Not too long ago, we pulled back the curtain on the iconic green Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Paul Walker’s “Brian O’Connor” character in the original The Fast and the Furious film. We de-mystified things a bit and cleared up some of the myths and mis-information that followed the car after all these decades.

Today we’re going to do the same thing for another and arguably equally famous car from that first Fast and Furious film: the red RX-7 driven by Vin Diesel’s “Dominic Toretto” character.

The red RX-7 is the first car we ever see the Toretto character drive and it remains a fan favorite to this day, despite not getting very much screen-time in that first film.

Unlike the green Eclipse, there isn’t quite as much mis-information surrounding the RX-7 but there was definitely some trickery pulled by the film production.

There are also more than a few facts that you may not know. We’re going to get into all of it right here with a ton of legit information we’ve sourced from FastAndFuriousFacts.com. That site was created by Craig Lieberman who not only served as the technical advisor for the first two Fast And Furious films, he was also the original owner of the legendary orange Toyota Supra from the first film and the silver R34 GT-R from 2Fast 2Furious.

The car was originally silver.

The RX-7 before the body kit was changed and it was painted red. Image: Craig Lieberman

If this fact sounds familiar to you, that’s because the green Eclipse was also originally silver before Universal Studios painted it green for the movie. The RX-7 was also originally silver and had a different body kit than what it ended up with on film. Before the car was cast, it had the classic Veilside Combat body kit equipped. Though after it was chosen for the film the kit was changed out to the slightly more “rounded” Veilside Combat II kit

Vin Diesel couldn’t actually fit in the car at first

Before the film, the RX-7 was a private car owned by Keith Imoto. He was the one who originally modified the car and had it painted silver. Keith is a normal-sized human and apparently had a mind for safety so he also had a roll cage installed inside his RX-7 as well. However, Vin Diesel is definitely not “normal-sized”. He always gets notoriously jacked whenever he shoots a Fast and Furious film and the first movie was no exception. As a result, he couldn’t actually fit very well inside the main “hero” car very comfortably. So, the crew had to remove the roll cage to accommodate him. Other than removing the roll cage, no other modifications were done to the interior and it was just as Keith originally had it.

There were 5 total RX-7s used in the film

Here is where we get to our first bit of movie magic. Since the car was privately owned, the production crew couldn’t just do whatever they wanted with it. So, replicas of the car had to be built for other uses so that the original car could stay in its pristine condition. Thus, four other identical RX-7s were built. Two RX-7 replicas were built for stunts, one car was a “buck car” used for detailed interior shots and special effects, and one more replica was built as a driving rig car that was also used for the stereo system close up shot. While the replicas were identical on the outside, they all had stock engines.

The engine modifications were real. Except the nitrous under the seat.

Unlike the green Eclipse driven by Paul Walker, the RX-7 actually did have some real engine modifications that gave it a significant power boost. The 13B-REW twin-turbo rotary engine was ported and had 3mm apex seals, APEXi Power FC for tuning and a ton of other engine mods that you’ll find below in the spec sheet. However, despite what audiences saw in the film, the RX-7 did not have a nitrous system in real life. In fact, that elaborate system of “sneaky pete” nitrous bottles under the seat was just a non-functional prop made with SCUBA and plumbing parts. That metal piece where the yellow nitrous dial and gauges were mounted wasn’t even metal at all, it was a block of wood painted to look like metal!

The cars used in the film have been scattered

Many people wonder what happened to the cars from the original Fast and Furious film after the movie. In the case of the RX-7 there were multiple fates for the replicas and the original hero car. One of the stunt cars was retained by Universal Studios and was used in the sequel 2Fast 2Furious, another car was sold to George Barris who in turn sold it to a private collector in the Netherlands, two cars were sold to museums in Florida and Las Vegas, and the original “hero” car is currently storage but missing many of its original modification parts. According to Craig Lieberman, there is a rumor that the red RX-7 may make a return in the upcoming Fast 9 film.

There you have it. Those are some of the lesser known facts about the iconic red RX-7 seen in The Fast and The Furious. Now check out the official spec sheet below! Afterwards, hit us up on twitter at @GTChannel and let us know what your favorite car is from any Fast and Furious film!

The Fast and The Furious Dom’s Red RX-7 Specs (sourced from FastAndFuriousFacts.com)

ENGINE SPECS
Ported 13B-REW with 3mm Apex Seals
Twin Turbo
Blitz BOV
Polished Intake Manifold
Blitz SUS Power Air Intake
Custom Inlet pipes
Cosmo 20B fuel pump
Magnecor Plug Wires
MSD 6AL Ignition box
Knight Sports Radiator
MazdaTrix front pipe
Racing Beat racing resonator
Blitz Front Mount Intercooler kit
APexi Power FC with FC Commander
Blitz NUR Spec exhaust

NOTE: These specs apply to the HERO CAR ONLY. The clones we built had ZERO mods except for a muffler.

SYLING
Veilside CII Body kit
Veilside carbob fiber rear wing
RE Amemiya “sleek light” kit

TIRES/WHEELS/BRAKES/SUSPENSION
Veilside Andrew Racing “F”: Sizes = 18″ x 8.5″ & 18″ x 9.5″
Tires: Toyo T1 Proxes 235 and 255/40/18
Brakes: Powerstop cross-drilled rotors, Goodridge stainless lines
Suspension: APex T-Max

INTERIOR
Recaro SPG racing seat (driver’s side only)
Sparco harnesses
Veilside Combat Steering wheel & shift knob
C’s short-throw shifter
APex AVCR, tachometer and shift light
APex oil temp and exhaust temp gauges
GReddy turbo timer
NR white-faced gauge covers
Apexi boost gauge
Apexi temperature gauge
Apexi oil pressure gaugevolt gauge
Sparco shift knob
Dashmasters carbon fiber dash overlay kit.

AUDIO/VIDEO
Although the movie depicts a crazy audio system, those shots were taken from another car. This RX7 had the factory sound system as the owner was more about keeping the car lightweight.

PERFORMANCE STATS
A magazine article claimed 493hp (500ps) back in 2002. Since most magazines lie to sell magazines, we have to look at real world data with similar mods. Based on these specs though, the more likely numbers are about 330 RWHP at 15psi.

280 Horsepower (as rated by the factory), est. 330 RWHP w/these mods
0-60 = 4.5 seconds (estimated, this car was never hooked up to data collection tools)
¼ mile = est. 13.1 – 13.5 seconds at 94-99 mph (also supported by timeslips and videos of similar cars from that time)
Top speed = 170 mph

Dom's Red RX-7 From The Fast and the Furious