The bright orange Toyota Supra featured in the first Fast and Furious movie is easily one of the most iconic cars of the entire film franchise. It’s often the “go to” car that fans picture in the heads when they think about Paul Walker’s "Brian O’Connor" character.

However, I think we can argue that perhaps the second most recognizable car from the Fast and Furious movies is the bright green Mitsubishi Eclipse also seen in the first film.

As much as we love that orange Toyota Supra, we wanted to give the Eclipse it’s due in this piece by talking about its real spec sheet and by debunking some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding the car due to its portrayal in the film and incorrect rumors.

Nearly all the facts we’re going over in this article can be found on Craig Liberman’s website FastAndFuriousFacts.com. For those who don’t know, Craig Lieberman served as the technical advisor for the first two Fast and Furious films and sourced background cars for Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. He’s spent countless hours behind the scenes and working with the directors, producers, and car owners on those films so he knows just about everything someone would want to know about the cars used in the movies. He was also the original owner of the iconic orange Toyota Supra. We highly recommend checking out his page if you want to know more. With that being said let’s talk about the Fast and Furious Mitsubishi Eclipse.

It was originally silver.

Because the budget for the first film was limited, Universal Studios rented the cars seen on screen in the first film. The Eclipse was no exception. Originally owned by John Lapid, the 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse was silver when Universal first laid eyes on it. After the car was cast in the film, it was repainted in "Kawasaki Green". The paint code for the exact hue used is a closely guarded trade secret.

It wasn’t turbocharged in real life

Despite how it sounded in the film or things you may have read online, the green Eclipse was not actually turbocharged in real life. It did not have Mitsubishi’s legendary 4G63 engine but instead a naturally aspirated 420a motor. The 420a was one of the engines shared by Mitsubishi and Chrysler and made about 140 horsepower. Universal’s special effects crew just added sounds from turbocharged cars in post production to make the Eclipse sound like it was boosted.

It did have a nitrous system in real life but it was for show.

One thing the films didn’t completely fake is the fact that the Eclipse did have a nitrous system. However, in real-life it was a pretty modest nitrous system. In the film it almost looks like the Eclipse almost light-speed ala Star Wars when Paul’s character hit the button on his overly-complicated, laptop-controlled nitrous set up. In actuality, the Eclipse had a pretty standard 75-shot system. “75-shot” means a boost of about 75 horsepower when the button is pushed. The thing is, the system was installed for looks and was non-functional! So much for “danger to the manifold” huh? It’s real engine modifications were modest. Besides the non-functional nitrous system, the Eclipse did have a few bolt-ons for power. It has a HotShot header and an Injen cold-air intake which was routed to a bored-out throttle body. A set of upgraded spark plug wires were installed as well.

It definitely wasn’t a “10 second car”.

Considering the very modest engine modifications and a non-functional nitrous system, it’s no surprise that the iconic green Eclipse isn’t nearly as fast as it was portrayed to be in the film. With the car’s actual horsepower being around 140 and extra weight from some of the aftermarket car audio, the Eclipse’s ¼ mile time was more like 16.4 seconds. For the era 16 seconds was actually a respectable time but yeah, this car definitely wasn’t breaking any drag strip records.

It would be incredibly difficult and expensive to accurately reproduce.

The Fast and the Furious was released in 2001 and so the cars featured in the film reflected that era. That means many of the exterior and performance parts on the cars seen in the movie have been discontinued and in some cases the companies that made those parts have gone out of business. That means if anyone wants to recreate the green Eclipse, it would be extremely difficult to source original parts that are more than 20 years old. For example, the body kit on the Eclipse was from a company called RoboCar which folded a long time ago. Since the RoboCar kit was made from fiberglass, even if someone had an original it would be in pretty bad shape. Though, replica body kits are still pretty abundant for those not looking for 100% accuracy. Another example are the wheels. The set of wheels seen on the car in the film were called “Se7ven” and they were from Axis Wheels. While the company Axis Wheels still exists, the Se7en wheel has been long since discontinued. Original sets can still be found today but they’ve been known to command prices upwards of $5,000 a set on ebay!

It’s currently sitting at a museum in Tennessee.

As we mentioned earlier, the Eclipse was originally the property of private owner John Lapid who tragically passed away in 2020. At some point well before his untimely passing, John sold the car and it ultimately ended up at the “Hollywood Star Cars Museum” as part of their collection of famous screen-used cars. Anyone who visits the museum to see the car will notice a few changes. Specifically the wheels have been changed out for a set of ADR M-Classic 19 wheels and there is a color-matched custom roll cage built by MonkeyBars installed. The Eclipse is joined in the museum by two other cars from Fast And Furious films, including a Dodge Charger driven by Vin Diesel’s “Dom” character in Fast Five and a Nissan R35 GT-R driven by Paul Walker’s character in Furious 7.

Well, that’s just about everything there is to know about the green Eclipse from The Fast and the Furious. While the car may not have the same performance in real life that it had on film, it’s still cemented itself as one of the most iconic cars in film history. That’s the kind of thing a dyno can’t measure.

For more info check out the official spec sheet below sourced from FastAndFuriousFacts.com

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The Fast and the Furious Brian's Eclipse Specs

ENGINE SPECS
Mitsubishi 2.0: DOHC 420a Engine (Rebuilt)
NATURALLY ASPIRATED/NO TURBO
75hp Nitrous Oxide System (never fully installed, only for show)
HotShot header
Injen cold air intake
Bored-out throttle body
Upgraded spark plug wires

STYLING
RoboCar full body kit
Custom fabbed lower front splitter (carbon – not used in the movie)
APR GT2- style rear wing
Custom roof-scoop (not functional)
Carbon fiber race-style mirrors
1997 headlights
Kawasaki green paint

TIRES/WHEELS/BRAKES/SUSPENSION
Axis Model Se7en Wheel, 18″ (as used in the movie)
ADR M-Classic 19″ wheels (not used in the movie)
AEM cross drilled front brake rotors
Stock 5-speed gearbox
Tanabe SS springs
Energy Suspension bushings

INTERIOR
Custom black and gray suede upholstery
Custom made A-Pillar gauge mount pod
Custom made passenger dash 3-gauge holder
VDO tachometer
VDO fuel gauge
VDO temperature gauge
VDO volt gauge
MonkeyBars custom made roll cage (not used in the movie)
Auto Indulgence neon green lights
Sparco pedal covers
Sparco shift knob

AUDIO/VIDEO
Alpine CVA 1005 head unit TV/DVD
Sony Mids and Tweeters
Two Sony amps
Two Sony 8″ woofers in a custom panel where the back seats used to be

PERFORMANCE STATS
140 Horsepower (at the crank) without nitrous
0-60 in 8.9 seconds (on 19 inch street tires)
¼ mile in 16.4 seconds at 84 mph
Top speed = 130 mph

Brian's Green Eclipse From The Fast and the Furious