Dennis McCarthy deserves a lot of credit. For those that are unaware, McCarthy is the man that supplies most of the cars for the Fast & Furious movie series. McCarthy’s credit is due for keeping real car people interested in a poorly written movie with crappy acting. Let’s be honest, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are not Steve McQueen or even Ricky Bobby’s Will Farrell for that matter. Yet, McCarthy’s cars still carry the movie, and the rest of the cast, enough to satisfy performance car fans everywhere.

The latest release of the Fast & Furious franchise has one of the greatest performance cars of all time featured with the lead character. Many fans felt that it was time that Roman got a decent car to drive and McCarthy’s 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 fit the bill. The Camaro is actually a trophy truck chassis wrapped in the Camaro’s sheetmetal – sort of a “wolf in wolf’s clothing” kind-of-deal.

Dennis McCarthy’s 1967 Camaro Z/28 built for Furious 7.

McCarthy’s Sun Valley, California, company Vehicle Effects, resides in a 28,000-square foot facility where cars for movies, television shows, and commercials are created. McCarthy has built cars for Batman Begins, The Green Hornet, Man of Steel, Herbie Fully Loaded, and as mentioned previously, the starring cars of the Fast & Furious series.

For Furious 7, McCarthy had to find five 1967 Camaros in various condition. The crew searched the common places, like craigslist and eBay, ending up with enough cars to make sure that they didn’t run out of parts or cars that would hold up production. The key to the Camaro build was the standardized parts that any hot rodder would use. From the Turbo 400 transmission to the Ford 9-inch rearend, the parts were interchangeable between most of the vehicles.

Photo from the Furious 7 movie site www.furious7.com

Forget the acting but see the movie for the great cars featured throughout. In particular, check out this 1967 Camaro and its road from rust bucket to movie star.