Impression: The 140 in the Tokyo Drift(2006)

Recently I saw the news that Hot Wheels is about to launch 140. Wow, they finally made one, albeit one that belongs to the Fast and Furious franchise. This is a great opportunity to review the movie and give a quick review of the toy.

I still remember the first time I saw the 140 hit the RX-7 in Tokyo Drift, I wasn’t a fan of the 140 at all then, I probably prefer that Mazda better. Ah, I hate this ruthless and reckless Mercedes that killed off one of the coolest characters in the movie. Then I watched the impact part over and over again frame by frame, how did the 140 scoop up the Mazda?

The Fast and the Furious Wiki describes the car as a 1992 Mercedes S-Klasse. I didn’t find a source for the model year, but since they specify an exact year, it must have been provided by someone in the know. One more trivia by the way, they mentioned “The Mercedes were provided by a company called Toprank Importers run by Sean Morris who was also the owner of the 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R R33.” I checked Toprank’s homepage and they looks very busy so I don’t have to bother them with a car that doesn’t mean anything to most people. They are JDM experts and may have long forgotten about this poor used German car. My own guess is easier and faster than asking anyone.

First, what do we see? It only lasted a few seconds, so even if it killed Han, it only got 2 stars on imcdb. There is only one non-collision shot, and I even doubt whether this 1-second shot can allow the audience to tell that the one that crashed the RX-7 was a Mercedes.

I saw the silver sedan like everyone else. It’s blurred by movement, so it’s not clear whether it’s a standard wheelbase or a long wheelbase. It might look more like a standard wheelbase to me. Through the headlights and the entire lower part, you can tell that it is a pre-facelift. As a pre-facelift, what is unusual about it is that the entire body is silver instead of two-tone. Also two covers on the front bumper are missing, possibly from towing.

The above is the standard process. As a veteran, the first thing I saw was actually the yellow turn signal that was illuminated. This site has many American readers, who may not be surprised. But if there are 140 owners from Japan, they will be surprised. Long story short, the yellow turn signal is only available on the North American version, and it uses a bulb called 1157, which lights up as a side marker when the headlight is on. These comply with federal requirements. Rest of the world all use orange turn signals and P21W bulbs, which only light up when turning. Therefore, this should be a North American version.

One more detail that speaks for itself, the car has a narrow license plate bracket on the front bumper. Although Japan is one of the three official versions of the 140 and has many of its own characteristics, it was not equipped with a narrow license plate bracket before the facelift. This is indeed a bit strange since Japanese license plates are of the same specification as the US and are supposed to come with a narrow bracket. But that’s the thing, it was only with the 1994 facelift that they got proper brackets. Also, the Japanese spec has to have turn signals on the fenders, the photo below shows what the standard Japanese version of the car looks like.

In the next frame, the 140 hit the Mazda. At this time the two covers on the front bumper are back. Since the clip with the missing cover at the front doesn’t show a collision, the intersection with the Mazda there could be synthetic. It is only at this frame that the two cars actually crashed. The 140’s turn signal is still on, and all the details match the car above.

The next clip is from another angle. It looks like it has a long wheelbase from here. It seems that the Mazda hit the 140 after being lifted up, because the main impact point of the 140 is above the bumper.

The next clip shows the rear of the 140. Its trunk lid has a narrow license plate frame. The third brake light featured on the North American version is not illuminated. Judging from the tail light, it is not braking at this time.

After switching to the next view, the brake bulb on the side of the taillight seems to be on, but the third brake light under the rear windshield is not activated. So that’s a little weird, maybe I’m wrong, maybe its third brake light is just broken.

And one last informative shot. When the Mazda exploded, people opened the door of the 140 to check on its driver. The key information is the antenna on the left rear fender. You can see that the exposed part is black, which contains the seal. Only the North American version’s antenna seal is black rubber, here it’s a phone antenna. Rest of the world in this period had plastic shells that were the same color as the body, so on a silver car, it would be silver.

All that being said, we have a lot of strong evidence that it’s a North American version and not a Japanese version. So it’s a bit puzzling why it is provided by JDM specialist. The movie was indeed shot in Los Angeles, so getting a North American car is rational.

There were 3 pre-facelift model years for the North American version, 1992, 1993 and 1994. In MY1992, only the 500 SEL and 600 SEL were long wheelbase. MY1993 added the 400 SEL. The lineup remained until MY1994 with the S 420, S 500 and S 600. So the silver car in the movie is at least an 8-cylinder model. But there is no more information to determine what exactly it is.

The new Hot Wheels toys complement the information nicely. Combined with the mention of 1992 in the wiki, it’s most likely a 1992 500 SEL and all the information is consistent with that. I haven’t gotten my hands on the actual Hot Wheels yet, so here are some photos.

Some of its details are Hot Wheels like the bumpers and spoiler on the trunk lid. Meanwhile, some details look like the 600 SEL that Matchbox introduced in 1992. Mattel, who owns Hot Wheels, has inherited the castings from Matchbox, I’m looking forward to seeing how they differ.

I want to save this part for last. At the end of Fast & Furious 6, the clip of 140 hitting the RX-7 was released again to introduce Jason Statham’s appearance. This is an interesting part because it’s not just a continuation of the cars from Tokyo Drift.

In this new clip, the 140’s appearance starts from interior. Jason Statham has police radio in his car to get updates on the vehicles he chased. There are many strange objects installed in his car. At first glance, it does not look like a 140, especially since the car has no instruments cluster. But the dashboard do looks like a RHD 140.

Then he started the car, and here’s a close-up of it on the wheels. We see the factory anodized aluminum 8-loch, pre-facelift’s two-tone body, but clear turn signals.

After a few close-ups of the wheels, a close-up of the flooring appears. The accelerator and brake pedals are indeed from the 140. But the engine roar that appears in the background sounds like a car with manual transmission.

Then there are the reused impact clips. After this, Jason Statham got off the silver 140, and the camera first focused on the damaged front. Comparing the clip from Tokyo Drift you can see that the damage is much lighter. This is also a completely different car, its front bumper, grille, and rear view mirrors are from a post-1995 model. Also, the car has a wide license plate holder.

There are transparent turn signals on the front fenders. If this car is not a British car, then it is most likely MY1998.

So even this extra clip used at least 2 different 140s. The first car used for interior and wheel close-ups was a pre-facelift, which was probably an RHD vehicle with a virtual steering wheel mounted on the dash. Those clips were most likely shot in Japan using Japanese version 140. The second car used for the crash is a facelift, which is a European version and Jason Statham conveniently did this brief sequence on a studio set somewhere in Europe.

This is 140 in The Fast and the Furious, when a German car suddenly kills the protagonist on the streets of Tokyo. Maybe when Tokyo Drift was filmed, they didn’t have the idea to get Jason Statham out of that car, and the 140 was just a slightly special arrangement: a car that’s common in Tokyo and heavy enough to destroy an RX-7. Jason Statham himself has some cooperation with 140 in the history, which we will talk about later.