This 1963 Corvette Grand Sport replica gasser has a bit part in the latest Fast and Furious movie “The Fate of the Furious” which is now playing. The car, built in Ravenna by Mongoose Motorsports, will be on display at the Salem Super Cruise which starts next week. (Contributed photo)

SALEM — A touch of “Fast and Furious” will be on display at the Salem Super Cruise when Mongoose Motorsports brings a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport gasser on June 10. The 12th annual Super Cruise will be held June 8-11 featuring a weekend of cruising.

The aqua-blue Corvette, built at the company’s 33,000 square-foot facility in Ravenna, has a bit part in the latest Fast and Furious movie, Mongoose Motorsports co-owner Gary Krause said.

“The Fate of the Furious,” also known as Fast and Furious 8, is currently playing, but the company built a number of cars for “Fast and Furious 5” when it broke into the movie business in a much bigger way, Krause said.

He and his wife, Tricia, own Mongoose Motorsports which builds and sells 1963 Corvette Grand Sport replicas through a licensing agreement with General Motors Corp., manufacturer of the Corvette.

Mongoose Motorsports was launched into the movies in a big way and its website takes close notice of how it broke in.

“In the spring of 2010 we received an exciting phone call, we almost couldn’t believe what they were saying.

“The voice on the other end of the phone asked us if we could build several of our Grand Sport roadsters for a major motion picture.

“We were being given the opportunity to become a part of the Fast and Furious car family. With little thought and even smaller timeline we accepted. It was a big opportunity and an even greater challenge but it was the Fast and Furious right?”

The production company ordered nine cars.

“And so it began, the deadline was set, and we started building frames and bodies.

“As cars came together we sent them out to the production company. Everything was kept very quiet, this was going to be a big blockbuster and we were going to be a part of it.”

Nine custom-built cars were delivered and the silver Corvette roadster starred in a memorable “airborne” scene and it “ended up jumping out of a train, bouncing across the desert and flying off into a ravine …”

“Fast and Furious 5” was made in 2010 and of the nine cars Mongoose Motorsports delivered, six were, Krause noted, “destroyed in filming.”

He has one of the remaining Corvettes, one is with an overseas collector and the other is owned by a company that collects movie cars.

In the current movie, “The Fate of the Furious,” the aqua Corvette appearing at the Super Cruise, has a quick, bit part.

There’s a scene where the “team” approaches a warehouse and after large power doors sweep open a red Lamborghini can be seen on a rack.

The camera moves to a scene with a “tank” in the foreground and the aqua Corvette Grand Sport gasser, with a big supercharger sticking up through the engine compartment, can be seen in the upper left of the screen.

Krause said there are about 60 cars in the Mongoose shop and the company continues to build cars for customers.

Gene Johnson of the Cruisin’ Crew, who handles the microphone and manages the show car parking throughout the Super Cruise, said the Corvette Gransport will be on display with a number of “blasts from the past” drag race cars on South Lundy Ave.

Those featured cars will include Bill Paluka’s “Honkin Hemi” Plymouth, the #1 Performance Center Racing “Time Bandit” and several others.

Butch Chovan of Copley, Oh., will display the “Red Baron Mustang II” while Pat Moore’s “White Lightning” 1970 Dodge Dart, that won the 1985 IHRA bracket world championship, will also be on display.

For more information on the movie cars, visit mongoosemotorsports.com and for more information on the Super Cruise, visit, www.salemsupercruise.com and www.arbyscarcruisesalemohio.com.

lshields@salemnews.net