Hollywood movies have made legends out of countless hero cars. The original 2001 film The Fast and the Furious featured all kinds of memorable cars, including one notable Mitsubishi Eclipse. Of course, the Eclipse is mostly infamous for losing its floor panel in a street race due to, uh…exhaust manifold failure? If you know, you know. If not, bring yourself up to speed with this video.
But before you do that, check out the video below. In it, the Eastwood team pulls out all the tools in the workshop to help out a local shop build a replica of Brian O’Connor’s Kawasaki Green Mitsu Eclipse. For full effect, the Garage crew removes the original glass sunroof and replaces it with a hand-fabricated fill panel. Then they get to work grafting in a non-functional fiberglass roof scoop. Why? Because that’s what the movie car had.
Whatever you do, don’t overthink the technical details of the film. They’re laughable. Regardless of that, it kicked off an 11-movie franchise that has so far grossed more than $7 billion in box office revenues. And that’s not including all the licensed merch. It also left an indelible mark on the greater automotive culture. Not bad for a Universal Pictures franchise that doesn’t lean a multiverse filled with superheros in tights.