Very sad day in both Hollywood and in the automotive world after TMZ reported that Paul Walker, best known for his Fast & Furious Movie Franchise died in an automobile crash.   TMZ reported that Paul Walker and a friend were in Santa Clarita today for a car show and charity event, when, while riding as the passenger in a Porche, crashed into a tree, and the vehicle burst into flames. Paul walker's reps later confirmed this on both his Facebook and Twitter pages.

Fast & Furious Movie Franchise was born with the actor back in 2001, and not only rekindled the love of American Muscle Cars, it fueled an enormous interest to the world of custom cars, hot rods, imports, after market parts, exotics as well as street racing enthusiasts...   stemming off with 5 sequels and two short films, along with several video games, Fast & Furious has been one of Universal Studios most successful franchises of all time.  

Paul Walker (Brian O'Conner) started in all of the Fast & Furious Films and was actually in the middle of filming the latest installment Fast & Furious 7.   Our hearts go out to the friends and family of the actor.  He was a very talented, and his chartiable efforts affected lives all around the world.  We will never forget the day the first movie came out, driving to the theater, showing off our current mods, sounds systems, engines, body kits and ground effects, in an unofficial parking lot car show... or the movie inspired customizations we later made to our cars that week.  How excited we'd get film after film to envy and get a glimpse of the amazing cars Paul was lucky to drive. Some of the cars made famous from the films, the 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, VeilSide RX-7, 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, 1966 Ford GT40 Mk II, 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, 2012 Lucra LC470, Nissan R35 GT-R and even the Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS Spyder will continue to remind us of our 13+ year love affair with the Fast & Furious Movie Franchise, as well as it's amazing star, Paul Walker.  

What many of you may not know about Paul Walker is that he was also, himself, personally involved in cars.  Born into a racing family, and following into his grandfather's footsteps, Paul Walker started into auto racing.   A few years ago he joined Motorsports Enterprise Racing and competed in Redline Time Attack racing series, really put his Fast and the Furious driving skills to the test.  Not only that, he was very passionate about his charity, Reach Out World Wide, a quick-response, mobile first aid organization aiding in rescue and recovery after major natural disasters around the globe.   Paul traveled worldwide, donating his own time to help those in need.  

The automotive world has truly lost a great auto enthusiast, racer, entertainer, and humanitarian.   You will be missed, and always rememered. 

Rest in Peace.  

Sources Credit: TMZ, Twitter