"The Fast and the Furious" in the Malaise Era | Which cars do the heros drive?

What if the "Fast and the Furious" franchise debuted in the height of the Malaise Era instead of in 2001?

Would Brian O'Conner "damage the manifold" on a Honda Civic CVCC? And would Dominic Toretto attempt to outrun that train driving an L-body…

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Dang it.  I want a Mustang II Cobra II, but hold the T-Tops.

Would have been COPO Camaros, SD trans ams, CJ Mach 1s, 340 Dusters, no nawz....no double clutching, better soundtrack, bigger crowds at the late night racing. 

"you owe me a 12 second car..." Lol

Corolla SR-5 Hatch.....................yeah buddy!

I thought Smokey and the Bandit was the Malaise Era fast and furious?  

I almost had you. You never had me, you never had your 56ft of vacuum hose and secondary emissions equipment under control. It's not even your day of the week to be able to purchase gas, with your even numbered license plate. You came and took a shot at #1 but your Ford will always be a mustang 2. 

In reply to GeddesB :

Ooooh, you make an excellent case.

I'd like to think the import kids would be driving MGBs and TV8s and Minis with hand grenades under the hood. The domestic guys would probably be driving the same Charger that Dom was because they're all stuck in the same era anyhow.

IH Scout SSII.  345 with 727 Torqueflite.  As fast as about any "car" of the era.  But not as fast as a Lil Red Express truck which would be my other hero car.  Now throw in some Trans-Am's, disco Vettes, and boogie vans and you have the makings of a malaise F&F.

cough, cough, The Wraith, cough, cough

Don't let that distract you from the fact that Hector is gonna be running three Ford Torinos with Holman-Moody engines. On top of that, he just came into Harry's and ordered three Hooker headers with Holley 850 double pumpers and glass packs exhaust .

Capri RS 2600?  Vega Cosworth?  Mazda RX-3?  Chevy Laguna S-3?

GeddesB said:

I thought Smokey and the Bandit was the Malaise Era fast and furious?  

 

Cannonball Run?

In reply to ddavidv :

You missed the Italian cars that were still available in the 70s- the ones who spent money on reducing the performance loss due to the emissions standards.  Like Alfa Romeo did.

Gumball Rally.   

Favorite scene:  427 Cobra outrunning a helicopter. 

Pilot radios the ground patrol "he is exceeding the maximum speed of my helicopter, you are going to need a fixed wing (to catch him)"

"Overnight parts from across town"

jharry3 said:

Gumball Rally.   

Favorite scene:  427 Cobra outrunning a helicopter. 

Pilot radios the ground patrol "he is exceeding the maximum speed of my helicopter, you are going to need a fixed wing (to catch him)"

See also the remade "Gone in 60 Seconds" - "Sir, this is an A-Star, not an Apache"

In reply to GeddesB :

Fast and Furious before it was a thing!

In reality, it would be Datsun F10s and Toyota Corollas in a pitched battle for front vs rear drive supremacy.  The winner?  Bob Hayes, at least for the first 50 yards.

This is what we were building in the mid '70s to early '80s when I invented the Fast & Furious with no money, help, knowledge, or internet. 

In reply to Colin Wood :

Wow, gotta be one of the rarest Mustang's. I haven't seen a King Cobra since the late '80's. There probably been 4-5 Cosworth Vegas on BAT, wonder how many of these are left??

In reply to ddavidv :

I had a 74 GTO as a dd. Nothing about it was about performance.