Latest News
Volvo: Safety Beyond the Star RatingsDom’s Charger
One car from Fast & Furious embodies everything the franchise is about. Here’s a look at the car that’s been there since the beginning, Dom’s Charger.
The Iconic Fast & Furious Charger
Nearly every movie in the Fast & Furious franchise features one specific character that intertwines storylines and introduces conflicts for nine films now. Vin Diesel has portrayed Dominic Toretto for over 20 years and has been carrying the Fast & Furious franchise based solely on the four F’s of the character – First place, Fist fights, Family, and Fast cars. Dom has a particular taste when it comes to that last one. He’s of course been seen in cars like the Honda Civic, Chevrolet Camaro, or Mazda RX-7, but the Dodge Charger is as synonymous with the character as sleeveless shirts are. Today, we’re going to check out Dom’s Charger and some other notable cars that the Fast & Furious character has spun the tires in.
What Year is Dom’s Charger?
Dom’s Charger is a black, performance modified 1970 Dodge Charger R/T that he had built with his late father in their garage. When it is introduced to Brian in the first movie, Dom states that the Charger has “900 horses of Detroit muscle”, could run a quarter mile in nine seconds flat, and has so much torque that the chassis would twist off the line. He alleged that he never drove the dragstrip ready Charger since it scared him, but he clearly got over those worries after surviving that stoplight race where it was destroyed. Now, Dom’s Charger is a staple to the franchise that he can be seen working on or driving in more than one film.
The Fast & Furious Dodge Charger Behind the Scenes
While the Dodge Charger in the movie may be considered a 1970 model, the production team actually crafted previous model year Chargers to resemble a 1970 model for some stunts. Not only that, but the nitrous infused 900 horsepower engine we’re shown in the garage scene didn’t showcase the running motor. That engine the audience is shown is a racing modified, alcohol-injected 392 CID HEMI V8 bored out to be a 445 and features a big supercharger with a blower on top, but it never even started. That engine was on loaner from a performance engine builder, Chuck Taylor Racing, and wasn’t used for anything but visual shots.
When the Charger was speeding down the street, it actually featured a smaller set of engines. Some of Dom’s Chargers featured a 383 CID or a 440 CID V8 under the hood, but those big blowers sticking out were faked. Those underpowered motors used for motion scenes weren’t going to do the heavy lifting needed to raise that front end or heavily spin the tires. So, the stunt team had to get creative by boosting the front up with nitrous powered hydraulics and used a smoke machine for the “tire spin”.
Here’s some additional fun facts about Dom’s Charger to impress your friends with when you rewatch the original The Fast & the Furious movie.
- Those with careful hearing can hear a mistake during the running scenes featuring Dom’s Charger. There is no supercharger to be heard even though it clearly features one. Instead, the audio is that of a naturally aspirated V8. Furthermore, the supercharger doesn’t spin in running shots either…
- Of the four Dodge Chargers used for film, just two went unscathed after filming. Universal Studios kept one, a collector bought the other, one of the crashed stunt Chargers was restored and sold at auction, and the fourth one made an appearance in Herbie Fully Loaded as a wrecked racer in the junkyard.
- All of the Dodge Chargers used for the movie featured an automatic transmission, so technically the manual shifts Dom made didn’t actually happen.
History of Dom’s Charger
Following The Fast & the Furious, Dom eventually gets his hands back on his Dodge Charger. He can be seen working on it, driving it, and crashing it further on more than one occasion. I know the stunt team probably has gone through plenty of Chargers by now, but it’s getting a little crazy to think that Dom can keep bringing this street beast back to life.
The first return of Dom’s Charger is in the fourth movie, Fast & Furious. Letty procured the Charger in Dom’s absence and had been working on it in hopes of Dom returning. Dom uses the restored charger when he made his way to Mexico before blowing it up with explosives. There must have been a good amount of time between his court case and the explosion, because the Charger roars up alongside his prison bus with Brian behind the wheel.
Fast Five starts right from that point on, placing Dom back behind the wheel during his breakout. The crew makes their way south to Rio de Janeiro and the Charger can be seen parked in some shots, but the only racing scene featuring it happens off camera. Dom does end up using a Charger for the vault getaway scenes, but those are 2011 Dodge Chargers that the crew “borrowed” from the local police.
Dom’s Charger reappears part way through Furious 7 when he has to fight against Deckard Shaw. The two engage in a game of chicken and the Charger pulls its classic wheelie to place him on top of Shaw’s Aston Martin DB9. Luckily, the muscle car isn’t too damaged and is able to pull away before doing a sick jump out of crumbling parking garage.
F9 brings the Charger back, but is only seen in park. It can clearly be seen sitting rebuilt and in glorious condition at Dom and Letty’s farm garage in the beginning and also visible for the scene in the garage from the first movie at the end of the film. While we don’t get to see Dom’s Charger speed throughout that movie, we do get to see some of the other Chargers Dom has added to his driving record over the years.
Dom’s Notable Chargers and Other Muscle Cars
Daytona Charger
The late ‘60s of NASCAR was a lawless wasteland full of extensive aero and powerful engines. From this time came the Dodge Charger Daytona, a homologation model that took the muscle car and added some extensive aerodynamic parts. The extended nose cone and giant rear wing are the most prominent characteristics found on this Charger that Dom used to speed through London in Furious 6.
Off-Road Charger
If you give Dom a choice between a mission practical military dune buggy or his favorite American muscle car, he’ll choose both. That’s what happened in Furious 7 when Dom attached the body of a 1970 Dodge Charger to a dune buggy chassis. This car was then dropped out of the back of a plane, shot out a parachute, and went on to utilized those new off-roading goodies.
Jet Charger
Dom then went on to craft the most technologically advanced muscle car ever seen for The Fate of the Furious. He took a 1968 Dodge Charger, bolted a bunch of armor plating to it, slapped in a rear mounted engine that spits flames, and included an EMP device for good measure. All-wheel-drive and studded ice tires aren’t out of the question since this thing kept its composure pretty well over the ice while chasing a submarine.
Send Off Charger
Furious 7 was unfortunately Paul Walker’s final film in the franchise, so the team put together a heartfelt sendoff featuring his and Vin Diesel’s characters driving side by side down a scenic road. The Charger used in this scene is known as MAXIMUS, a 1968 Dodge Charger that boasts 2000 horsepower.
‘66 Dodge Charger
In a flashback to his youth, Dom is seen racing a 1966 Dodge Charger against his brother for F9. The end to this race draws similar parallels to Dom’s first race against Brian. His brother boosts too early, Dom boosts after, passes his brother, and then finishes this race with the ‘66 Charger sliding sideways at the finish line.
Tantrum Charger
The Tantrum is a carbon fiber bodied 1970 Dodge Charger with 1650 horsepower coming from a 9.0L boat engine. Dom somehow got his hands on this rare Charger build and drives it to the old track his dad used to race at. The Tantrum previously made a small appearance in The Fate of the Furious, but it was just sitting in a garage.
Hellacious Charger
SpeedKore crafted this mid-rear-engine Dodge Charger that has a completely carbon fiber widebody design. The oddly placed engine is a Hellcat V8 that’s pumping out 707 horses and 650 lb-ft of torque. Attached to it is a Lamborghini sourced transmission. Dom whips the million-dollar car around for only a short time while chasing his brother, but ditches it in favor of pursuing on foot.
Plymouth Road Runner
The Plymouth Road Runner makes a minor appearance in The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift, but that reveal at the end of the film of Dom lined up to take on the new DK connected all the pieces to create the following movies. I only wish they showed Dom actually drift the Road Runner when they revisited the scene for Furious 7.
Chevrolet Chevelle SS
It isn’t all Mopar with Dom, he’s been known to dabble in some General Motors classics too. For Fast & Furious, Dom built a new street racer out of a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS. That Chevy showed all the other tuners what real American made muscle is all about by winning the race to work for Braga.
Buick Grand National
The fourth movie in the Fast & Furious franchise doubled up on the GM goodness by having a personal favorite of mine make an entrance in the intro. The Buick Grand National was an ‘80s muscle icon and Dom knew how to push it to its limits when they were jacking some fuel tankers.
Do you have a favorite car or character from the Fast & Furious movies? Let us know! And be sure to check out our other articles that reviews the most recent movie and a list of our top picks from the franchise.
Correction re Dom’s Charger engine – imcdb.org in this article: “,,,the garage scene didn’t showcase the running motor. That engine the audience is shown is a racing modified, alcohol-injected 392 CID HEMI V8 bored out to be a 445 and features a big supercharger with a blower on top, but it never even started.” This engine was built by my late father, Chuck Taylor of Chuck Taylor’s Hemi Engines & Parts. Please realize It’s not “but it never even started.” It’s that the engine was too powerful for safe use in Dom’s Charger-driving-sites and scenes portrayed in the film.
Thanks for the reply, Mary! We are sure that the engine from Chuck was a high-quality build and a working high-performance example. We were stating that the filmmakers did not run the engine during the film and had to use a different engine for running footage and stunts.
I truly appreciate your assenting clarification. Thank you.
I am a fan of faf and I love to learn more about the cars and the shows. And i have a diy cast car of domes car f9 so thank you.