impact. I

will say like a big part of me does just

want to move to Los Angeles and roll

around.

>> It's a good LA movie with

>> Underglow and my Turbo Coupe. It's like

the closest I ever got to like trying to

do pickup street racing. When I was like

17, 18, 19, we'd go down there a lot,

but we'd stay at the house of one of my

dad's buddies who restored antique cars.

And me and my car buddies would work for

him over the summer doing a pull string

on like American underlungs and Model A

Doozesenbergs. And then at night, we'd

take whatever our cars were. And at

least one time that I can remember, this

was in Pasadena, I'd take the turbo

coupe out, which was like not a very

fast car, but like none of these cars

were actually like that fast compared to

the cars today. And you'd go out and you

just, you know, street light to street

light drag race and you can tell who the

other kids were who are out in LA at

night in lowered Hondas and stuff and it

was really fun. And you know in the

summertime in LA with the windows down

it's great just you know it's acting a

fool in cars as a teenager.

>> And the one thing I'll add is if we're

going to draw any sort of parallel to

Bullet in this movie I do think the use

of the city that it is being filmed in

is also very prevalent in Fast and

Furious in the areas that they're

racing. I feel like you get a a bit of a

griier look at LA versus how it is

portrayed in films nowadays. Um, and I

think that was purposeful to kind of

give that underground gritty feel to the

movie. Um, and so I think that the

cities they filmed in were were used

really well and the sets were chosen.

>> I think Paul Walker and Steve McQueen

have a lot of overlap too.

>> Sure. Yeah.

>> Handsome handsome blonde.

>> I see cool car guys. I think in their

personal lives, Paul Walker is probably

a nicer person, but

>> but both interested in cars in their

personal lives. Like both really

important in the car world and car

culture and can definitely both hold a

scene without saying much, right? Which

we talked about in the bullet pod.

>> For sure.

>> Totally.

>> They definitely have that like, oh, I

wish I was as cool as Paul Walker or

Steven, you know, that kind of like man

crush like

>> Yeah, 100%. One thing this movie does

really well as opposed to maybe Bullet

is it it ages so well and it's so

fast-paced and even though it's got car

culture just oozing in almost every

single scene, you don't actually really

have to be I don't think a car person to

enjoy watching it. Whereas with Bullet,

unless you're like you're so jonesing

for that driving scene that you might be

really slow and tough to get into. I

watched this movie as I did with Bullet

actually with my wife who neither had

she seen this movie or any Fast and

Furious movie ever and she was like into

it. She was enjoying it. She was making

fun of it half the time. She thought it

was ridiculous. She thought when she saw

a racehorse, she just assume like

[laughter] is this like is this like

just a different group of douchebags?

Like I don't understand how this is like

a thing people would go do. She's also

not a car person at all. but she totally

enjoyed this and thought that this was

just a great watch, which is a really

reassuring thing to do if you ever have

a movie that you love and you get an

opportunity to sit down with a friend

who's never seen it before and like half

the time you're looking at the screen,

half the time you're looking at their

face like for their reaction and for

them to actually come out of it positive

is just like a great feeling as well.

>> Totally. My wife, the most recent time I

was playing this, she kind of cidled in

maybe a quarter of the way into it and

watched the whole thing kind of

accidentally. could not get anybody in

my family to focus on Bullet except for

the chase scene. So very different. My

teenage son also really enjoyed this.

>> Okay. What's the impact the film has

left on everyone here?

>> I do have a desire to go watch Too Fast

Too Furious. [laughter]

>> I think it had a huge impact on the

non-car people who are sort of just more

aware. It's sort of legit.

>> I meant for you personally.

>> Me personally. Well, that's what I mean

though. I feel like it's gotten those

people for me like I get a sense that

they sort of know what I'm talking about

when I'm saying I'm going out for a

drive or I went out in my alpha in high

school. I would go drive up down Sunset

Boulevard and try to find other cars and

do polls with them and that sort of

thing. And you could sort of reference

like other people could have seen this

thing, get a sense for it and you felt I

don't know.

>> Yeah, you know, in fact, you're right.

It didn't matter if you won by an inch

or a mile. [laughter]

>> Didn't matter at all.

>> I love stoplight drag racing. I still do

it. I've like you know Beck and I have

done it before. I've done it before on

both.

>> Yeah, this is maybe my hot take. This is

certainly in my top three favorite car

movies and may it might be my favorite.

It's either this or Lama are my favorite

of all time and for very different

reasons and it just it makes me happy to

watch it and it makes me appreciate cars

and car culture even if these aren't

exactly my cars. I like a lot of them

but they're not exactly the things that

I would want. And even if a lot of the

car talk in it is utterly absurd, but

that just makes me laugh. I don't know.

I I really really like it. By the way, I

really liked F1, too, which a lot of car

people were upset about, but when you

make a good movie that's based around

cars, I'm just kind of predisposed to

like it, even if it's got a lot of

inaccuracies in it.

>> Sure.

>> I don't think there's any other movie

out there that's done what this did as

far as like profiling

anything about car culture. There's

obviously been some racing films, but

I'm talking like street stuff. I mean,

even car people can't sit through Lama.

Like, it's boring for people. I love it

because it's like a period documentary,

but that's tough on people. That

certainly didn't have an impact the way

this did.

>> What about you, Zach? What's the lasting

bet for you?

>> Well, obviously you look at my garage

now and [laughter] like that time period

has left a big influence on me. I think

I get hit with a huge nostalgia blast

and I like that it highlights a period

where we're getting around like testic

cars and Teslas and all this of

performance was like more democratic.

You'd go out and you'd build your car to

make it fast.

>> It was merit based almost

>> sort of. It took a little more effort to

have a fast car and now everything's so

fast people are almost seeking out

slower cars that give them more of an

experience than just outright speed. So

I think all that's super interesting.

Then part of me also wants to roll

around with like 212s and the fiberglass

trunk setup with the amp off center in

there and the flip up screen.

>> PlayStation 2 in the back.

>> Oh, unreal. I miss all that era. Part of

the reason I wanted to make sure you

were on this is my impression, Zach,

because this hits a sweet spot for you

in car era, just like car culture era

and like the cars that were around, what

people were doing with them. Maybe just

an era in American culture in general

that a lot of people are nostalgic for.

I kind of am like late 90s, early 2000s,

but there's like almost more innocence

to almost like this movie is almost

sweet. I know it's cops and people

shooting and stuff, but it's almost like

a sweet movie kind of. Okay, there's not

a a ton of parallels, but if you take a

step back, I do see a lot of overlap

with American graffiti where they both

take a time and place of car culture and

car culture in Modesto Central Valley

for American Graffiti was essential.

That's why George Lucas made it because

it was his youth. A car was access to

everything. It was your life. And same

with LA. Like there's similar overlap in

the two.

>> Great freaking call. And that's a movie

that we need to do soon. Have you seen

that before, Cam? Oh my god. Have you

seen American?

>> I have not actually.

>> Oh my gosh, guys. American graffiti.

I've rewatched it a couple times in the

last

>> I feel like I have. I've been to Mel's

Diner enough.

>> It is so good.

>> It's a coming of age tale, but the cars

are almost characters in themselves in

it.

>> We'll do that one soon, if not next. And

it's a guarantee that you guys will like

it. It's really, really good.

>> Cameron, this hipster, he's already got

the playlist queued up.

>> Dude, [laughter] the cars in that are so

good. All right, I don't want to start

doing an American graffiti pod. Zack,

that's a really insightful and I think

really smart comparison.

>> Thank you. Yeah, my central valley basic

roots.

>> Hell yeah. I think it was filmed in

Pedaluma, so that's another Bay Area.

We're doing very Californiaentric. What

are

>> I love it. They're like, "We'll set it

Modesto, but we're definitely not."

[laughter]

>> We definitely want to hear from everyone

out there listening on what other

movies. We got a couple suggestions. I

got Mad Mad Mad Mad World as a

suggestion. I've never seen that one.

>> Grand Prix, I haven't seen in a million

years. That's one I want to do. Randy

saw that in the UK recently and loved

it. Lama, obviously I want to do. Are

there any other burning ones for you

guys? Any other that are top of your

list? I think American Graffiti should

be up there on the list.

>> I would agree with that, especially just

considering I I'm liking that the films

have the connection. I think that Zach's

absolutely right that the Paul Walker

and the Steve McQueen connection is a

very strong one. And I think his then

next leadin to American Graffiti would

be a great excuse to go that direction.

It' be nice to try and find what would

be then that connective tissue over to

Lama or Grand Prix on this thread.

>> Yeah, I would say Lemon.

>> Too fast, too furious, Cam. [laughter]

Uh, no. I would say Le Man is for sure

one that I I have had on my list and I

feel like I need to watch. And

>> you're going to fall asleep more times

than than Bullet.

>> I don't I don't know cuz if it's

actually centered around cars and

racing, I think I'll have a bit more

interest in it than than Bullet had for

me.

>> Less great clothing in it.

Unfortunately, it's a lot of people with

rolled down racing suits. Golf livery

racing suits.

>> That's great clothing. Honestly,

>> uh, this was a hoot, boys. Thank you all

for doing this. Anything you want to say

before we close out?

>> Uh, movie was an hour and 40 minutes and

it didn't even feel that long. So, it

felt so quick.

>> Bring them back.

>> We all got to go do some celebratory

neutral bombs in our mom's minivans

after this. [laughter]

>> I just want to say chrome cars, you know

where to find us.

>> Oh, man. Awesome. Well, thank you gents.

What a pleasure. Thank you all for

listening. I was serious when I said

we'd love to hear suggestions from you

all on what movies you'd like to hear us

talk about next. It's a treat for us. So

hopefully you all enjoy listening.

Anything you have to say on that front,

any kind of feedback, questions,

concerns can go to podcastra.com.

Thanks as always for listening and we'll

catch you next time.

>> [music]

(B)aT the Movies: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

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