I'm crawling up SoCal's 405 freeway in an '81 Suburban, on mile three of about 100 to go. It's an ungodly hour to be awake, morning traffic is bad, and I'm legally confined to the right two lanes. I'll be here for hours before I can drop my cargo, put in a 12-hour work day with it, and then repeat my trip in the opposite direction... in evening traffic. And I'm getting a cold. But if you asked me eight years ago what I was doing, my reply would come quickly: Living the dream!
I'm on my way to Hollywood for a photo shoot, and in tow is the very '08 Subaru STI that's being hailed as the "Halo Car" of the upcoming Fast and Furious film. And judging by the barrage of envious looks my cargo and I are getting from passers-by... it's a pretty big deal. Like a lot of you, I was excited for the original The Fast and The Furious film's debut in '01. I'll admit it. Attention was being given to a subculture that I was a part of, and the on-screen glamour of SoCal's import scene came across as a dream lifestyle for any northern East Coast native. A dream that, sadly, was shot down after 120 minutes of seven-speed Eclipses, flammable NOS, MoTeC Systems exhausts, 10-second drag races that last 1:20... and titanium valve springs. Fast forward a few years, to when the second movie dropped, and... on second thought, don't--it's not worth the ink.
Upon the release of the third installment, Tokyo Drift, we saw more than a few wrongs righted. Sure, it was a bit fantastic, but no more than could be expected of any mainstream action flick. Real drift cars with real sound bites were used, technical jargon was more accurate, and portrayal of a more diverse--gasp, Asian--import community all made it a refreshing break from the previous two installments. Once the Fourth movie's trailer hit, however: heavy domestic involvement, vinyl-covered imports, truck-jacking antics by the original cast... "Here we go again," I thought.
And then Carter managed to get a hold of an official script and casting-call pictures of the film's cars. What we saw was more "action/car movie" than botched "import scene movie", and the imports--what few of them there were--appeared far cleaner than anything yet; two welcomed changes, to those of us whose tastes still sour from the first two films. Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin was back, as was Paul Walker--now a real-life, die-hard import enthusiast. Would the fourth time be the charm? Will the world really see an accurate representation of our scene and what our cars are like? Breaking it down in his signature pragmatic point of view, Carter only offered, "Who knows. But at least we can show the world what their cars are really like."
Contrary to what your eyes are telling you, this is not a Skyline. It's not even a Nissan, for that matter. It's a kit car, made of the Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R chassis, imported by Kaizo Industries, and given a Nissan RB26DETT engine swap. Its a Kaizo R34 GT-R. At least, this is what the cool kids are telling the Feds these days, when they want to drive JDM Skylines, legally, on U.S. streets. Having owned more R32s, 33s, 34s, 35s, S15s, and other JDM rides than we can count, this is the process Daryl Alison and JustDriven.com recommend to all their clients; clients like Paul Walker, who is having Daryl and co. build his third R34 GT-R; this one, a fully dedicated track car. When direction decided that an R34 should star as Brian O'Connor's car for two-thirds of the new film, they contacted Daryl to import eight of them.