Fast And Furious Mazda RX-7 Sells For Record $1.2 Million At Auction

Forbes

7 days ago

The RX-7 Veilside Fortune fetched $1.2M.
Since the first Fast and Furious movie landed in theaters in 2001, titled simply 'The Fast and The Furious,' the money-making franchise has generated a combined total of over $7.2 billion. That makes this 11 movie franchise (so far) one of the most popular, biggest earning and most successful in history.
So it stands to reason that the cars appearing in these action flicks might generate intense interest and some serious coin as well. How about over seven figures?
The RX-7 fetched twice the previous record of $550,000
Last weekend at Bonham's Goodwood auction in Sussex, England, the heavily modified 1992 Mazda RX-7 (with a Veilside Fortune body kit) from 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' saw the hammer come down on a winning bid of more than $1.2 million. That is a record for a Mazda road car and is twice the $550,000 paid for the previous record-setter for the 1994 Toyota Supra driven by Paul Walker in the first Fast and Furious movie.
The RX-7 starred in Tokyo Drift
Interesting, however, it's not the most expensive movie car. A blue Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, driven by Paul Walker in Fast and Furious 4, sold at a Bonhams' auction in 2023 for $1.3 million.
The fact that a car from Tokyo Drift, which was actually the worst performing of all Fast and Furious flicks, with a record-low box office of $157 million, should reach such a high price just goes to show that the third movie in the franchise has some hardcore deep pocketed fans. Even though it barely features the two original lead characters and has a lackluster script, in the flick's defense, there is some superb stunt work and cinematography and the combination of cars—including a Nissan Silvia, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, a Nissan 350Z, a Mazda RX-8 and a Ford Mustang Fastback—is one of the best in the whole franchise.
Justin Lin, Director, Nathalie Kelley, Keiko Kitagawa and Keiichi Tsuchiya (Photo by Nathan ... More Shanahan/FilmMagic)
But even though Tokyo Drift may not have been as big a hit as all the others, the cars in this installment are hugely impressionable and hard to forget. Just about any casual fan would recognize the RX-7's black-and-orange paintwork as the hero car driven by actor Sung Kang's character Han Lue in Tokyo Drift, and as one of only two said to have survived filming, it crossed the finish line just past the seven-figure mark.
Japanese customizer Veilside is well-known in motoring circles for its aerodynamic kits, and the brand has become part of the Fast and Furious landscape. This modded-out RX-7 dons the company's Fortune widebody body kit, which added nearly seven inches of width, in addition to a huge rear spoiler and massive side vents. Apparently the reason it survived in such pristine condition is because this RX-7 was almost exclusively used for still shots and driven sparingly.