Twenty-five years ago today, on June 22, 2001, The Fast and the Furious hit theaters. Love it or hate it, the movie and its sequels have left a massive footprint on the movie industry, car culture worldwide, and Instagram reel audio. What was originally a story about crime in LA’s street racing underground has somehow spawned an 11-installment franchise about fighting global terrorist organizations. It’s been a quarter of a century and we’re not even done with the universe yet. Most of the time we veer away from any Fast discussion here at JNC but its influence is, unlike a rocket-propelled Pontiac Fiero against Earth’s gravity, inescapable.
How has The Fast and the Furious impacted your local car scene?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What license plate frame would you rock on your car?“.
Aside from the lowly sticker, the license plate frame is one of the few mods that allow you to send a message to the rest of the motoring public. Choosing one is a decision that a driver does take lightly.
Some convey more than an automotive meaning. Land Ark and Taylor C. choose to represent their almae matres. Another logical choice is that of a local dealership, like Taylor C.‘s, even better if it’s vintage like Maestro‘s, and even better if it’s from a land in which your car’s abilities would truly outshine all others, like Negishi no Keibajo‘s.
Showing pride in one’s marque is a natural option, whether it’s the old “Do it in a Datsun” for r100guy and Maestro, Taylor C.‘s “The Power of Dreams” or Rotor Nutcase‘s “Zoom-Zoom”. Then there are those who don’t take their frames too seriously, like @ye‘s “Ferrari Beverly Hills” on an MR2 or Tim Mings‘s tongue-in-cheek statement about his beloved N600.
Some make a statement without an actual statement. Michael James simply wants one that doesn’t interfere with any registration information, while steve prefers as much obfuscation as possible. And because license plate modification is not possible in Japan, Kyuusha Corner‘s cars are frameless.
Other frames declare allegiance to a particular club or subculture. Andre‘s references what was once the go-to Honda forum long before the word “hybrid” became synonymous with the Prius. Taylor C. also enjoys elite membership in the Manual Gearbox Preservation Society, while Alan‘s nod to Japan-US customization culture is one that few will get. Ian G. has a very fitting hobby plate surround on his Honda Element, and a Miata club frame on his Miata. Meanwhile, Jim Klein brings up the vital issue of why there isn’t a JNC frame. Good question, and one that we may rectify someday!
The winner this week is Tyler’s Dad, who couldn’t settle on any one answer and combined nearly all the categories above:
Long time driver here (25+years) – I’ve always been a frameless license plate kind of person but over the years (and about a dozen cars later), I’ve found a mix of everything is the way to be. support your make, go tinted/smoke, rep the favorite brand, rock the freebies you get from car shows, support a cause.. and so on and so forth. Switch it up and do so often.. as the saying goes “variety is the spice of life”!
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
It did initially… and then did not.
Premier weekend at the Alamo Drafthouse theater here in Austin, TX was packed with JDM cars — the lot was full, and the highway out front had racers going by at high speed. I took my S2000 and really liked the film — it had that certain something that made it a classic, especially with the Supra build scene. But the police didn’t agree… the madhouse was soon ended.
So for my second viewing that weekend I took my Explorer. I didn’t want the attention.
There really wasn’t any JDM scene here to begin with or after — it was just a subset of the local car shows.
And let’s face it — the 2nd F&F was terrible… the audience at the premiere was visibly disappointed. The 3rd F&F was terrific — what it should have been. But there wasn’t any JDM crowd parked out front.
After that… well… F&F left us — not the other way around. And it hasn’t been a real car movie ever since. There has been industry talk that the last film in the series coming up might go back to roots… we can only hope so, but I very much doubt it.
Most car local car people stopped going out. Did not want to be associated with that scene.
Was the tipping point of when tuning/street racing went from from subculture to mainstream – for the worse. Everyone and their mums knew about it and corporations profit off of it. The equivalent of stock bubbles, tulip mania, outdated fashion trends and cross fit or pickle ball.
At that moment, it became uncool.
The Fast and the Furious was both the best and worst thing to happen to our car scene.
On one hand, it made JDM cars cool and introduced a generation to Skylines, Supras and Civics. On the other, it inspired a wave of blue neons, chrome spinner wheels, fiberglass body kits and questionable modifications that ruined many perfectly good cars.
It also helped create the “ricer” stereotype, as crashes, street racing and bad modifications gave enthusiasts a reputation they still struggle with today.
So while it brought many people into the hobby, it also condemned countless innocent Civics to a life of fake vents and oversized wings.
It’s a double-edged sword. The movie shined the light on the import part of the car hobby. But, with all the silliness, over acting, neon under glow lights and stupid graphics, it hurt us also. I have been showing one of Japanese import cars (1989 Mitsubishi Starion bought new)
since 1991. Later on I bought a new, 2006 Mitsubishi Evo IX-MR. When I first starting showing the Evo, every other question was,”Is this the same car in F&F”? “Hey man do you have NOS”? I was always asked if I had under glow lights, etc. Only now am I asked about the rare JDM parts on the car that I worked so hard to track down here and in Japan. For a quick moment, it was nice for spectators on the street, or at car shows that we got a second look, but now, over the years, the dust has settled and I’m glad the cars are getting the true attention that they deserve, and not from an over done ‘interpretation’ movie.
back when the Fast & the Furious came out i was barely able to draw a car with crayons, heck most guys making the Dutch JNC scene were not even born in 2001.
my memories from the earliest car shows i went to are ‘sex spec’ rides, American cars and motorsports. nowadays every big Dutch car show has at least one fast and furious replica car.
by now you could say having an orange supra and green eclipse at a show is not really about the movies or the cars anymore, it’s become more like cornbread at a barbeque, nobody goes to a barbeque especially for the cornbread but if you don’t have cornbread is it really a barbeque?
Higher insurance rates.
real talk
Sure it’s nice that Japanese performance cars are largely accepted by the general public now…
I’d give that up for being able to afford an AE86 though
I was a wannabe tuner kid in the late 90s. I had a subscription to Super Street and I tried to modify my 1990 Pontiac Sunbird as much as I could afford, which wasn’t much, That’s all to say, seeing graphics on the movie cars wasn’t completely alien to me. Being on the east coast and not actually having a Japanese car to get into the cliques around my area, I had to make do with what I read.
I won tickets to a pre-screening event from DC101 (Washington DC radio station) ad took my girlfriend. It remains the most entertaining movie crowd I’ve ever witnessed. We got stuck with seats at the very front so the entire movie you heard the crowd shouting and hooting and hollering from all over behind us. Guys were INTO it. I wondered if some of the folks there had ever been to a movie before. It was a total blast. Because of that, I’ve always been fond of the movie and have forgiven it for all the nonsense and stupidity.
My coworker is a big fan and we’re constantly running through scenes and talking about how ridiculous some of the them were.
If I were to get a personal plate for my IS300 Sportcross, it would be POP DHUD.
Pop the hood? Pop the hood!
I live in a different location now than I did then. I was still driving my ’86 Celica ST at the time, in a very rural part of Ohio. *queue the banjo from Deliverance*
Pre-F&F, there were multiple times I was ridiculed for driving a Japanese car, because “don’t you know, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor” – not to mention it being a rice burning 4 banger.
I actually didn’t even watch F&F until it had been out for a few years (and I don’t think I’ve fully watched ANY of the sequels). I didn’t really have a desire to watch it, and honestly I kind of resented the whole phenomenon and was annoyed at all the Hondas that popped up with huge wings, fart cans & neons begging to race at stoplights, and feeling like I would get extra attention from cops because I drove a Japanese car. I wasn’t into street racing. Not that my ’86 Celica ST was going to win m/any races if I had been. But I certainly enjoyed driving it above the speed limit on the back roads of the foothills of the Appalachians, and I didn’t really want extra attention.
I suppose there was probably more “Japanese car” acceptance in the area after F&F, but there was also an additional negative stereotype. Of course, there likely wouldn’t have been ANY Japanese car scene in my area without it, but the scene that existed afterwards wasn’t one I really wanted to be in. I’m still a pretty solitary car enthusiast, possibly because of this being my formative experience of “car culture”, maybe because I still live in a domestic/big man trucks region, or maybe just because I’m an introvert.
I know the above all sounds pretty negative, but I do realize now that many modern day car/tuning/racing legends were first inspired by F&F. That’s great, and I’m glad that so much good managed to come from it. It’s still not my thing, but I’ve probably been a grumpy old man since I was a teenager.
Of course, without F&F, maybe I could have owned a mkiv Supra at some point in my life. (being a Toyota guy, I actually cared about it before F&F existed). So yeah, overall, I’m going with it being negative.