If you’re modding your Honda Civic for a grand heist, these are the tires you want
A humorous Twitter exchange went down earlier this week between a Tire Rack rep and a mutual Twitter pal. In the exchange he asks one of his friends if he “should call Tire Rack to and see if they carry Mashimoto ZX tires (for his Saab 9-2X)?”
Without even being tagged, Tire Rack responded with this little quip below.
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, we do not carry Mashimoto ZX tires, however, we do carry 26 major tire brands. We'd be happy to provide a recommendation. We would need your full tire size and little more information about what you're looking for in a tire.
— TireRack.com (@tirerack) February 18, 2021
Of course, everyone is in on the joke.
Unfortunately, although Mashimoto sounds like a legit tire brand, Mashimoto ZXs aren’t an actual make and model of tire.
Tire sponsors already partners with “The Fast and the Furious” didn’t want to be associated with anything in the criminal underworld.
Craig Lieberman, producer, technical advisor and writer on “The Fast and The Furious Facts” confirms this on a Facebook post.
Here’s the exact moment in 2001’s “The Fast and the Furious” where Seargent Tanner fills in agent Brian O’Conner on what the LAPD knows thus far.
Mashimoto sounds plausible since there is an American-based aftermarket cooling company called Mishimoto, not to mention Falken Tires own house brand called Ziex.
Twenty years later, most everyone now knows Mashimoto ZXs aren’t real but, after the F&F first came out, you can imagine tire shops were flooded with calls how they can get the hook up on these one-offs.
In a post by F&F replica maker @Dom_Dub about said tires, @ZeldaTheHedgeHog. one of his followers, mentions how,
“l’ll never forget going to a tire shop when i was 16 and asking for Mishimoto ZX’s to put on my Sentra ?”
Mashimoto Zx’s, they only exist in the movie.
