The Fast & Furious Charger Reborn

The Fast & Furious Charger’s Electric Detour

It began life not with a roar, but with a whirr. An icon reborn as an illusion—a showstopper designed not to dominate the quarter-mile but to look good doing fake wheelies in front of a live audience. This 1970 Dodge Charger—originally supplied by Dennis McCarthy to Hollywood studios as Dominic Toretto’s iconic muscle car—took the spotlight in Fast & Furious Live, performing nightly throughout 2018, a touring stage spectacle that combined Hollywood drama with practical car stunts, smoke machines, and just enough tech magic to convince a stadium full of fans that they were watching, Live, something fast and maybe, just maybe, a little bit furious.

Except it wasn’t.

Under the skin, the show car was a fully electric build, fitted by none other than Electric Classic Cars, the renowned Welsh EV conversion specialists. Instead of a big-block V8, it was powered by an electric drivetrain, based on a forklift motor, and a hydraulic lift system, capable of lifting the car’s nose into a theatrical wheelie at a button’s press. Think Vegas magic show, but with faux-rims that spun to simulate speed and a top pace of… 11 miles an hour. It was, as YouTuber Sam Hard would later put it, “all the gear, and no idea.”

But that’s not where this story ends—it’s where it gets interesting.

A Muscle Car’s Second Act

When the Fast & Furious Live production folded in late 2018, its fleet of electric stunt cars—many of them recreations of film favorites—went up for auction. For Sam Hard, who’d spent years helping other builders get to SEMA and making his name with outrageous YouTube builds, the chance to own one of these cars was irresistible. He sold a fleet of personal projects, including a Cadillac Coupe DeVille and a ’70 Charger he co-owned with his dad, and ended up walking away with not one, not two, but three show cars: Paul Walker’s green Mitsubishi Eclipse replica, the off-road Oshkosh Dune Truck from Fast Five, and the holy grail—this electrified Dodge Charger.

Sam didn’t know quite what he was going to do with it at first. “It looked the part,” he admitted. “But it was a prop. A proper electric oddity with silly hubcaps, a fake blower on the hood, and a wheelie system that looked cool but did nothing.” Still, it had presence—and better yet, Universal Studios paperwork, confirming its ties to the franchise. That changed everything.

At first, he thought about restoring it with an iconic Mopar V8, maybe even his spare 383 big block. But as he started pulling apart the EV components—dozens of Tesla batteries, forklift motor, and the hydraulic pumps and associated 12 volts lead acid batteries—he realized this wasn’t just a visual replica. It had been a fully working, highly engineered electric conversion, optimized for stunt use and live reliability. The more he unpicked, the more he respected what had gone into it.

Still, Sam being Sam, he couldn’t resist turning it up to eleven.

Goodbye Silence, Hello Thunder

The shell was perfect, but Sam wanted power— analog, raw, US, gas power! And in a bold move, he decided to mount the Charger body onto a NASCAR chassis he’d bought from a race team in the UK. It had a 600+ horsepower Chevy V8, a complete roll cage, slicks, and the kind of race-tuned suspension that didn’t care for speed bumps or comfort. “All go, no show,” he grinned. Then he cut the NASCAR in half, stretched it seven inches to match the Dodge’s longer wheelbase, and began fabricating what would become the NASCharger.

It was a brutal, beautiful Frankenstein of a car. A mix of Hollywood icon and oval track weapon. Sam brought in sponsors, fitted Cobra seats, Mickey Thompson tires with retro “NASCAR-style” logos, and even a bespoke shifter ball engraved with “Too Fast 4 Paul” in tribute to the late Paul Walker. It made its debut at SEMA as a tribute.

But this is EV Builder’s Guide, and the story doesn’t stop at combustion.

Sam’s Electric Redemption

Despite pulling out the electric system, Sam never dismissed what it had represented. In fact, the experience sparked something deeper. While the NASCharger build was a triumph of smoky engineering, it also made him realize just how much potential electric drivetrains had—especially in show builds and custom vehicles.

He didn’t just throw the EV parts in the bin. He painstakingly removed them, labeled the wiring, and sold the components on to fellow builders. “Every penny counts. I’m not gonna let a 120-volt motor sit in the corner and collect dust. Someone out there wants to make something rad with it—and now they can.”

Fast-forward to today, and Sam’s not just building V8 monsters. He’s having fun with EVs again. One of his latest antics? Cruising through London dressed as Mr. Bean, sitting in an armchair bolted to the roof of a classic Mini that’s been converted to electric—using a bolt-on, plug-in system built by Fellten. The video went viral, naturally. People laughed. Commenters gawked. But for Sam, it was more than a stunt. “This little electric Mini has done more to change people’s perception of EVs than a hundred Teslas on the motorway,” he said. “It’s fun, it’s cheeky, and it still does 0–30 quicker than you think.”

Back to the Beginning

There’s something poetic about it, really. A Charger built to fake being fast… made faster. A show car designed to entertain… turned into a real muscle car that’s now, in its own way, converting Sam Hard himself. Not away from V8s—let’s not get crazy—but toward a future where EV conversions can live alongside combustion builds, each telling a story.

“It’s not about one being better than the other,” Sam told us. “It’s about what suits the build, the story, the dream. That Fast and Furious Live Charger? It was born electric. And that’s cool in itself.” And maybe that’s the future of the enthusiast world—less about choosing sides, and more about choosing your adventure.

THE ORIGINAL EV CONVERSION

(Fast & Furious LIVE Charger)

Supplied by Electric Classic Cars for stage stunt use

Drivetrain: Custom-built around a forklift electric motor

Battery System: Tesla Model S module-based, approx. 120 volts, mounted under rear

Charging: 3.3kW onboard AC

Wheelie Lift System: Hydraulic lift on rear axle with smoke machine assist

Top Speed: ~11 mph (limited for safety)

Estimated range: 5–10 miles (not designed for real-world driving)

Build Purpose: Fast & Furious LIVE touring stage show in Europe.

Photos by Nick Williams (NWVT.CO.UK) and Jerome Andre