Let’s be real for a second, the cars are the real stars of The Fast and the Furious franchise. Or, at least, they used to be. But today, with legends like John Cena and The Rock on screen, the actors have become the star of the show. And yes, they’re playing car enthusiasts and stunt drivers on screen.
But you might be surprised to know that some of them are certified enthusiasts in real life! So much so that there are literally cars named after them! With the release of Fast 9, we have 9 Fast and Furious actors that own some seriously surprising cars. Let’s go!
Vin Diesel (Dom) – Dodge Charger Tantrum
If the series is to be believed, Vin Diesel, who plays lead man Dominic Toretto, is only capable of driving Dodge Chargers. In real life, though, Vin owns a bunch of great cars, like an FD RX-7, a 2010 BMW M5, and maybe one of the Lykan HyperSports? He’s pretty secretive about what he actually owns, so that might be more rumor than fact.
What we do know is that Vin was given a 1,650 horsepower Charger for his birthday. Yes, really. How the hell do I get my friends to buy me a car like that? Where’s my four-figure-horsepower Porsche? The 1970 Dodge Charger, known as the Charger Tantrum, is one of the sickest Restomods ever built. It’s largely made out of carbon fiber, there’s a twin-turbo 9.0-liter V8 under the hood, and it is proper fast. Also, watching him receive it is enough to make you teary-eyed.
Now, in the upcoming Fast and Furious 9, the man who is all about family has a secret brother he never told anyone about who goes by the name of Jakob Toretto.
John Cena (Jakob) – The InCENArator
Jakob is played by none other than “You Can’t See Me” John Cena who, like others on this list, has a fairly impressive car collection, including a Ford GT40, a beautiful 1969 Camaro, and a classic YJ Wrangler.
But the craziest one is the InCENArator, which we’ve mentioned before in one of our YouTube videos. I think it’s ugly as hell, but you can’t say it’s not an amazing build. Not only does it shoot fire, but the cockpit opens like a clamshell. Unfortunately, looking crazy is about all it’s good for. Underneath the custom bodywork is a C4 Corvette that’s an automatic transmission. I just don’t know, man. I appreciate it, but I don’t think I get it.
What I do get are Italian sports cars. And, fortunately, so does the next actress on our list.
Michelle Rodrigeuz (Letty) – Ferrari 458
When Michelle Rodrigeuz, who plays Dom’s wife Letty, became a star during the first Fast and Furious movie, she didn’t have a driver’s license and didn’t care much for cars. As the series went on, though, she got really into it to the point where she can regularly be found driving supercars all over the internet.
Her current fleet includes a Lamborghini Aventador, a beautiful Jaguar F-Type, and Prius. Why a Prius? However, she has said that the car she enjoys driving the most is her Ferrari 458. It’s hard not to agree, everyone who has ever driven a 458 has done nothing but praise how great they are to drive. But Michelle adds a bit of weight to that opinion with her experience racing in the supercar series. Yeah, from the questionably titled Race Wars to the actual track, that’s a hero story we can get behind.
So far we’ve seen muscle, weirdness, and an Italian stallion, but what about something that’s more off-road?
Tyrese Gibson (Roman) – Voltron Rebel Jeep
Enter the Voltron Jeep. It’s a custom Wrangler designed by Tyrese himself. And while he also owns a Rolls-Royce Wraith and a Maserati GranTurismo, he always seems to end up in a Jeep in the films. In the Fast 9 trailer, we see Roman driving a Gladiator, and in earlier installments, we see all sorts of custom Wranglers.
So, maybe the Dodge advertising rubbed off on him because when he started working with a company called Voltron Motors, the Jeep Wrangler was his platform of choice. Now, rumor has it that he’s sold the Jeep, which is unfortunate. It looked totally awesome and really stood out against the standard fleet of wedge-shaped supercars.
Plus, Jeeps are cool. They feel like something that you or I could buy. But, if you really want to capture the everyman’s car, we have to look to none other than Ludacris.
Ludacris (Tej) – 1993 Acura Legend
So, if you had a BMW i8, a couple of Ferraris, an ultra-rare Chrysler supercar called an ME Four-Twelve, and an NSX, which one would you bring to shows? Well, if you didn’t answer “an ancient Acura,” you aren’t Ludacris.
Ludacris, who plays Tej in the series, owns a lot of hot cars. But the one that’s nearest and dearest is a 1993 Acura Legend, the car that got him to the venues before he was discovered, and has been with him every step of the way.
It got banged up back in 2015, but Luda loved his Legend so much he had Acura restore it to its former glory. There are 255,000 miles on the odometer, which is both impressive and humbling. Despite the bling and fame, Ludacris can still appreciate his automotive roots.
The same can be said of the man behind the mysterious Han Lue.
Sung Kang (Han) – Fugu Z 240Z
The return of Han is probably the most exciting part of watching the Fast 9 trailers, and for good reason. Sung Kang adds some down-to-earth feeling to the movies that they would otherwise lack. The great news is that he’s like that on-screen and off-screen.
The gentleman from Georgia owns his own custom car shop where he builds some absolutely gorgeous cars like a custom Ford Maverick and a stunning white 240Z. It’s that 240Z that gets all the attention. Known as the Fugu Z, Sung Hang bought it as a stripped-out rolling chassis and painstakingly restored and modified it, then shoved a beautiful NA RB26 with individual throttles under the hood. And it is nice. Seriously, he has tons of videos out, including a beautiful series with Magnus Walker, which shows that Sung is one of the good guys.
Speaking of good guys, kind of, if you loved Hobbs & Shaw, we have good news. It turns out they’re both huge gearheads.
Jason Statham (Deckard) – McLaren 720S
The rugged Deckard Shaw drives a McLaren in the spin-off movie Hobbs & Shaw, which apparently inspired the real-life Jason Statham to buy one. He’s even on video calling the McLaren his favorite car to drive, which is why he can regularly be seen showing up to events in a McClaren 720S.
That’s really saying something because there’s a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and a Lamborghini Murcielago in his stable as well. Which would you take out on a Saturday night? If you’re Jason’s spin-off co-star, the answer is none of the above.
The Rock (Hobbs) – Custom F-150
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, also known as Hobbs, owns some really badass cars, like a Pagani Huayra and a Ferrari LaFerrari, which are both cars I dream of driving. We talk about his whole collection in one of our YouTube videos!
Those aren’t the ones he’s most likely to be seen in though. That honor belongs to a totally custom Ford F-150. Why? Because when you’re 6-foot-5 and weigh over 250 pounds, you choose a car that you can be comfortable in. We’re not sure what kind of mods he’s done to his personal version of “America’s Favorite Truck,” but given that the one he gave his stunt double looks like it could race in Baja, we’re going to guess the list of mods is extensive.
Finally, we can’t talk about the Fast and Furious cars without talking about the biggest gearhead of them all: Paul Walker.
Paul Walker (Brian) – BMW E36 M3 Lightweight
Okay, so there are a ton of cars we could talk about when it comes to Paul Walker. He was a major gearhead, we have talked about his cars numerous times on our channel, and it is legitimately difficult to narrow it down. However, there is one car that seemed to come up in his life over and over, and that car is the BMW E36 M3 Lightweight.
He loved the Supra and owned one. He loved the Skyline and owned one. He loved Porsche and owned at least two Porsche GT3RS cars. But he didn’t just own one or two BMW E36s. Out of the 126 Lightweight M3s ever produced, Paul owned five of them.
In fact, Paul just really seemed to love the Ultimate Driving Machines in general. In addition to the Lightweights, he had a handful of E30s, an 850 custom manual, some E46s, and an original M1. He even called his 1974 BMW 2002 Touring the “pride and joy of the garage” and took the podium racing his E90 M3.
That all leaves me with one final question: why the hell weren’t there more BMWs in the movies?
You must be logged in to post a comment.