You know the drill by now. A bald guy in a tight t-shirt talks about family for two hours while defying every known law of physics in a vehicle that should have exploded ten minutes into the first act. That’s the Fast & Furious brand. But for those of us who actually care about the metal, Fast X (or Fast and Furious 10, if you're being formal) was a weirdly nostalgic return to form. Sure, they still blew up half of Rome with a giant rolling bomb, but the car selection felt personal this time.
Honestly, the fast and furious 10 cars list is a fever dream of classic American muscle, rare Italian steel, and some very questionable "JDM" builds that aren't actually Japanese under the hood.
Dom’s Charger: The $60,000 "Family" Heirloom
If Dominic Toretto showed up in anything other than a black 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, the internet would probably riot. It’s his Excalibur. But here is the thing about the "hero" cars you see on screen: they aren't just one car. Car coordinator Dennis McCarthy, the guy who has been sourcing these beasts since Tokyo Drift, actually built 14 different versions of Dom's Charger for this movie alone.
Fourteen.
Some are "hero" cars with perfect paint and pristine interiors for close-ups. Others are "stunt" cars built with heavy-duty roll cages and long-travel suspension meant to survive jumps. McCarthy has admitted that a single build—just for materials—runs about $60,000. That’s before you add the hundreds of man-hours spent by guys working three-hour shifts on one fender and two hours on a transmission.
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In Fast X, Dom actually splits his time. He’s got the classic 1970 Charger for that street race in Brazil (against Dante), but when he’s trying to stop a literal bomb from leveling the Vatican, he’s behind the wheel of a 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody. It’s a 797-horsepower monster in stock form, though the movie version looks even meaner.
The Purple Impala: Why Jason Momoa Changed Everything
Dante Reyes is easily the most unhinged villain the franchise has ever seen. He’s flamboyant, he paints his nails, and he drives a 1966 Chevrolet Impala that is basically a lavender-colored middle finger to Dom’s stoic black Charger.
Interestingly, Dante wasn't supposed to drive an Impala. The original script called for a Nissan GT-R. But Momoa—who is a legitimate gearhead in real life—pushed for the Chevy. He felt the big, loud American classic fit Dante’s "larger than life" ego better. He even insisted on the specific shade of purple/lavender because he knew it would annoy his own mother.
Under the hood of the "real" movie car, it's rocking a 540-cubic-inch big-block motor. It’s a big-tire drag car designed to look as fast as it sounds. In the movie, Dante uses it to launch flamethrowers during a chase, because why not?
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The JDM Lie: Han’s Alfa Romeo and the Datsun 240Z
This is where the car nerds usually start shouting at the screen. Han (Sung Kang) is synonymous with Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) legends. We all remember the VeilSide RX-7 from Tokyo Drift. In Fast X, Han is driving a 1972 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. It’s gorgeous. It’s orange and black (a nod to the RX-7). It’s also... not an Alfa.
Well, it looks like one. But the stunt team needed reliability. The "hero" car used a 2.3-liter Ford EcoBoost engine swapped in with a Mazda manual gearbox. It's basically a Frankenstein’s monster. After filming wrapped, Sung Kang actually bought the car from Universal because he loved the way it handled so much.
Then there’s Isabel’s 1975 Datsun 240Z. The movie claims it has an RB26 engine swap from a Nissan Skyline. You can even see a turbocharger poking out of the hood. It’s a cool visual, but in reality? Most of the stunt versions were powered by small-block Chevy V8s. Why? Because when you’re filming a high-stakes chase in Portugal and a motor blows, you can find Chevy parts anywhere. Finding a rare Japanese twin-turbo straight-six on short notice is a nightmare.
The Weird and the Wild: From Gold Lambos to EVs
The fast and furious 10 cars list gets progressively weirder the further you look into the background.
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- Roman’s Lamborghini: Tyrese’s character, Roman Pearce, drives a 2003 Lamborghini Gallardo finished in a "look at me" gold chrome. Naturally, they destroyed it.
- Jakob’s El Camino: John Cena’s character drives a 1967 Chevrolet El Camino that has been modified with... wait for it... functional rocket launchers. It’s ridiculous, but the car itself is a legitimate 6.5-liter big-block V8 classic.
- The DeLorean: There’s a brief cameo of the DeLorean Alpha 5, the new electric concept. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it signals where the franchise is going.
- The EV Charger: Dodge actually let the production use the Charger Daytona SRT EV concept. It’s the "electric muscle car" that makes fake exhaust noises. McCarthy mentioned he wished they had more time to use it in an actual action sequence, but for now, it was just a taste of the future.
Making Sense of the Chaos
If you’re looking to replicate these builds, you’re going to need a massive budget and a complete disregard for safety. But there are a few real takeaways for car enthusiasts:
- Chassis over Chrome: The stunt team prioritizes steering angle and suspension above all else. They use Brembo brake kits (six-piston front, four-piston rear) and custom-spec steering racks to allow the cars to drift and recover at extreme angles.
- Engine Swaps are Practical: Don't be a purist if you want to drive hard. The Fast team swaps engines for reliability, not just power. A Ford EcoBoost in an Alfa Romeo might be sacrilege to some, but it kept the car running for 12 hours of filming a day.
- The "Hero" vs. "Stunt" Divide: What you see on Instagram is the Hero car. What survives the movie is the Stunt car. If you're building a project car, decide which one you want to be before you start spending.
The production destroyed somewhere between 200 and 300 cars for Fast X. Most were "background" vehicles like BMW M5s and Mini Coopers modified to look like villain cars with brush guards and tinted windows. While the physics are fake, the passion behind the builds is real.
If you're planning your own Fast-inspired build, start with the brakes and suspension. You might not have a rocket-powered El Camino, but you can at least make sure your car handles like it’s being chased through the streets of Rome. Focus on sourcing a solid base—whether it's an old Datsun or a modern Charger—and prioritize the "bones" of the car before you worry about the lavender paint or the ornamental turbos.