Deep Dive Wild Speed: Tokyo Drift, Sean's Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

"Wild Speed: Tokyo Drift" may have introduced drifting to the franchise, but it also features American muscle, such as the Chevrolet Monte Carlo that appears early in the film. As usual, Craig Lieberman, technical advisor on the early "Wild Speed" films, provides details on the bowtie coupe.

The main character, Sean Boswell (played by Lucas Black), was a teenage muscle car fan with little money to spare, so the ratty-looking Monte Carlo was a natural fit.

The Monte Carlo was largely overlooked by collectors (at least back in 2006), making it more affordable, Lieberman notes. However, the Monte Carlo still had plenty of tuning potential, he says, and the producers wanted to bring in another muscle car, having used the Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger, and Yenko Camaro in previous films.

The low-income loser story begins with Boswell racing a rich kid in a then-new Dodge Viper. As a result, Boswell gets into trouble with the police and is forced to move to Tokyo, setting the plot in motion.

The production team built 11 Monte Carlo cars, which is typical, as extra cars are needed to perform certain stunts, serve as backups, and become victims of on-screen crashes. One of the cars was supposed to have a 632 cubic-inch V-8 engine, but it may have actually been a 572 cubic-inch engine, Lieberman says. In any case, according to Lieberman, it had 780 horsepower on pump gas and over 800 horsepower on racing fuel.

The engine was connected to a four-speed manual transmission with a drag racing-style shatterproof bellhousing and a General Motors 12-volt rear end. Again, only one car was fully equipped with performance parts, as there was no point in upgrading a car that was destined to be destroyed anyway.

After the shoot, the surviving cars were scattered: one is now in France, another sold on eBay in 2015 for an asking price of $100,000 (later sold for $61,440), and a third sold in 2019 for an asking price of $39,998. According to Lieberman, at least one of the cars is still owned by Universal Studios, and at least a few more are still in existence.

In Tokyo Drift, Boswell eventually installed a Nissan Skyline GT-R RB26 engine in a Ford Mustang, somewhat controversially. Lieberman also delves deeply into this car, so be sure to check it out.