In xXx, is Xander Cage's 10th vehicle a specific reference to another franchise?s TMm8450
The Fast and the Furious was released in 2001, and XXX was released in 2002. Vin Diesel played a significant part in both movies.
In the climax of The Fast and the Furious,
18 year old spoiler
Dom Torreto wrecks a purple muscle car, only to have Brian give him the keys to another vehicle to slip away from Police
In xXx, Xander Cage is asked to procure ten vehicles from an underground dealer by a secret government agency. However, he alters the list of vehicles and goes to some length to specify that the 10th vehicle will be for him
When all vehicles are shown in a warehouse, Xander Cage's vehicle is similar to Dom Torreto's but not identical. I am not an expert on vehicles by any stretch, but I know Dom's car had a metallic protrusion on the front hood that Google-fu reveals to be a hood scoop (air intake to cool the engine) and Xander's is different, much smaller. However, both were muscle cars with a neat purple paint job.
Someone more familiar with vehicles can answer, are these two cars in the same automotive family? Is this a subtle reference to the much better-known franchise?
1 Answer
xXx's '10th vehicle' was a 1967 Pontiac hard-top GTO (affectionately nicknamed a Goat). It likely had a 400 ci 'small block' V-8 under the hood.
Dom Torreto's purple muscle car in Fast and the Furious was a 1970 (1968?) Dodge Charger R/T (Road and Track), probably powered by a 426 ci 'big block' Hemi. At one point it was accessorized with a supercharger, aka 'blower'; that's what you are seeing as an 'air scoop'. It's powered by a wide belt driven off the crankshaft and forces air into the engine.
Beyond the era of manufacture, those are two very different muscle cars. They do however, represent some of the best of the Detroit 'Muscle Car' era of the late 1960's.
There really doesn't appear to be any link between the two.
I always though the F&F Charger was a 1968 since it didn't have a nose in the grille. I owned a 1968 Charger R/T with no nose and all the 1969/1970 Chargers I've seen have noses.
