Supras, S14s, RX-7s, GT-Rs - the Fast and Furious franchise made almost every Japanese sports car cool. However, everybody probably forgets about one machine, the green Mitsubishi Eclipse.
As a (late) teen fan of the movies in the 2000s, I actually had a small collection of diecasts from the "Original Fast." The green Eclipse kind of stood out because of the color, and I always felt bad about the treatment it received, considering this was a decent performance machine at the time.
Nobody in this world knows more about the particular green movie car than Craig Lieberman. In the video at the bottom of the page, he breaks down its full story, including the mods that we may have missed.
This was the only Eclipse to show up to one of Lieberman's casting calls in early 2000. They desperately needed the model, so the owner got his foot in the door, so to speak. But the funny thing is that it wasn't so special.
It may look fast, with the body kit and huge wing, but it was just the base model Eclipse RS, which if we remember correctly had a 2-liter four-cylinder, making 150 horsepower (official rating was higher).
Tuners gave it a turbo which lifted the output to about 210 hp. Even so, most of the cars in that famous race would have been more powerful even when stock. Other mods include the RoboCar Aero Armor kit, custom made carbon fiber front splitter, a custom GT-style roof scoop, APR GT2-style wing, carbon fiber mirrors, 1997-spec Eclipse headlights, and green neon lighting. Also, there's the Nos button that Brian presses too soon.
This gentle trip down nostalgia road is triggered by another drag race rendering from DM_jon. Only in the digital world would it be possible for Brian to race himself like that, and you guys seemed to like the previous post featuring the orange Supra, so this was worth sharing.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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