At this point, you can just call it the ‘Fast and Furious effect’.
And it probably explains how Paul Walker’s Toyota Supra from the first movie fetched an eye-watering $500,000 at auction.
READ MORE: This Fast and Furious-inspired Toyota Supra is selling for supercar money
The Toyota Supra is a fun car and gearheads love it but it was never considered special when it came to its resale value.
Then the first Fast and Furious movie came along, and then another one, and then 10 more.
Fast forward twenty-odd years, and this Japanese sports coupe is now worth $500,000.
That’s the price it fetched at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Las Vegas.
For the record, that’s over ten times its original price because, back when it was new, the 1994 Toyota Supra had an MSRP of $40,000.
This is actually one of the clones created by the production team for filming sequences with stunt drivers at the wheel.
It’s based on a fourth-gen Supra, and the engine that powers is still the same 330-horsepower, 3.0-liter engine.
It’s still quite nippy, even by today’s standards.
It sports the now-iconic orange livery with green accents, and of course, a gigantic wing at the back.
The interior is upholstered in black leather and blue suede.
These cars have become supremely expensive, especially if they’re associated with Paul Walker who died in 2013 before Furious 7 could be finished.
The Fast franchise has turned a long list of affordable Japanese sports cars into unattainable holy grails.
Aside from the Toyota Supra, these days you need Porsche 911 money to find pre-owned Nissan Skylines in great condition.
The same applies to the Mazda RX-7 and the Nissan Silvia.
So now, every time there’s a new Fast and Furious movie, car collectors and fans begin wondering what next.
As in, what’s the next car model that’s going to go up in value because of the movie.
For now, we’ve only seen the trailer and some Instagram posts courtesy of Sung Kang, the actor who plays Han.
Based on those, we know the Nissan Z will feature in the movie with the iconic VeilSide livery.
We also spotted the usual amount of muscle cars, almost exclusively driven by Dom, and a vintage Alfa driven by Han.
Vintage Alfas and muscle cars are already pretty special but the Nissan Z can still be had at MSRP, or just over sticker.
Perhaps that’s the hint: go buy a Nissan Z because the price will likely skyrocket.
