FAST FURIOUS Brian's GT R by the guy who created it
Summary
TLDRCraig Lieberman, a car enthusiast and technical adviser for Universal's 'Fast and Furious' franchise, shares his experiences in building iconic cars like the Supra, GTR, and Maxima for the movies. He clarifies misconceptions about the GTR used in '2 Fast 2 Furious', detailing its acquisition, modifications, and the challenges faced during production. Lieberman also discusses the cars' post-movie fates, noting their potential value and rarity, reflecting on the unpredictable evolution of the franchise's popularity.
Takeaways
- 😀 Craig Liberman has been working with cars since 1980 and has owned over 40 cars, including three that starred in the Fast and Furious franchise.
- 🏎️ Craig served as a technical adviser for Universal Studios on the Fast and Furious movies, helping with car selection, parts procurement, and overseeing builds.
- 🎬 The R34 GTR, known as the 'Blackbird,' was the first fully federally legal R34 GTR in the United States and was sold to Craig for $78,000 in 2001.
- 📽️ Despite rumors, Paul Walker never owned the Blackbird GTR, but he did drive it for about two months during the filming of the movie.
- 🚗 For '2 Fast 2 Furious,' Universal had a product placement deal with Mitsubishi, which led to the GTR being selected for the film despite initial plans for different cars.
- 💸 Four additional GTRs were provided by Motorx at a cost of $48,000 each, plus air freight, without the federal legal process which adds significant cost.
- 🔊 West Coast Customs was contracted to build sound systems for the movie's cars, following Craig's sketches and plans, though they did not build the cars themselves.
- 🎨 The art department's decision to change the color of Craig's GTR to silver and add graphics was met with mixed feelings and some controversy.
- 🛠️ The creation of the GTR clones for the movie involved significant modifications, including a roll cage built to withstand a bridge jump stunt.
- 💡 The film used special effects like propane tanks for flamethrower exhaust systems and a custom-made semi-transparent disc for glowing brake rotor effects, though the latter was not used.
- 📉 After the movie, the value of the GTRs was not as high as today due to the film's reception and the state of the Fast franchise, leading to the cars being sold rather than kept as collectibles.
Q & A
Who is the speaker in the video script and what is his background?
-The speaker is Craig Lieberman, who has been tinkering with cars since 1980 and has owned over 40 cars in his life. He has served as a technical adviser for Universal's Fast and Furious movies.
What role did Craig Lieberman play in the Fast and Furious movie franchise?
-Craig Lieberman served as a technical adviser, helping to choose the cars, procure the parts, oversee their builds, and support both production and post-production.
What cars did Craig Lieberman own that were featured in the Fast and Furious movies?
-Craig Lieberman owned a Supra, a GTR, and a Maxima, all of which had starring roles in the Fast and Furious movies.
Why was the R34 GTR chosen for the movie '2 Fast 2 Furious'?
-The R34 GTR was chosen due to a paid product placement deal with Mitsubishi, and it was selected by Craig Lieberman as a top-tier tuner car for the movie.
What was the initial purpose of the R34 GTR before it was used in the movie?
-The R34 GTR was initially being offered for sale by MotorX as a fully federally legal car in the United States, known as the Blackbird.
Did Paul Walker own the R34 GTR used in the movie?
-No, despite driving the car for about 2 months, Paul Walker never owned the R34 GTR used in the movie.
How many additional GTRs were needed for the movie and why?
-Four additional GTRs were needed for the movie to accommodate several stunt sequences and the script's requirements.
Why were the GTRs in the movie not made fully federally legal?
-The GTRs were not made fully federally legal because MotorX decided not to go through the process, which adds about $25,000 to the cost of each car.
What company was contracted to build sound systems for the cars in the movie?
-West Coast Customs was contracted to build sound systems for the cars in the movie.
What modifications were made to the GTRs' appearance for the movie?
-The GTRs were painted silver, had blue stripes added, and received silver airbrushing on the stripes. Additionally, a roll cage, big brakes, and custom-made HRE wheels were installed.
What was the significance of the nitrous system in the movie and how much did it cost?
-The nitrous system was a significant part of the tuner culture and car builds, costing over $5,000 for the carbon fiber bottles, electronics, and activation switches, although it received little attention in the film.
What happened to the GTRs after the movie?
-The GTRs were sold or went to private owners. Craig Lieberman's hero car was restored and sold multiple times, while the jump car was auctioned off. One car is believed to be in Europe, and one remains unaccounted for.
What is the estimated value of the actual screen-used GTRs from the movie today?
-The value of the actual screen-used GTRs is speculative, but it could range from half a million dollars to over a million, depending on the buyer and the car's history.
How many R34 GTRs were made in total and what is their current global availability?
-Approximately 11,000 R34 GTRs were made, with less than 9,000 remaining worldwide after accounting for those that were crashed, burned, stolen, or modified for racing.
Outlines
🏎️ Craig Liberman's Journey with Fast & Furious Cars
Craig Liberman, a car enthusiast since 1980, has owned over 40 cars, including three that starred in the Fast and Furious franchise. He served as a technical adviser for Universal Studios, assisting in the selection, procurement, and construction of cars for the films. In this episode, he shares his experiences working on the movie '2 Fast 2 Furious,' particularly focusing on the misinformation surrounding the GTR featured in the film. The car, initially called the 'Blackbird,' was the first fully federally legal R34 GTR in the U.S., sold by MotorX. Despite rumors, Paul Walker never owned the car, which was later purchased by Craig for $78,000. The episode delves into the selection process for tuner cars, the decision to use GTRs over GTTs for the film, and the collaboration with West Coast Customs for sound systems, among other behind-the-scenes details.
🛠️ Building and Customizing the GTRs for '2 Fast 2 Furious'
The process of building and customizing the GTRs for '2 Fast 2 Furious' involved sourcing parts and materials from various companies, some of which donated or offered their products at cost. HRE provided wheels at a reduced price, Nitrous Express and Toyo Tires donated parts, and others gave their products at cost. Craig had concerns about certain design choices, such as covering the carbon nitrous bottles and the rear wing with wraps, which he felt detracted from the cars' aesthetics. The episode describes the creation of a 'mck rig' version of the GTR using a 240SX shell, the fabrication of a custom ramp for the bridge jump scene, and the use of special effects for the flamethrower exhaust systems. It also covers the filming of the street race and the pursuit sequence, including an unplanned incident involving Paul Walker that was kept in the final edit.
📈 The Aftermath and Value of the GTRs from '2 Fast 2 Furious'
After the movie's release, the GTRs from '2 Fast 2 Furious' had varied fates. Craig's hero car was restored and sold multiple times, with its current owner considering a restoration to the movie's specifications. The jump car was auctioned off, and its whereabouts are known to be in Louisiana as of early 2019. Another car is believed to be in Europe, while one remains unaccounted for. The cars are not federally legal in the U.S., and their value has fluctuated over the years. Craig speculates that the value of the actual screen-used GTRs could range from half a million to over a million dollars, considering the rarity of the R34 GTRs and the increasing popularity of the Fast & Furious franchise. The episode concludes with a reflection on the unpredictable value of movie cars and the factors influencing their worth.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Craig Liberman
💡Fast and Furious
💡Technical Adviser
💡R34 GTR
💡MotorX
💡West Coast Customs
💡Nitrous System
💡Stunt Sequences
💡CG (Computer-Generated)
💡Flamethrower Exhaust Systems
💡Screen-Used Cars
Highlights
Craig Lieberman has been involved with cars since 1980 and owned over 40 cars, including those featured in the Fast and Furious franchise.
Lieberman served as a technical adviser for Universal, assisting in car selection, parts procurement, and overseeing builds for the movies.
The R34 GTR, known as the Blackbird, was the first fully federally legal R34 GTR in the U.S., sold by MotorX in 2001.
Despite rumors, Paul Walker never owned the Blackbird GTR, though he drove it for two months during filming.
Lieberman purchased the Blackbird GTR for $78,000 without knowing it would be used in a sequel to the Fast and Furious movie.
Mitsubishi had a product placement deal with Universal, influencing the selection of the GTR and Evo for the movie.
MotorX provided four additional GTRs for the film at a reduced cost, without making them federally legal.
West Coast Customs was contracted to build sound systems for the cars, following Lieberman's sketches and plans.
The art department's decision to change the GTR's color to silver and add graphics was met with mixed reactions.
Many companies donated or offered parts at cost for the GTR builds, including HRE, Nitrous Express, Toyo Tires, and Sparco.
The GTR's nitrous system, costing over $5,000, received minimal screen time in the film.
A yellow GTR was sourced from England and modified into the jump car for a significant stunt in the movie.
A 240SX shell was used to create a mck rig version of the GTR, avoiding the need to cut up an actual GTR.
The street race scene, a major part of the film, involved extensive preparation and was filmed over two weeks.
CG and special effects, such as flamethrower exhaust systems, were heavily used in the racing sequences.
Paul Walker performed some of the driving stunts, including an unplanned incident with a parking meter.
After the movie, the GTRs' fates varied, with some being sold, restored, or remaining unaccounted for.
The value of the actual screen-used GTRs from the movie is speculated to be significant, potentially reaching millions.
Lieberman reflects on the supply and demand dynamics affecting the rarity and value of the R34 GTRs.
Transcripts
hello fast fam thanks for tuning in I'm
Craig liberman and I've been tinkering
on cars since 1980 I've owned more than
40 cars in my life some Were Heroes some
were zeros but never in my wildest
dreams would I ever guess that three of
my cars would go on to Star an emotion
picture franchise my Supra my GTR and my
Maxima all had starring roles in
Universal's Fast and Furious movies over
the next 3 years I'd sered Universal as
a technical adviser I help choose the
cars procure the parts oversee their
builds and support both production and
post production
I have some cool stories to tell about
what it was like to build these cars and
to work with the cast I was there on set
in the production meetings working on
cars hanging with the actors and
Consulting on postproduction so follow
along as I tell the stories let's jump
in in this episode we're going to talk
about Brian's GTR from too fast to
Furious there's a lot of misinformation
floating around about this car and
despite the other videos I've done I
feel people are still hungry for more
info this car started off as the
Blackbird and was being offered for sale
by motorx back in 2001 at the time
motorx was a legitimate importer who had
gone through the trouble of making R34
GTRs fully federally legal this car was
the very first fully federally legal R34
GTR in the United States despite the
internet rumors and another video
circulating around Paul Walker never
owned this car although Paul Walker did
drive this car for about 2 months he
never did buy the car that left this car
without a buyer into until I scooped it
up I paid $78,000 for the car in July of
2001 about this time Universal had
decided to make a sequel to the first
movie that means of course that I bought
this car not even knowing that there
ever would be a sequel once again I got
the call to serve as technical adviser
and my first job was to suggest top tier
tuner cars for this movie I've covered
this process in another video but as you
all know the GTR ended up getting
selected since Universal had a paid
product placement deal with Mitsubishi
the Evo would serve as Brian's main car
and the GTR would be relegated to a
smaller role meaning that the Evo would
be getting more screen time than the GTR
that made no sense to me but I had to
pick my battles with the GTR now
selected and with the script calling for
several stunt sequences we needed to get
our hands on more GTRs we considered
using gtts but after some discussion we
determined that it would be actually
more to build the gtt than the buy GTRs
in this case we needed more GTRs and we
needed them faster
motorx agreed to provide four more GTRs
at 48,000 bucks a piece plus the air
freight to get the cars to us to do this
they loaded up the cargo hold of a 747
and shipped them over in case you
weren't paying attention I did in fact
say that all of the skylines and Too
Fast Too Furious were real GTRs this
paperwork proves
it in fast 4 One Skyline was a real GTR
the rest were gtts I think that's where
the confusion comes from on the internet
forums and online if $48,000 for a GTR
seems like a real steal that's because
it was why were they so cheap because
motorx was not going to go through the
process of making these cars fully
federal legal which adds about $25,000
to the cost of each car once the cars
were on their way it was time to Finish
the build plan for them I convinced
Universal that audio video is a big part
of the tuner culture and they agreed we
contracted with West Coast Customs to
build some wild sound systems
essentially I drew up sketches of what I
wanted in each car and West Coast cust
did a great job of following my plans
perfectly while West Coast Customs
didn't actually build any of the cars as
they recently proclaimed on social media
they still deserve a ton of credit for
their work on the sound systems by the
time we got to Florida to begin filming
the GTR clones were making progress but
still had a long way to go our
illustrious art Department had decided
to change the color of my car to Silver
and it's no secret that the highly
unimaginative Graphics that they chose
were not to my liking I always felt that
adding muscle car stripes to a JDM car
just doesn't work to paint the cars we
chose House of Color PBC 42 for silver
and the blue stripes were done by modern
image the art Department added some
silver airbrushing to the stripes to
blend them into the paint the arguments
about the colors and graphics on these
cars went on for a weeks and I wasn't
the only one bitching they had already
committed to the GTRs being silver but
when I saw the Chevy ss/ Shelby Racing
Stripes I lost my again who the
puts muscle car graphics on a
Japanese car there's nothing wrong with
muscle car graphics but on a GTR that's
like putting a Japanese flag on a Camaro
wasn't working for me and I imagine that
the opinions will be split on this as if
the racing stripes weren't enough they
added more stuttering stripes down the
side at that point I thought it was even
worse anyway there was nothing more I
could do so we focused on finishing the
car with my big carbon nitrous bottles
of roll cage big brakes and custommade
hre wheels getting all the parts to
build the clones was going to be hard
fortunately most companies agreed to
help hre offered us the wheels at $500 a
piece rather than the normal $2,000 a
piece Nitrous Express donated a mountain
of parts so too did toyot tires claron
and Sparco those companies that couldn't
afford to donate Parts gave them to us
at their cost among my many objections
was my concern about covering the
beautiful carbon nitrous bottles with a
chrome wrap and covering the rear wing
with a blue wrap the Nitrous system
deserve more love in this film these
three carbon fiber bottles and electric
bottle opers were $1,000 per bottle with
$3,000 in bottles in electronics they
were impressive to say the least adding
the custom lines and the activation
switches and this system cost more than
5,000 bucks but the whole thing got
little or no love in the film as
planning progressed we realized we
needed one more GTR we chose not to go
through motorx as by this time it was
turning into a show over there
instead we pulled a yellow GTR from Andy
at middle Hurst Nissan in England this
car was eventually turned into the jump
car and it was sad to see this car
disassembled for the
modifications the roll cage installation
needed to be built to withstand the
rigors of the bridge jump and that was
no easy task fortunately this picture
car crew was superb and worked very
quickly in fact one of our requirements
included the need for a mck rig version
of the GTR and I thought to myself oh my
God they're going to cut up a GTR and
turn it into a shell for the mck rig of
course I didn't want them to cut up a
GTR so we instead took a 240SX shell
left over from the first movie and turn
that into their
GTR this required a lot of work
including grafting in the dash adding a
fake multi-function display on top of
the dash and replicating some of the
other interior bits from my car in the
trunk we added a standalone power supply
to run the Interior Electronics and the
neon lights that they added for the
record my GTR had zero neon lights
before or after the movie that stuff was
all added just for the movie with all
the GTRs done it was time to start
filming the gtr's big scene of course
was the street race this scene required
a lot of prep work and was filmed over
the course of about 2 weeks we'd film at
one intersection for a day or two then
move on to another stretch of road and
so on both first and second unit teams
were used for those who don't remember
first unit typically handles filming the
actors and such while second unit
handles the stunts as we all remember
from the scene the GTR arrives at the
four-way race to an excited audience as
the car pulls up brine hits the nitrous
Purge and IDE AA taken from the
demonstration I provided to the
producers that was probably my favorite
part of that movie of course Universal
borrowed a lot from the first movie
starting with a crowded street racing
setting spray painting lines on the
street cuz that happens every day and
just like the last movie prodigious use
of the flamethrower exhaust systems to
pull this effect off Universal had
special effects experts rig up propane
tanks MSD ignition coils and a spark
plug all to be installed in the exhaust
system and in the trunk on command The
Stunt Driver could hit a switch and the
resulting Flames would continue until
the propane tank was empty or the driver
released the button whichever came first
much of the racing sequence was CG or
computer generated so if it looked fake
that's because much of it was at one
point Universal wanted to use glowing
brake rotor effects much like you'd see
in road racing using a semi-transparent
custom disc we were able to Fab
something up it was ultimately not used
in the movie largely because having one
brake caliper disconnected made the car
dangerous to drive its speed
a fun game I like to play during this
scene is spot the 240SX midcard like
here look at the rear quarter window and
the shitty bends in the roll bar that's
because this was Muffler tubing not a
real roll bar perfect example of how a
MRI car is cut in and out of a scene the
bridge jump scene was covered in another
video but to be brief we built a custom
ramp the car made the jump more or less
as predicted but sustained some
significant damage the oil pan wheels
and a few suspension bits were destroyed
to get new parts by Monday and this was
on a Thursday we asked Andy from
middlehurst Nissan to get on a plane
with the parts on a Friday he obliged
The Show Must Go On right after Brian
wins the race as if the issue were ever
in doubt the cops show up and once again
everybody scrambles during this Pursuit
sequence Paul asked to do some of the
driving the producers agreed he was
doing great until he misjudged the
corner he jumped the curb and took out a
parking meter although that wasn't
planned it played great on the big
screen and we left it in in the final
edit with the car now impounded it's 5
minutes Fame are over so what happened
to these cars after the movie with five
GTRs to account for here's the breakdown
my hero1 car was restored back to Blue
got a new set of wheels and was
eventually sold to a buyer in Tennessee
the new buyer stripped the car of most
of its movie parts Painted it black and
then eventually sold it again around
2011 or
2012 from there it went to another owner
and then another the car is currently
with a new private owner who is
considering resp ding the car to its
movie look unfortunately I don't have
any information to share about the
private owner because he's asked to
remain private at least one of these
cars is still in Universal hands the
jump car which was listed as total was
sold at auction sometime in the mid
2000s it was listed for about 880,000
but we don't know how much it actually
sold for I'm guessing in the mid-40s or
high 40s it went to Washington State and
is reportedly now in Louisiana as of
early 2019 one of these cars is believed
to be in Europe and that leaves one car
unaccounted for since none of these cars
were made federally legal they cannot be
made legal without exporting them first
then bringing them back in how did
Universal get them in I was told they
brought them in as movie props I'm not
sure what's involved with that but it
still doesn't make these cars federally
legal once again for those who would say
oh I'd never sell a movie car back in
2003 this movie was not liked very much
by tuner audiences the designs of these
cars were especially unappreciated by
tuner fans Automotive form websites were
a buzz with how bad this movie was and
how ugly the cars were so rather than
driving around a boy racer car I had no
problem letting go of it we also have to
remember that back in 2003 the fast
franchise was nowhere near its current
popularity so there was no way to
predict that these cars would go up in
value significantly so what are they
worth today for actual screen use GTRs
from this movie we have to look at sales
of these cars over the last 10 years or
so to my knowledge only two or three of
them have changed hands including mine
but if we're talking about my Hero 1 car
the one Paul drove we know a few things
my car was a fully motorx federally
legal GTR they're only 14 such cars in
the USA owners of these other cars are
all millionaires who don't need the
money so they've turned down offers of
$300,000 or more in other words even a
GTR that was not used in the movie but
is federally legal would sell for north
of
$300,000 with Paul's death and with
prices of these cars fluctuating I can
only speculate as to the value value on
the low low side I'd say half a million
on the high side for the right buyer
maybe a million plus you also have to
remember that they've only made 11,000
or so R34 GTRs in total with 20% of
those presumably being crashed burned
stolen gutted stripped or turned into
race cars that leaves less than 9,000
GTRs in the entire world to satisfy
World demand as they say my friends
supply and demand that's it for this
time so thanks for watching until next
time drve dve fast and take chances
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