I’ve always maintained that if I was to pick one of the cars from the Fast and Furious franchise, it would be the 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo from Tokyo Drift. It’s a primer-painted badass that is all beef, no extras. If I have to provide the second-place spot, this is #2 and it’s a very close competition. I dug this Chevrolet R3500 more than I probably should have. A 4×6 setup with a monster big-block and a manual transmission, a flatbed and the ability to haul a stout load? Yeah, sign my ass right up. I’d trade the pintle hitch for a fifth wheel in half a second and I’d put miles on the clock until the chassis broke.

In theory, anyways. The truth is that movie cars, even the pretty “hero” cars, are in the end, props. They only have to function as well as the directors need to make their shot look good. That’s why for every one completely built, rowdy machine, there’s twenty that were slammed together hacked clones. There have to be enough running, driving examples to use for the shots and once their done…well, it isn’t often that they survive in one piece. This Chevy could be rotting in some backlot storage. It could’ve been crushed. Instead, some guy in Canada bought it and cherishes the hell out of it. That’s enough of a win for a machine like this.