The first teaser trailer for the newest Fast and Furious film just debuted, so what better time to look back at what made the original movie so special? Dominic Toretto’s Dodge Charger remains one of the film’s most iconic cars. Here’s the full story behind how it came to be.
Craig Lieberman, one of the original film’s senior producers, put together a video for YouTube breaking down Dom’s badass muscle car. There were a total of five Chargers built for the set, three of which were stunt cars. Two of the stunt cars were used in the climactic drag race scene—one for pulling off the wheelie at the start, and another to crash into a semi truck after the race was over. The third was used in the scene where Dom slides his car into one of Johnny Tran’s motorcycle buddies.
The star car was a 1969 model, but used parts from ’68 and ’70 cars, according to Lieberman. When Dom introduces it to Brian O’Conner in his garage, this is the only time we get to see its real engine—the Chuck Taylor Racing Engines-built motor was borrowed just for that scene, and returned to the shop once it was filmed.
Perhaps the most controversial part about Dom’s Charger is that all the V-8 sound you hear wasn’t actually coming from a car, but from another Hemi V-8 that was previously recorded. Lieberman points out that the sound doesn’t include the supercharger whine you’d normally hear from an engine like this.
We’ll never be able to watch The Fast and the Furious the same way again.
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