Case Study: Paul Walker

Paul Walker stood by his favourite car model; the Nissan GT-R in Fast & Furious.

I've chosen Paul Walker to study as an icon for urban car culture as I know personally, the impact he has made across the world for both his on-screen passion for cars in the Fast & Furious films and his off-screen enthusiasm & love for cars.

The Fast & the Furious hit the screens in 2001; it depicted an undercover officer Brian O'Connor (played by Paul Walker) getting inside the underground street racing scene to unearth their criminal antics. Of course, a large focus on the movie was the cars; each one was unique in its own way through aftermarket modifications and the film catered for all types of enthusiasts and gave birth to new enthusiasts including myself, I could probably narrow down my passion for cars coming from this very film.

In the two videos above you can see Paul Walker in the orange Toyota Supra battling against Vin Diesel in the black Dodge Charger; this represents the varying tastes developed by car enthusiasts all over the world; from tricked out Japanese imports to some good old American muscle. This sense of community and shared love for cars portrayed in the film inspired a lot of people and has since sparked a trend of many different car cultures. To this day people still reminisce over the films, for example that famous scene from the first film was recreated by YouTuber: Domestic Mango using GTA 5 in August of this year reaching over 1million people.

Paul Walker expressed his passion both on screen through Fast & Furious and off-screen. Travelling the world to meet people behind the performance tuning industry of both low and high end Japanese cars; his most favourite being the Nissan GT-R range.

A small selection of Paul Walker and Roger Rodas's car collection at their AR Performance garage.

Paul Walker furthered his passion for cars by collecting cars with his racing driver friend Roger Rodas. The two collected as many iconic cars as they could a modified them in their own shop: AE Performance.

Proof of how much an impact Paul Walker had on car enthusiasts across the world was ever more apparent when he sadly died in a car accident when leaving a charity event on November 30, 2013. Tributes poured in for the late star and even I created a tribute video using GTA 5 which reached over 3.8million people after the release of his final film: Fast & Furious 7.

Paul Walker & the Fast & Furious franchise has played a rather large part in getting people interested in the aftermarket car industry; though it is a very expensive industry for the average consumer it is a very highly marketable area merely for the attention it gains.