Autoblog

"The Fast and the Furious" movie series has not been kind to enthusiasts of American cars, with the exception of the moment in the first movie when Dom fires up his dad's Hemi-powered Charger (we won't even mention the hydraulically-assisted wheelie in the climatic scene, though). Therefore, we're not terribly surprised to hear the "hero" of the new film is a '67 Mustang that eventually sports a Nissan RB26DETT, a twin-turbo straight-six familiar to gearheads as the motivating force behind the fierce Skyline GT-R. A version sporting a 430-cube Ford small-block was used by Rhys Millen for most of the sideways action shots, but when Hot Rod Magazine lined the two different 'stangs up at a dragstrip, the rice-burner ran the quarter mile in 13.32 seconds and 109.83 MPH - over 1.2 seconds quicker and 13 MPH faster than the Blue Oval V8. Ouch.

Followers of the More Cubic Inches religion can take comfort in what was used behind the scenes, though...

A cut-down Chevy Suburban fitted with a 572-cube Bill Mitchell big-block was used for camera work where the actors' faces were shot through the vehicles' windshields. The passenger compartment for the featured car, loaded up with an actor behind the "wheel" was mounted on the back of the big SUV, and the whole contraption was drifted around a track to produce the necessary shots. Sign us up for the opportunity to drive the 'burb, but there's no way we'd hop into the piggyback car - at least not without an ample supply of air-sickness bags.

[Source: Edmunds Inside Line, Hot Rod Magazine]