The Fast and the Furious franchise may not be Oscar-winning material, but there’s no denying that the cars in the movies are special. The franchise, which is now in its ninth installment, is known for having some epic hero cars. Even if you’re not a fan of the franchise, you know that Dominic Toretto, the muscle-bound character played by Vin Diesel, loves muscle cars nearly as much as he loves his movie family. Unsurprisingly, Toretto will be piloting a 1968 Dodge Charger in the latest F9 film and SpeedKore has come out with a real-life, fully functional example of the vehicle that you’ll see in the movie.
In F9, Toretto will be driving a mid-engine ’68 Charger. While Fast and the Furious has made some crazy cars before, like a jet-powered Charger in Fast 8, the mid-engine muscle car is even crazier because it’s real. According to Dennis McCarthy, Universal’s picture car coordinator, who spoke with MotorTrend, the film company actually built nine ’68 Charger models for the movie. The real ones that are used in close-up shots are packing a Hellcat engine that’s been tuned to make the same amount of power as the Demon and come with a manual transmission from a Lamborghini Gallardo. It’s a sweet, sweet combination.
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Known as “Hellacious,” this classic has to be one of the more extreme builds from SpeedKore. While a mid-engine Charger would be enough pizzaz for the majority of people, SpeedKore fitted the classic muscle car with a widebody kit, probably to better accommodate the Hellcat V8 in the middle of the body. A massive glass rear window gives strangers the ability to get intimate with the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine that makes 707 horsepower. That sweet V8 engine being nestled smack dab in the middle of the carbon-fiber body is better than art.
A mid-engine Charger sounds special, but SpeedKore’s Hellacious is a unicorn because of its six-speed manual Graziano transaxle that’s been sourced from a Lamborghini Gallardo. The manual gearbox helps route power to the Charger’s rear wheels, while drivers get to interact with a gorgeous gated shifter. For anyone that wants to pulls off large drifts, there’s a trick hydraulic hand brake to do your best F9 impression.
The rest of the interior is more about what’s not there compared to what is. Period correct gauges, simple bucket seats, a body-integrated roll hoop, a rear firewall, and a plain steering wheel help the Hellacious showcase its true intentions of being an over-the-top one-off.
Whether you’re a fan of The Fast and the Furious franchise or not, there’s no denying that a mid-engine ’68 Charger with a manual gearbox is magnificent. SpeedKore hasn’t said anything about selling the car, but we’re sure someone would pay a pretty penny to have something as special as the Hellacious. The fact that the car is a replica from F9 puts it over the top.
