Into dance music? You’ll definitely want to check this out. Here are all the modified cars featured in the recent Calvin Harris ‘Desire’ music video!
Renowned British DJ, Calvin Harris, has been cranking out some ’90s-inspired tracks recently. His latest release, ‘Desire’, features vocals by Sam Smith and an accompanying music video which is absolutely littered with modified cars, inspired by turn-of-the-century car meets. So, we thought we’d sit down and dissect it all in one neat article. If you want to check out the song for yourself first though, watch the music video here.
Ford Escort Mk6 Saloon
This nineties Ford is perhaps the most ‘of its time’ vehicle featured in the Desire music video. Sporting two-tone blue and turquoise paint, as well as a bodykit straight from one of our old magazines, it’s impressive that a build of this age has lasted so long in seemingly good condition. Sure, it’s easy to poke fun at a car like this in 2023, but there’s no doubt that this genre of vehicle is seeing a resurgence in nostalgic popularity, following the dawn of various new reunion shows.
Nissan Silvia S14
Next up, something a little more relevant to today’s modified car culture. This comparatively sensible S14 Silvia is one of the key stunt cars used in the music video. First, it can be seen hooning around an industrial car park by itself, but later in the video it becomes part of a tandem drift demonstration. If you watch with an eagle eye, you’ll notice that by the latter stages it’s running stock wheels on the rear as opposed to the aftermarket rims it starts out on. Evidently, they burnt through the fist set of tires pretty quickly on this shoot!
Vauxhall Nova SR
A pillar of British car park meets in the 1990s, whoever produced this music video clearly knew what they were doing when they cast a Vauxhall Nova. Apart from this tunnel scene, the Nova doesn’t have much of a dynamic role to play in the Desire music video, but is regularly spotted as background furniture. The plate’s a nice touch, too.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI
Calvin Harris stays hidden for most of the video, but when he does briefly emerge, he can be seen loitering next to a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. Good taste, but remember Calvin, “it’s not how you stand by your car, it’s how you race your car”.
Sadly, the Evo’s gone again almost as quickly as it appears (apart from a very brief cameo in the background of another shot). At first glance, we wondered whether it might be a real Tommi Makinen Edition, but no, upon closer inspection it’s fairly evident that it’s a normal Evo VI playing WRC dress-up. However, the seemingly stripped-out interior and rear roll cage suggests it’s seen its fair share of track action.
Toyota Chaser vs. BMW E46
One guy who clearly took Ja Rule’s advice to heart was the driver of this Toyota. The video isn’t short of action, but one of the most entertaining parts from an enthusiast’s point of view is the race which breaks out between a black Chaser and a red BMW E46 3-Series. The Chaser ends up winning after some scrappy driving from the guy in the BMW, which is a 325i, if you’re wondering.
BMW E30 & Nissan Silvia S13
The old-school E30 is present in the Desire music video as well as its younger E46 counterpart. In fact, it’s one of the most frequently spotted vehicles in the whole shoot, thanks to it being cast as Sam’s vehicle of choice. It’s evidently lowered, probably on bags given the complete lack of arch gap (especially at the rear). It also seems to be wearing BBS alloys, which always work on anything retro and Germanic. Overall, it appears to be a really nice build, though we could do without the promotional Desire decals.
This shot is a 2-for-1 actually, as in the background you can spot a clean white S13 Silvia drift car, doing its thing and creating a lot of tire smoke.
BMW E46 Coupe
Sticking with the BMW theme, this E46 coupe is another key stunt car used in the music video’s drifting shots. In particular, it joins the aforementioned black S14 Silvia in a tandem run, during which the pair circle around a central group of cars at the impromptu group meet.
Honda Prelude
As the video reaches its climax, Sam switches their E30 for a heavily visually-modified Honda Prelude. Like the Escort, this car definitely wouldn’t be out of place in one of our print editions from the early 2000s. In this scene, Sam appears to be praying to a higher power, presumably because the darn aftermarket immobilizer has gone haywire again. Typical…
Bonus cover art car
It might not feature in the music video itself, but there is one more car I want to mention. And that’s a second Honda Prelude, this time an orange one which appears on the limited edition cover art for the track’s vinyl and CD releases.
At the time of writing, the car is actually for sale on Facebook Marketplace for just £1199! Do bear in mind though that it’s clearly had a bit of a rough life recently. The seller’s description for this 2.2-liter manual example states that the production team “probably” drained its fluids before hanging it from a crane, and it’s also got some rust in the rear arches. Still, if you want a bit of dance music history, £1199 doesn’t seem too bad a price.
If you’re now feeling inspired to kit out your own car with a pumped-up sound system, make sure to check out some of the resources below:
