Universal has made money hand over fist from the Fast and Furious franchise, but even with Fast Five set to hit theaters in the spring, you have to wonder if it's going to run out of steam eventually. Luckily stories about cars and the badasses who drive them are much bigger than that ongoing rivalry between Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, and Universal has picked their latest horsepower tale to run with.

They've brought on Ricardo de Montreuil to direct what they're calling Untitled Low Rider Project, with a screenplay from Cheo Hodari Coker. Much as I wish it were just an adaptation of the song from the 70s, it sounds like more of a crime thriller crossed with a little heartfelt emotion:

A young man from Pacoima builds the ultimate street cruiser in his best friend’s memory and finds fortune and fame. But when the local badass wants a piece of him, is Salavador’s pursuit of the American dream all it’s cracked up to be?

de Montreuil, whose most recent effort is the sci-fi short The Raven, also directed Mancora, a Spanish-language project that screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. He's clearly an up and comer who showed off something that the Universal people liked, and the Low Rider project sounds like something small enough to handle while also a story with potential to turn into something unique. If we're choosing between this and another Fast and Furious movie, I'll take this one any day.

And now, because it's stuck in my head and I want you to sing along with me: