Classic Muscle Cars and their fast and furious return
Classic muscle cars have made a comeback in popular culture due in no small part to being featured in the popular Hollywood franchise, The Fast and the Furious.
Illegal drag racing had been going on for years before the Fast and the Furious franchise glamorized the whole experience. People who didn’t even like cars or racing suddenly had a whole new fascination with the classic muscle car and the gritty underworld of street racing.
It didn’t hurt that the leads were easy on the eyes, either! Dominic Toretto, the character played by Vin Diesel was totally a dream come true for women looking for a tough guy with strong family values. Brian O’Connor was the quintessential “good guy gone bad” with his love of speed and constant need to prove himself to his superiors, as well as Toretto and his crew.
Movie fans have spent thousands trying to capture the look of cars in movies. From forming street racing clubs to cutting up and modifying their own high-performance, muscle-bound vehicles, the underground racing scene has only grown and matured as the sophisticated technology shown in the movies has carried over into the real world.
However, unlike the biker clubs and gangs who have prominent embroidered patches on their jackets, the drag racing crowd keep most of their affiliations on the down-low as the police are almost always sniffing around, trying to catch them.
Dominic Torreto’s 1970 Dodge Charger R/T
My favorite classic muscle car from the Fast and the Furious franchise has to be Dom’s 1970 Dodge Charge R/T. It was probably the most direct “I’m a man’s man” vehicle in the entire series. We don’t know if anything from the sixth installment can surpass that matte black monster that was so iconic that it made it to three different installments.
The first Dodge Charger hit the market in 1966. The classic muscle car heavyweight custom body was built on the chassis of the Dodge Coronet, another classic. The Fast and the Furious car was conceptualized as the brand’s first powerful, high-speed street racing vehicle with a fully equipped interior featuring four individual seats and a full-length floor console.
The 1970 Dodge Charger R/T originally belonged to Dominic and Mia’s father and was kept and maintained by his son in his honor. The powerful Chrysler 426 HEMI V-8 engine hidden under the hood was enough to get Dom out of many sticky situations. The bodywork was built like a tank and even after doing a spectacular rollover and crash at the end of the first movie that would have crushed other cars not built like the Charger, Dom rolled with minimal injuries.
Join the club
If you’re thinking of starting or joining a club to meet and hobnob with other 1970 Dodge Charger R/T lovers but without the illegal racing, consider outfitting your group with embroidered car club jackets. They are an inexpensive way to represent your love of motoring. If there isn’t a local club where you live, consider the National Hemi Owners Association.