The Chevrolet Corvette is not the only famed American high-performance car to ditch the front-engine layout, apparently! Dominic Toretto’s iconic Dodge Charger has also gone mid-engined to perform like a proper sports car. The latest installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, F9, is all set to be released in the United States later in June and a representative for Universal Pictures recently revealed some juicy bits about Vin Diesel’s custom Dodge Charger along with other exotic automobiles used for the filming of the movie. Pictures of Dom’s tricked-out charger have been doing rounds of the internet for some time now and the massive engine placed right behind the driver’s seat was immediately noticed by fans.
The studio rep confirmed to Insider that over $1 million was spent to build the custom mid-engine Dodge Charger. That’s a lot of money for an American muscle car, but Toretto’s Charger is no regular car. The report by Insider states the newest iteration of the car built for F9 “combines old and new technology” and that “several hybrid versions” of the car were made for the action-adventure feature. “Coming up with a fresh version of a Dom Charger gets trickier with every new installment because there isn’t much that we haven’t already done,” Dennis McCarthy said in the press notes. McCarthy is the franchise’s vehicle supervisor who has worked on eight of the saga’s installments and has built countless custom machines from the ground up for the franchise.
“Dom’s ‘F9’ Charger had to be something that was over-the-top, iconic and different from what we’ve done in the past,” McCarthy added. “With its mega-horsepower Dodge Hellcat motor, unique Charger engine location, and combination of old and new technology, the mid-engine Charger satisfies all of these criteria. This Charger is now my all-time favorite ‘Fast & Furious’ car.” Another scene from the movie shot in London features a Bentley Continental GT, a Rolls Royce Wraith, an Aston Martin Rapide, a Bugatti Veyron, a Morgan Aero 8, a Mercedes SLR McLaren, and a Noble M600. All we can say is that the soon-to-be-released F9 is going to be epic!
[Via: Insider]
