The sad story of Leon's GTR.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- This is the sad story of Leon's. Arguably the best and fastest car in the movie had a storied life but in the end, the Feds did this car dirty.
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Leon’s gtr was the most slept on car in the first movie. I never understood why it wasn’t more talked about
Because not alot of people new what a gtr was when people saw it on Fast and the Furious people who did not know anything about gtr start look it up Same goes for drifting
I mean it didn’t play much of a role and Leon never came back
@@CRXJDM88That and it was difficult to bring in enough to turn that car into more of a hero car.
@JoeyVilleneuve I'm shocked that didn't use a 300ZX I have one guy said that he didn't even know what the RX7 was which is kind of funny as the American Muscle Cars was always Camaro and Mustang but on the Japan side it was 300ZX 3000GT RX7 supra
@@CRXJDM88not knowing what an rx7 is would be his fault, rx7s were sold here
Imagine waking up every day and going to work to arrest people for owning a car. This country is so fucked.
“Land of the free” fucking joke. I’m glad I don’t live in cali or some strict state where even having your car lowered is a state ref.
F the EPA and the DMV
9.6l v8 that has 1 mpg is ok, but an import tuner is a massive threat to the environment.
Sabotage by our own tax dollars😮
@m200dreamer7 bro as a car enthusiast in cali you don't get popped for much. Especially if you're not being a dickhead.
I always just imagined Leon as a guy that knew his car would smoke anyone in his crew but just didn’t care……lol
His car definitely could’ve beat doms car and Johnny Tran 💯💯📝
@@tayeeinthacut9661nah, Johnny T had more than 100 grand under the hood of that car
@@tayeeinthacut9661It was a stock RB26 with stock turbos..
@@tayeeinthacut9661It wouldn't have been quicker than the twin turbo veilside RX7
@@thatcarguy6190 well the veil side would put up a good fight but it def would beat that charger (even tho it’s a beautiful car)
Such a sad ending, still one of my favorite cars in the franchise!
It's such a shame that imported cars in situations like that don't get deported, especially the ones that actually hold some sort of value. It would have been really cool had it become a tuning test car back in Japan
We dont even deport illegal immigrants.
Rip big bird...you will be missed dearly 🙏
Even sadder is Leon seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Where is Leon?
The bad guy behind it all in X part 2
What the hell is that?@@305Spartin
@@305SpartinThat would be wild… 😂
@@SethHollingsheadHe‘s joking.
Last I heard his actor owns a martial arts studio in New York he's also a studio musician
My favourite model Skyline. Crushed for no good reason. This hurts my soul.
They could have auctioned it and would have made a great deal...use the money for the school or build a new playground.
They couldn't really aution it off since it wasn't road legal. But it would have made a cool police carl.
@@joelcruz9415they being who? Our own government couldn't auction off a vehicle in our own land??? That's a fucking joke.
@@pauleskridge7209You do understand that the car wasn't legal in the US right? Why would they auction off something that is illegal?
@@joelcruz9415 yes I'm aware of that. It's the government. They can make anything legal at any given time with approval and a few signatures.
It always bugged me that the r33 was just essentially a background car.....
😊paul was a great guy in person.i knew him 15 years. I worked with him on VARSITY BLUES . We chatted lots bout cars. He enjoyed me talking bout the hakosuka my dad had when i was a kid in Japan. He enjoyed my turboed 240sx s14 as well on set. He had fun driving it as well. We chatted lots bout jdm cars,since i grew up around alot of the OG jdm cars in Japan.great video as always, Craig. ❤❤❤❤👍🏼👍🏼🤜🏼🤛🏼😁
To be honest I find Craig's stories about this series more interesting than the actual movies. It was so frustrating watching a legend be treated like an unpaid extra. Its good to finally know why.
Boggles the mind how truly un-free we are below the façade
It's crazy because in the UK you can pretty much build and/or import ANYTHING you like and legally drive it here. Never understood the heavy handed tactics in the likes of say the USA and Australia.
It's like that in nearly every country. However, the USA is still one of the freest as far as personal rights.
@@skylined5534bribery
@@monroe7403 By far...it's exhausting listening to these people whine about how unfair America is. Like, get some perspective. It's massively flawed, but what country isn't? Grow up people.
I really admire that idea he brought up that the yellow r33 would act kinda as decoy and lure cops away ... It would've made a good scene or 2
Well it did get feds attention for sure & ended up crushed.
True man, that would've been awesome but I guess it gave Leon a bigger role on the movie and probably would've need some stunt cars for that and stuff, but in a perfect world were they listened to Craig ideas and had everything, that would've been great
@@alejo.182 the problem was that they only had one R33 so if they tried using that scene and the Car got dented or crash they were out of a car.
When F&F came out I wasn't into imports cuz I was a 13 year old from a muscle car/truck family. The next year I picked up a '90 B12 Sentra fastback and my buddy I'd ride bikes to school with got an '89 CRX ex-show car. It was a decent combo, he had the bodykit, stereo and neon underglow while I stuck to bolt-ons, exhaust and suspension work.
If it wasn't for F&F I would probably still be dreaming of Dodge Vipers and Ford RS200's.
It still took me about 10 years to figure out what kinda of imports I like, turns out it's early Datsuns and 80's Nissans mostly, although I do really miss my is300 being the best daily.
Someday I'll get something that really represents the 90's tuner culture. My current project is a Z31 300zx, I've always loved their body lines but this one is a turd I got for free from my friends brother when he got evicted and couldn't take the Z with him. I'm gonna give it my best shot over the next few years and we'll see what happens. 8pt cage going in soon and will probably be expanded apon later.
This is all your fault, Craig! Lol
Dang bro a 300zx is a great choice. Good taste dude. They are so good looking.
for me its 70's datsun/nissan. s30,620 and sunny truck
The viper is cooler than all the cars you mentioned, but whatever floats your boat mate...
Before Brian was the GT-R king. There was Leon.
Yes, well said, I loved that car. The colour was better and the graphics suited it better/were more appropriate. I liked Leon's GTR more than Brian's and I was hoping for a video on it❤
With a bit of imagination brian drove his r34 in 2fast becaus of leons car.
@@extec101 It's been 22 years and I never thought of it that way, but I believe and respect that.
@@extec101Yes! I've always liked to think that Leon was the one who introduced Brian into skylines.
@@victoria.beilstein996 im happy to see that multiple people thinking the same way as i did about leon inspired brian to gtrs.
16:05 is enough to make a man cry
Check out whistlindiesel 😳
Like many of the time, my introduction to the GT-R Skylike R33 was on Gran Turismo on the PlayStation. When I saw and heard about that car I looked and scoured the what little internet I could find only to have my hopes crushed (no pun intended) that it was not viable to bring to the USA due to DMV and DOT regulations. Seeing it in the first F&F movie was the closest I could get to one at the time. I eventually heard stories about it being crushed but never got the full story until I saw the previous story that was posted. Sad story but unfortunately that's the rules and laws when it comes to trying to import vehicles.
Such a shame for a car and for the Leon that didnt come back in f&f sequels.I hope he comes back.
I hope F&F never some back. When Paul left us, it should have stopped.
@@StephenBrewer89 i meant for the last one.
It doesn't feel the same after Leon and Jesse just disappeared
@@ritarossweisse_ They can bring Jesse back. Characters survived explosions, a burning car and a fall out of an airplane - few gun shots are childsplay compared to that 🤣
Hell he wasn’t even referenced
30k for a R33... Now a cool poster of it costs that much
They used to be genuinely underrated. Then the internet wouldn't shut up about those cars being underrated and now they cost as much as an R32, sometimes more. Hype hurts car enthusiasts more than they want to admit.
@@CyanRooperYeah, exactly. About 6,7 years ago, RWD R33s were about 7-8k € here in the continental EU. Even cheaper in the UK. Then the hype train on social media started... Now they start around 20k €
An R33 NFT.
I remember when a R33 GTR in Australia was less then 15k back in th early 2000s... non GTRs were around $1000.. I paid $1700 for my old R33
Always loved Leon's GTR
I heard about the r33 story back in 2011 still can't believe it gone
Its sad that its faith made it in to feds hands, would be awsome if it still where around with the tfaf grafix as it got alot of followers after the movie.
@@extec101you can kinda blame the owner the for that
@@streetwatcher_ yes i feel that the owner of the car made some real stupid shit and is responsibe for destroying two real nice and valuable cars.
When I first saw this GT-R an MoteRx I knew they were trouble. I read all the stories and didn’t believe a word. I imported my Fairlady back in ‘92 in the military and knew it was hell. My car was here and didn’t have a problem getting Federalized parts. That grey market stuff was all about gone.
Love this old intro, Craig❤
Leon's GTR was my favorite car out of Toretto's crew. A shame it didn't get more screentime, but at least it was a nice introduction to the Skyline-family, and a forefront for the R-34 in the later movies.
Cars that were never sold in the states should automatically be eligible for import, the whole reason for the import laws was to stop importing cars from other countries for cheaper than they were being sold for here, which doesn't apply to cars that aren't even sold here.
We can blame Mercedes for that.
I remember seeing the movie for the first time thinking the steering wheel is on the wrong side, having absolutely no knowledge of these cars. Back then we understood Civics, Eclipses, and to some degree RX7s. But the only “import tuner” cars we could afford were Eagle Talons lol.
Imo, the r33 and the fd rx7 are the most JDM cars of the 90s, its something about the body lines and the stance that do it for me.
I'd argue the Impreza and Evo were the quintessential definition of 90s JDM cars.
@skylined5534 for the sedan side, I agree. 👍 My daughter wants a Evo.
I always wondered why Leon had the best car with no screen time
Love these videos Craig! Keep them coming !
Such a cool story about these cars!! This GTR is a horrible story of government overreach
If anyone should make a tribute car it should definitely be this one. Truly sad ending to the real one. RIP Big Bird.
Ok Craig, every time I watch these videos and you reference the low budget, I think of how I think not having totally over the top supercars is what helped the audience relate and make this movie successful.
These videos are so cool, please don't stop making them
I literally cried at the end. I hate how much control the government of a supposedly free country has over us.
Stop voting for democrats and disband the FBI
@@FiendishlyDelightedSefto Ronald Reagan, a republican president, made the import law effective
The GTR won every race in the Australian racing tournament, and the US government doesn't like that
If the GTR was an American car the US Government could have celebrated 🤔
The US fucks in every direction
Good atuffgood stuff Craig- I always look foward to your stories👍
The R33 is my favorite Skyline. They get the least amount of love but I love 'em.
I think Leon was probably one of the smartest characters in F&F he was a hangout and saw how the story played out and said F this Im out 😂
Yeah 😂
he opted from being in the rest of the movies to pursue his music career. on an interview he said that Leon's character's story had come to a conclusion.
It's pretty sad the government is more worried about seizing and destroying cars than criminals. Owning a Skyline or any car isn't hurting anyone. Our country is screwed up. Rest in peace Big Bird and the purple R33 GTR.
The old Option videos...core baby gear head memory unlocked
Leon was the smartest one of the squad. He made that U-turn on the highway and never looked back 😂
Great info and follow up on this legendary car sir. Yup, I was behind it at Pomona raceway with its HKS livery. Ran horrible times due to a bad turbo.
Rest in peace Big Bird 😥
He shouldve stayed in the franchise ! Make another movie and bring him back!
My friend worked at this junkyard I still have the news magazine, this was big story in Green Bay
This was always my favorite car in the movie. Still hoping to own 1 one day in midnight purple
I am an older guy... grew up in the 70s street racing with muscle cars in a small town. Back then, if the cops couldn't catch you, you got a way free. Think "American Graffiti" with late 60s and early 70s cars... anyway Fast and Furious was my first introduction to performance Japanese cars. I knew they existed, just didn't know anything about them. I now own two "car toys": a 2014 CTS-V coupe with some mods and a 1999 Mazda Protege with (mostly suspension) mods. Of the two, the Mazda is a lot more fun to drive... and a LOT cheaper to fix when something goes wrong. The V is a beast but it costs a lot to own and operate and you always worry about banging it up or shredding the supercharger or rear end whereas the Mazda handles like it is glued to the road (due to the mods) and even though the horsepower isn't there the 5 speed manual makes it feel like a 1960s sports car. If I tear something up it is easy and cheap to put back but honestly, it rarely breaks. A lot to be said for cars from the Land of Nippon.
Wow, thanks for sharing!!!
I was talking about this car non-stop after seeing the movie asking why it wasn’t Paul Walker’s car.
Seriously you should be able to import just about any car you want, and just pay extra taxes or something like that. I mean how many people are actually going to do this? Not many. I get “safety” is a concern, but there should be some sort of qualification for a car to be considered an “exotic”
The truth is there's a lot of cars that were build here with trash safety regulations (plus motorcycles) so I don't know why they latched on to that as an issue. (I also heard emissions, but again some cars have trash emissions, and both are in the minority) I agree with you, at the least just add on 'taxes' and in the end if the person can pay for it, win win. Person has their car and Gov't has deeper pockets. Plus the person will probably just drive it on weekends or maybe even trailer it everywhere so it's not gonna be an issue.
Truth of the matter is lots of people see cars as just a utility and don't care for them beyond that, and I honestly think they seeth a little when they see people have love for them. Jealousy? Ignorance? Bitterness? Whatever the reason, they want to stifle others' joy and stifle their freedom. That's my personal take anyway.
To add to your arguement why fuck and state ref cars that are more safe with roll cages and all that jazz driving in the streets and not your great grandpappy's rusted and clapped out chevy caprice?😂 Never understood that logic?
Thanks to Mercedes for lobbying govt to ban importing cars because they were losing money.
I drove a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E for a short errand! it was a bumpy experience and honestly, my 2001 Maxima drove better! I'll stick with my Maxima
Id love to see Leon have his own side story, from his own beginnings, to being in doms crew, to after the crew split after the last heist they did. It would be nice to know what happened to his character after the first original fast and furious movie and it would be a good way to show more of the r33 gtr and bring the franchise back to its original roots of street racing.
Love your videos Mr liberman
Very informative information. I am a fast and furious fan that love all content about the franchise.
What a shame. Aside from the fact that GTR would be worth a butt ton now, it was also an awesome piece of JDM history, especially on the State side. Thank you for the peak behind the curtain, and thank you for what you've done for the gear heads in the film industry.
Was in the marines on a westpac in 2000. Been doing great on GT2 with a GTR. Had a port stop in Singapore…..crossing the street, at the crosswalk sat my first in the flesh GTR. Clean silver.
Since the backstory of Leon and the Big Bird is kind of blank, allow me to fill it with a theory.
Leon is the fastest racer the franchise has ever seen.
Constantly on the run from police because of his role of distracting and tracking police for racing.
He is only seen when he has to be seen.
Good theory!
Think he still has big bird?
Leon goes on to become the NFS Underground/Most Wanted protagonist. lol Same hairdo... and loves jipping the cops.
he opted from being in the rest of the movies to pursue his music career. on an interview he said that Leon's character's story had come to a conclusion.
@@tekkamanviper2783 yeah we know latrinedveen was creating a fictional backstory to the FF franchise Leon not the real life actor.... just stop being a troll and keyboard warrior by posting the same comment on everyone else's comments you are making yourself look like a childish man child in your mothers basement.
The Fast And The Furious has the best cars from the whole franchies.
Amazing Video.........❤❤❤
The R33 is my favorite car in The Fast and Furious. Always loved it. Btw when was the front bumper/splitter changed as shown at 7:23? It has the N1 if I'm not mistaken, with the square ducts. In the movie it doesn't.
I see you have a Bretiling @Craig Lieberman! Nice!
Didn't like the R33 that much, but now you're making me all sad and emotional. 😭
Been following you for a while now and when i heard about this i was quite sad
Not only did most people not know what the car was, but they weren't going to be legal for another 20 years in the US anyway.
11:53
That isn’t the cover of the "January 1999" issue though.
That’s the "April 2003" issue.
That R33 also appeared in the SPORT COMPACT CAR "November 1999" issue.
(It can be seen on the cover, which also has a blue all-original GT-R R34.)
🙂
That’s sad , the feds would go through all of that to track a car, meanwhile they would leave the borders wide open, and say , “ nothing to see here folks!
i was stationed at yokota ab japan for 3 years 2016-2019, i have activated the windshield wipers on my 2002 Toyota Altezza Hatchback more times than i care to admit! lol
I remember Meet you at the casting call for the 2nd F&F movie! (I was that lowered Primer Black Cavalier with the full body kit that you had looked at, sadly my car didn't have that look you were going after for the 2bd movie)
I feel so old seeing the vhs clips of this car. I remember the day me & my ex went & saw this movie in theaters. It was kinda funny seeing people afterwards in the movie parking lot wanting to be like the movie. Kids an others were revving up there old cars, trucks & mom & dads cars. Seeing people trying to burn out in minivans & pickup trucks was hilarious.
Your dad is proud of you buddy. Keep going, we love you & your girl. And oh my god Oskar!
I remember them I had Gran Turismo 2 & 4 in the day. Now days it's Gran Turismo VS Forza I have Forza H 5 now days. All good memories
Man this could almost be a piece of historic value. If only the value of both those cars was realised back then today.
1 million as a budget explains why Jesse's vw had no front caliper 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Dust covers.... An early cheap "mod"
Nice! I have the tuner mag with the big bird r33 on the cover. Didn't know it was the same car
Honestly speaking, when i saw the sticker's on the cars i was like WTF did that?....lol
I totally forgot about Super Street, Import Tuner, and Euro Tuner. I miss collecting physical magazines. 😢
could you give us any information on the Mr2 spyders from 2 fast 2 furious . they sound so amazing
The first Fast & Furious always had the most "true to import scene" cars.
Feds: "We need to destroy that car. It could be dangerous!"
Also Feds: "Yes, you can ride that motorcycle."
I remember back in the early 1980`s when I was a kid growing up in Johannesburg, the South African Police had 3 litre, 6 cylinder Nissan Skyline`s, painted yellow with a single blue light on the roof, you still see the odd 1980`s Skyline running around over there, all be it in very bad shape...
In 2009 I saw some GTR engine parts on Ebay and asked the seller (Justin) if he had more, dude says "sure come on by". Grabbed 2 buddies and drove the 30 miles up to Green Bay, had no clue we would get to see his purple R33 in a modest 2 car garage in the middle of Green Bay, much less Big Bird sitting sideways in the back of the garage, no motor in it at the time. Was still yellow though with the blue cage. Was a surreal night for a few dsm guys lol, really sucks how things turned out.
I was really sad to hear that it was seized and crushed
Yessssss !!!! This is why I love you bro 🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟
Always loved this R33!
It was a cool and interesting inclusion in the movie, even though it was a bit out of place as that car wasn’t even officially sold in the US and also had the steering wheel on the right side...
Like an outcast in the middle of the 240 SX, Maxima, Jetta, RX-7, Eclipse etc.
All cars that were part of the tuner scene in the US market.
And we want to hear stories about Paul. Most people dont even understand was the first movie did for the car scene. All the cops sitting outside the movie theaters after it. The tuner scene blew up so big. These were the good days of cars. I miss those days. I wish the FF series would go back to racing or drifting or both or something
I hate what the movie did to the scene. Just like everything else, people jumped on the bandwagon and ruined it.
You can't be pro car and pro government at the same time.
still wild to me that ancient American-built vehicles are allowed on the roads, but a late 90's Japanese car isn't. Safety standards etc etc I get that, but if the concern was really all about keeping people safe, they'd ban old cars that didn't meet whatever modern regulations.
Cars over 25 years are considered classics/antiques, so they're completely legal.
There's no ban against Japanese cars; the model just has to be legally sold in the States. You can thank Mercedes and lobbyists for this bullshit.
its crazy as you say as we can just import jap cars into the uk without any issue . Still passes emissions
@@redslate yep that's exactly what I was referring to with the age.
There is a ban against importing non-US-spec vehicles less than 25 years old, unfortunately. Magically once they are 25+ years old we can import them without them needing to pass any safety tests, hence my original post.
Nice video , quick question tho... towards the end of the video , you mentioned the last owner of big bird , justin beno ... have you had a chance to also interview him ?
I feel , there is a huge gap in these videos on the big bird build after he took ownership.
I had an uncle who had one over seas. Because of the import restrictions on it at the time, he stripped it down and shipped it here in pieces, just labeled them as Honda parts or whatever else. Lmao, he used to have all kinds of people who would seek him out and offer all kinds of crazy amounts of money to try buying it. So much so that at one point he was considering doing the same thing for a number of other people. But figured it would only be a matter of time before cops started knocking at his door, so eventually he decided that probably wasn’t going to be a smart decision. I’ve always wondered where that one car is today.. Would absolutely love to manage to track her down one day!! 🤞🏼🤞🏼
Too bad the R33 ended life the way it did, was awesome back in 2001 to see it on screen. Another great video Craig, thanks for sharing 👍🏼
sick car, shame leon never got a sequel
he opted from being in the rest of the movies to pursue his music career. on an interview he said that Leon's character's story had come to a conclusion.
Heeeey cool! I worked on one of the stunt Supras back in the day. I believe it was the one that hit the sign in fnf II.
Hands down the best looking most underapprecated Skyline. R33, mk4 Supra, FD Rx-7 best looking Jdm cars of the 90s hands down.
Very interesting, that's footage of the GTR doing a drag race looks a lot like LACR in Little Rock California
What im still wondering is if they ever asked or thought of using the actor who played Leon in any of the future Fast and Furious films. Hes one of the only cast members that never returned.
The whole law that caused this is utter bull shit and I think it needs to be overturned the 20 years law for importing vehicles was a stupid law from the start.
As a Brit it’s funny hearing someone say that they didn’t know what an r33 gtr was in the late 90’s
They weren’t common over here but you if you went to any decent car meets you’d probably see one. Maybe not a gtr but a gtst or some lesser model. But I remember seeing these cars about as a kid.
My cousin had an r32 gtr for a short period of time. In an r33 gtr for an even shorter period of time. They’re amazing cars. I’ve got friends who’ve had several skylines of different types over the years including one with a wide bodied r34 gtst running close to 900bhp.
It’s a shame there are so many laws and stipulations over in the states when it comes to imports. I feel like you guys miss out on a lot of stuff that us Brits possibly take for granted
As little as I care for skylines It's still sad they were destroyed. I dont get why they couldn't have been shipped out of country at owners expense and vin's black listed from ever returning. Everyone would have won at that point, no car destroyed, owner punished, government happy.
Whatever happened to Leon's character and why didn't he come back to the franchise? Awesome but sad video thx! 😳🙏🍾🍾🍾
Damn based on the history not just with F&F but all the press/magazines afterwards this 33 would fetch a crazy price now. Such a shame it was crushed.
Craig Liebermann is the GOAT
We got anti hooning laws in Australia where if you get caught more than once being a hoon (burnouts,donuts etc) the police seize your car and crush it while you watch. Don’t matter what car it is or how much it’s worth it’s getting crushed. Lamborghini, Ferrari etc it’s getting crushed. And most of the hoons have highly modified cars with lots of $ spent.
This hurts my soul 🤦🏻
I feel like the only reason gtr’s and the mkiv Supra gets the money they do is behind the movie series.