Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindz
I go along with all the other responses, but I think I can guess where the director/producers are getting these ideas.
Typically, this is what people who are respected/noticed do. This happens alot with some very well-known italians in my area. They will go to church and leave their AMG Merc unlocked with the top down and keys on the seat. No one dares touch it because they know who it belongs to. I think the Yakuza are similar to the mafia types as in everyone knows/respects/fears them so they don't mess with any property of it.
If you could afford a 350z with that custom vinyl sticker job and all the engine work, couldn't you afford to buy another one? In the movie they would gamble with their car collections (Skyline vs. Hachi Roku for wagers). I'm sure he'd rather win the race and save face while just tossing it aside and buying a new one if it's wrecked, or tricking out the new car he won for finishing first.
[b]The dad moved to Japan with very little money. Do you think he'd have an old 60's corvette which would have come out when he was 16-20 ish. Do you think he would have been able to buy a Corvette brand new? Mustang is/was a pony car. It was built to be a performance car that most people could afford. The First gen mustangs are hard to find in good condition. A lot of people kept their mustangs garaged after not using it, or picked up a beater to keep as a project car in their garage to bring back the nostalgia. I can easily see why the dad would keep it and work on it from time to time.
As for the engine, the Skyline is considered one of the fastest cars in the world among imports and some have been tuned to reach speeds in excess of 200 mph. The RB26 (Skyline) and the 2JZ-GTE (Supra) are some of the best tuning engines in the world for imports. If they already had the chassis from the Americas, and needed a japanese engine, Why not choose the best from the selection?
The Uncle was an overlord of the area, yet he seemed to be dignified and had a great sense of honor. Japanese Bushido dating back to the fuedal era was based around honor. You would not shame your family or you'd be outcast. This aspect has stayed alive through the times and though not always apparant, even some of the nastiest/most sinister villians show some aspect of it. The uncle was probably sick and tired of his snotty kid and wanted to teach him a lesson. Also he probably didn't want to pay for any more of her lifestyle.
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To start, I just want to say that many muscle car enthusiasts would probably not eagerly drop any import motor in their classic cars. I love Skylines and Supras, but I'm not such a big fan of dropping a Nissan or Toyota motor in a GM car. Would you do it? That's the real reason I said that comment about the Mustang with an import motor. Other than our beloved Supra driver, RiceRocket, almost all of us Americans here are domestic car drivers or hope to be Camaro drivers in the near future. If I were to do a motor swap, I'd find a compatible engine. It would be cheaper and more time efficient to tune. That means Fords get Ford motors because Ford motors are made for Fords. Imagine how long it would take to change all the brackets and mounts around for a motor that isn't meant for the car. Had they found the original motor, significantly upgraded it, and installed it, the car would need little adjustment and tuning as compared to rearranging the whole engine bay for a motor by a different company.
In addition, I wouldn't touch an Italian gangster's car either. I wouldn't touch a Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, or American mobster's car. I wouldn't even touch my neighbors' cars, and they're just average college students! I'm just suggesting that real gangsters don't have rides like these that they use to drift through the city. I bet they have Phantoms with chauffeurs who drive them from place to place to make business happen. The image of power and being untouchable is very important to gangsters, and having a big $100,000 expensive car makes more sense than having a $30,000 domestically produced average car. The 350Z is far from average, but it isn't exotic or really all that impressive when considering perceived status cars like Mercedes-Benzes, Bentleys, or Ferraris. The look of power is important to the mob, so driving a tinted BMW would be preferable to driving a 350Z with stickers all over it. The 350Z is attainable. The BMW looks rich, even if 1-series cars don't cost all that much. It's the look that's important.
Also, I won't argue about the Skyline motor because I agree with you. I will argue that the father found the Mustang as it was at the base, according to the film. The only reason I can cite that is because I literally just watched it. In that condition, he could have found any stripped car. All old classic car parts are rare, so the plot could have justified someone stripping it for their own projects or sales, but there is no explanation for him finding a Mustang. He doesn't even explain how much he paid for the remainder of it! It literally could have been any car, but they chose a Mustang, which is not of the same level of appreciation as a Skyline. Too many cars were in the same class as the Mustang in terms of power and potential to upgrade. The Skyline is above that. I completely agree with you about the Skyline and the Supra being among the best tuning cars ever for their motors, but I don't think that the classic Mustang ever had that level of tuning ability when it comes to the rest of the car. I think the right car would have been either a more tunable car for realistic functionality or a more symbolic car to math the high tier status of the Skyline motor that would go into it.
Finally, I understand that Bushido is based around respect, but we have to remember that he agreed to a competition, not a punishment. Wouldn't a race allow him to stay if he won, learning nothing in the process? Also, his relative took his side in the scene where the main character returns stolen funds. He expects a win. That doesn't suggest he should learn a lesson. Isn't walking into a Bushido underground bar equally disrespectful? I'm sure if someone really pulled that, they would get shot on site! The truth is that a deal might have been worked out at best, but a race endangering a relative and mob member's life would not be the most likely solution to the problem. Perhaps the race should have been more of a chase, like in the motorcycle chase in a previous F&F film.
I feel compelled to remind you that these arguments are mostly due to immense boredom. I have nothing better to do. If I did, I probably wouldn't be talking about The Fast and the Furious. Those of you that think I'm taking this way too seriously are mistaken. 