Sick Ride: A Look at Furious 7‘s Supercharged Cars

 

 

“Cars are like a cowboy’s horse or a Samurai’s sword. They are an extension of our heroes and representative of their personalities," says Furious 7 screenwriter Chris Morgan. "We always try to maintain that philosophy but accomplish it in a fresh new way with every film. The constant though: Brian (the late Paul Walker) will always get the fast car, while Dom (Vin Diesel) always gets the furious car.”

With Furious 7 charing into theaters this Friday, the anticipation is extremely high for the latest in a franchise that has rarely disappointed its legion of fans. There's also a desire to see Walker's last turn as Brian O'Connor, after his tragic death in a car crash in November of 2013. A proper send-off for Walker seems in store, with his character likely being retired in the story, and perhaps the fastest and most furious cars his Brian O'Connor loved on full display.

Many of the cars were custom built and modified by car coordinator Dennis McCarthy. The requirements for McCarthy's fleet, as depicted by Morgan's script, were, as you've come to expect with the Furious series, insane. In fact, the off-road muscle cars and super sleek speedsters are more like terrestrial rocket ships than cars (and often, these things end up flying through the air). Working with special effects supervisor Dan Sudick (the Iron Man franchise, The Avengers), McCarthy's cars would be doing things in Furious 7 that, he figured, would require Sudick's CGI talents. In reality, much of the effects you'll see in Furious 7 are practical.

Now, about those cars…McCarthy fabricated off-road versions of Dom's 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, Letty's (Michelle Rodriguez)'s 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT 392, Roman's (Tyrese Gibson)'s 1968 Chevy Camaro Z/28, Brian's 2014 Subaru WRXSTI and Tej's (Ludacris) 2014 Jeep Rubicon X. In fact, when ginning up the idea for his new whip, Dom says he wants "the demon love child between that charger and that [pointing at a military Humvee]." Needless to say, he gets it.

THE CARS

 

Dom's Off-Road Charger

"It was built from scratch. Trying to fit all our custom components of an off-road vehicle in the Charger body and still leave enough room for Vin was a challenge. It is probably my favorite car in Furious 7,” he said in the press notes. Courtesy Universal Pictures.

 

Dom's 1968 Charger R/T

Dom's seriously suped-up 1968 Charger R/T. Courtesy Universal

 

 Tej's Ferrari 458

A yellow FERRARI 458 will do just fine for Tej (Ludacris). Courtesy Universal Pictures.

 Just Your Typical Parachuting Cars

A sequence filmed above the peaks of the Rockies in Colorado. "It is one of the more ambitious and practically filmed sequences, one that has Dom, Brian and the team launching themselves (and their cars) out of a C-130 cargo plane, free-falling and then parachuting to a treacherous mountain road below to knock off a convoy," the press notes reveal. Courtesy Universal Pictures.

 The Fleet

Among the fleet pictured are a black 2014 Dodge Viper for Letty (Rodriguez), Tej's yellow Ferrari, a blue McLaren P1 for Brian (Walker), and a white 2012 Bugatti Veryon for Roman (Gibson). Courtesy Universal Pictures.

 

To see how they actually film some of these chase scenes, check out our piece on camera card driver Allan Paldelford from Furious 6.

Featured image: MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ as Letty Ortiz in "Furious 7".  All photos courtesy Universal Pictures.

 
 

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The Credits

The Credits is an online magazine that tells the story behind the story to celebrate our large and diverse creative community. Focusing on profiles of below-the-line filmmakers, The Credits celebrates the often uncelebrated individuals who are indispensable to the films and TV shows we love.