Hot Wheels "Fast and Furious" 1970 Dodge Charger 4x4

Odd things do happen in the Hot Wheels line: just look at some of the wacky in-house designs over the years, with more to come.  This one, however, was not created by Hot Wheels, but by Universal Studios for the "Fast and Furious" movie.  Sure Hot Wheels is late to the punch with Jada Toys offering several versions in the past year, but this Hot Wheels version has a few unique versions of its own.

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In the last "Fast and Furious" film installment, Dom and his crew are sent to capture the bad guys once again.  This time, getting into the place was not as easy on the road, but if you can air drop the cars and get them onto the road without being seen that might work.  So all four vehicles were modified with off-road tires and a lift, along with rollbars all throughout, to send these cars on their way.  Dom obviously had the 1970 Dodge Charger.  Unlike the real car this 4x4 is only a Charger in name and looks as underneath lies a trophy truck with lots of shock travel, off-road tires, and a Chevy LS1 crate motor producing over 700 hp. through a 6-speed manual transmission.  There's no headlight or taillight, either, and both the driver and passenger have to do the Bo and Luke Duke crawl out of the windows.

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This Hot Wheels version captures the 4x4 Charger gracefully.  The black paint with red rear stripe look right at home on any stock 1970 Charger R/T.  The front-end has a mesh grille that is part of the windows, with a tubular bumper in front of it.  The hood has four lock pins in silver and two hooks in the center for air dropping the vehicle.  The front fenders are flared out and the silver dots at the ends of the fenders are the exits for the exhaust.  The blacked-out wheels on off-road tires looks fitting on this car, oh and if you didn't know the suspension really does work.  Even during the handling test I noticed the suspension works to give the car a trophy-truck like toss in the turns.  Very neat!

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At the rear the taillight panels have detailed rivets, the dual spare tires with ratchet straps are part of the interior piece, and the bumper is again a tubular piece.  The interior features seating for two in race bucket seats with a five-point harness, roll cage just behind the seats, and a custom-made dashboard with racing shifter.  Some may not like the look of a 4x4 Charger, but others will like it and I personally like the look!  It adds more function and features to the Charger casting.  Oh, and for those who are wondering of this just uses the same body from the 1969 Charger R/T/Charger 500 casting it doesn't as the new body is smaller and has to accomidate the dual spare tires in the rear, the faux taillight panel, the flared front fenders, the hood hooks, and a strange opening for the passenger (don't remember any ejection seat operation in the movie).  Unusual, but cool!

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