Ford Mustang – Twin Turbo “Eleanor” GT500

Only three of the eleven Mustangs built for the 2000 Gone in 60 Seconds could actually drive — the rest were stunt shells that never needed to run. That car, known as Eleanor, has since spawned a full replica industry, with modern builds now available with twin-turbo big blocks the original film cars never had. A recent court ruling finally settled who’s allowed to build one. Here’s the real story behind Hollywood’s most famous Mustang.

What a Beast!!!

Hollywood built exactly eleven of them, and only three could actually drive. Everything else was scenery — a stunt shell wheeled into frame, hero car nowhere in sight. The 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds needed a Mustang that looked like a Shelby but survived take after take of stunt driving, and the solution the production team landed on became more famous than the movie itself. Decades later, replica builders are still recreating that exact car, now often with a twin-turbocharged big block under the hood that the original film cars never had. A recent court ruling just settled, for good, who’s allowed to build one.

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Eleven Cars, Three That Actually Ran

For the 2000 Gone in 60 Seconds, producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s team built eleven Mustangs to play “Eleanor,” the car Nicolas Cage’s character couldn’t steal. Only three were fully functional hero cars used for close-up and driving shots; the rest were stunt shells built to survive crashes and jumps without needing to run. Each started life as a 1967 Mustang fastback, modified to look like a Shelby GT500 while hiding far more modern mechanicals underneath the vintage bodywork. Production crews also reinforced the chassis and upgraded the brakes on the driving cars to survive repeated stunt work that a stock 1967 Mustang was never engineered to handle.

From Movie Prop to Twin-Turbo Restomod

After the film’s release, demand for Eleanor replicas exploded, and Classic Recreations became the officially licensed builder between 2007 and 2009. Today‘s builds go well beyond what appeared on screen — buyers can order a Coyote V8, a supercharged setup, or a twin-turbocharged big block, along with options like a convertible body or right-hand drive for overseas markets. The film-accurate look stays the same; everything underneath it has been reengineered for modern performance and reliability. Buyers can also spec period-correct paint and badging to match specific scenes from the film, turning a replica build into something closer to a rolling prop reproduction.

A Legal Fight That Just Ended

For years, replica builders faced legal pressure from Denice Halicki, widow of the original film’s director, over the Eleanor name and design. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately ruled that Eleanor is a movie prop rather than a copyrightable character, a decision that effectively freed the design for licensed recreation and closed a decades-long chapter of litigation. That legal clarity has, if anything, accelerated demand, with builders reporting waiting lists that stretch well beyond a year for a completed car.

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