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The Street Always Wins

While building the most recent '70 Charger used in the Fast & Furious franchise, I got to overthinking things (as is my wont). A while back, I commented on the way that Dom's Charger keeps showing up despite being destroyed over and over again. I've come up with a theory about the car based on what we saw in Furious 7, which both fixes a few contradictions plus fits the narrative of the movies. But first, a quick recap:

1970 Charger from The Fast and the Furious


In The Fast and the Furious, we're introduced to the car Dom built with his father, a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T wearing a California "sunrise" license plate bearing the number 2JRI424. This car was rolled over at the end of the movie, but otherwise survived and was last seen wrecked in the middle of the street while Dom flees to Mexico in Brian's Toyota Supra.

1970 Charger from Fast and Furious


Fast and Furious has two Chargers. The first one is shown partially restored in the Toretto garage, and is explicitly stated as being the same one from the first movie being rebuilt by Letty in her spare time. It has the same 2JRI424 license plate as shown in the first movie. This car was part of the high-speed chase through the tunnels beneath the US/Mexico border, during which Dom is forced to abandon the car before it hits one of the tunnel walls. The impact causes an explosion and cave-in, burying the remains of the car.

1970 Charger from Fast and Furious


The second Charger in Fast and Furious appears near the end of the movie, and is driven by Paul Walker as part of Dom's prison break. This car has a newer California "lipstick" 3DHI832 license plate. The prison break spans the end of Fast & Furious and beginning of Fast Five, where it is likely abandoned after being damaged causing the bus rollover.

1970 Charger from Fast Five


Fast Five then moves to Rio de Janeiro, where the bulk of the action takes place. Dom has a primer gray Charger there, this time sporting a tag from El Salvador with the number D-35-420. It's implied that this is the same "Toretto Charger" from earlier in the series, which has become something of a legend in street racing circles. This is likely a bit of psychological warfare on Dom's part, though: from the very first movie he's portrayed as showboating around other racers, getting fans amped up and competitors psyched out enough to lose the race. It was severely damaged when Luke Hobbes drove an armored vehicle into it to prevent Dom and his crew from fleeing.

1969 Charger from Furious Six


The action moves to Europe for Furious Six, with no sign of any '70 Chargers. The closest we come is the custom 1969 Charger Daytona acquired by Tej from a high-end car auction in London. Though Dom adds his own touches to it, this was never a "family car," and is abandoned after being damaged rescuing Letty during the tank scene.

1970 Charger from Furious Seven


Which brings us around to Furious Seven. Near the end of the movie, Dom pulls a tarp off of a gloss black 1970 Charger R/T. This Charger has the same California "sunrise" 2JRI424 license plate we saw in the first and fourth movies. As far as we know, though, that license plate was buried under several million tons of rock in a legal hot zone. It presents us with three possibilities:

1) It's the same car with the same license plate, mountains and explosions be damned
2) It's a different car wearing a fake license plate...it's not like Dom and his crew were strangers to breaking motor vehicle laws
3) It's an alternate car wearing the second tag that California provided back when the car was originally registered in the 1980s, but was never installed

Personally, I like #3. It was specifically stated that Dom and his father built the car, which leads to the likelihood that there was at least one parts car somewhere on the Toretto property (ask any shadetree mechanic - parts cars are one of the easiest ways to acquire stuff for your project car, especially in the pre-internet days). It's even possible that the parts car was still around as late as Fast & Furious, given that Letty was getting parts to restore the car from somewhere. That would give Dom an "alternate" car - not specifically the car he built with his dad, but something they still spent time, blood, and sweat on. Also, California issues two license plates but only one was mounted on the car. Since these Chargers were only ever shown with a rear plate, it means that the second one was likely in a drawer or hanging on the wall somewhere. Using a second license plate like this is very much against the law, but Dom could have understandably ignored that when he saw the chance to make something similar to what he grew up with.


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