People are losing their minds over this legendary The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Mitsubishi Evo after it sat untouched for 15 years
Published on Mar 02, 2026 at 12:15 AM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Feb 26, 2026 at 9:55 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
When this legendary Mitsubishi Evo from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was unearthed after going untouched for 15 years, people were blown away.
This iconic car was showcased on the YouTube channel for the Petersen Automotive Museum.
It belonged to YouTuber Dustin Williams and served as the blueprint for the Evos that featured in the 2006 film.
Following its time in the limelight, the car went untouched for years – but now it’s back.
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This Mitsubishi Evo had played a big role in ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’
This car has quite the backstory, having originally been built by APR back in the early 2000s for SEMA.
It would go on to be the blueprint for the Evos that play a prominent role in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the third installment in the Fast & Furious series.
Universal used this car as part of its global promotion tour, with it ending up in China and Mexico for marketing purposes.
After this, the car returned to the US and sat abandoned in the back of an APR warehouse for around 15 years.
That’s where Williams found it 15 years ago.
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Having sat unused for over a decade, the car was in desperate need of restoration.
So Williams got to work.
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This YouTuber got to work bringing this car back to life
A lot needed to be done for a full revival, including flushing all the fluids and replacing the spark plugs.
The original tank had become completely rusted after sitting with old fuel, so the entire system had to be replaced.
But despite these changes, he made the conscious choice not to modernize the Mitsubishi Evo.
It kept its original APR livery and red paint, with the interior also being kept as it was during its Hollywood era.
Believe it or not, this car had only racked up 14,000 miles originally.
After Williams restored it, he had it shipped over to Japan for a year, where he got to drive it at the Tsukuba Circuit.
It’s now going on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, giving fans of the franchise the chance to see the Evo with their own eyes.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
