The opening heist of “Fast Five” has Mia, Vince, Brian, and some accomplices stealing three cars from a train outside Rio de Janeiro. Those include a Ford GT40, which later drives the plot further by containing a computer chip with details of a wide-ranging criminal organization, a De Tomaso Pantera GTS, which overheats in 75f weather and is one of the rarest cars in Elvis Presley’s collection, and one even-rarer vehicle, the 1963 C2 Corvette Grand Sport. This rarest of Corvettes had only five cars built, and they are all owned by private collectors that wouldn’t part with their unicorn ‘vette. The five prototypes were built to compete at Le Mans, but General Motors canceled the project and wanted to trash the prototypes. The chief engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov, sold them to private buyers before that happened, preserving a piece of racing heritage that never made it to the track.
For “Fast Five,” the production team turned to replica maker Mongoose Motorsports. Twelve 1963 clone C2 Corvettes were produced with custom tubular chassis, air-cooled Volkswagen engines, knock-off wheels, and coilover suspension. The filming was hard on these cars, considering they needed to be jumped to create the stunt. Only three are known to survive, with Volo Auto Museum having the best-preserved version, as it was the one used for close-ups and was mounted to a rig in front of a green screen. The same Corvette Grand Sport went up for auction in April 2021, but Volo still lists it in their inventory, so maybe the sale was called off. If you want your own, Mongoose Motorsports is an officially licensed GM manufacturer and sells the Grand Sport for under $100,000.
