Murcielago from Fate of the Furious is Now Prettier than Ever
YouTuber bought this former on-screen Lamborghini Murcielago for $80,000 and brought it back to life inside and out.
In the eighth installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise, an orange Lamborghini Murcielago makes an appearance with actor Tyrese Gibson behind the wheel. If you’re familiar with the movie, you’ll know that the orange Murcielago meets its untimely death beneath a frozen lake. However, there were three cars used when shooting the movie, and this is the only survivor. SEMA 2019 may be long done, but the story of this car is too good not to share.
Enter Freddy Hernandez, or as you may know him, Tavarish. In February, he made a video announcing the purchase of this beast of a project. The car came with some modifications for its movie use, including a roll cage and an ignition sequence that isn’t exactly what you’d expect from a Lamborghini. It involved a jumper pack, a jack handle as a prop, a doorbell as a starter, and a lot of faith you hadn’t left it in gear. Since the key was always in the ignition, you had to start it from the back.
This car needed a whole lot of love when he got it, that’s for sure. The back glass was missing due to the roll cage, and the interior was in shambles. The worst of it all is the fact that it was missing the iconic gated shifter.
Needless to say, this was to be no easy task to return it to its original state.
Perseverance pays off
Hernandez did not back down from the challenge, though. Over the past several months, he has collected parts and spent countless hours on bringing this car back to OEM spec. The interior now looks as original as ever. Additionally, he fitted a new exhaust system, as he got it without one. Indeed, this Murcielago is currently in fantastic shape but has a story that no other in the world has.
The interior overhaul also consisted of the re-working of some severely butchered wiring. The bizarre starting sequence was due to the film crew having trouble getting the ECU to recognize that the key was indeed in the ignition. Additionally, it had no door panels. Hernandez went through every nook and cranny to find the wiring gremlins for everything from the starting issue to normally functioning window motors.
More than meets the eye
While initial impressions of the Murcielago in his early videos on this series would lead you to believe the exterior was in decent shape, that is exactly what Hollywood wants. All a film crew needs is for a movie car to look good on camera. With wide open, fast pace action shots, you don’t see the orange peel, overspray, and runs that are apparent in person.
Hernandez, up close, the car’s movie paint job was not pretty at all. However, a body shop local to him was able to remove all the movie-spec paint, correct all the body issues, and apply a fresh coat of high-quality paint, color-matched to the movie specs. This allows it’s heritage to remain known, while also leaving out all the judgment of passers-by who take a close look at the paint job.
Many say that restoring this car got rid of its heritage. We don’t see it that way. Instead, Hernandez took what the movie car was and made it what the movie wanted us to believe it was. It went from a sad hacky on-set car to a truly unique and beautiful Lamborghini. Overall, this project is a huge success.
Photos for 6 Speed Online by Braden Carlson