2025 marks 25 years since we watched Nicholas Cage outrun a helicopter with Eleanor, the custom 1967 Shelby GT500, in the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. The movie instantly elevated the car to legendary status and earned it a cult following among the car community. Today it is considered one of the most recognizable movie cars in cinema history. To celebrate this Silver Jubilee, Cinema Muscle Recreations LLC have announced a limited run of Eleanors, set to debut on November 1 at Concours at Wynn Las Vegas.
The team behind this project are the same folks that were responsible for the creation of the 11 Eleanor cars used in the movie 25 years ago, so it doesn’t get more authentic than this. The officially licensed tribute Mustangs will be limited to just 25 units, aimed at collectors and the enthusiasts that can afford them, and each car will come with a numbered plaque, full documentation, and official branding rights, certifying its authenticity.Â
Cinema Muscle Recreations
The Eleanor Mustang’s Legal Battles To Survive
The Eleanor GT500 story is not without its share of controversy. Over the last two decades Denice Halicki, owner of the rights to the original 1974 Gone in 60 Seconds and all related intellectual property and branding elements, has regularly pursued legal action to claim ownership over Eleanor’s likeness. Denice inherited the rights to the film from her husband, H.B. Halicki, who wrote and directed the 1974 movie. She has aggressively protected her ownership of ‘Eleanor’ as a copyrightable character and initiated litigation against anyone, including Shelby themselves, who attempted to build a replica or tribute car.Â
Cinema Muscle Recreations
Finally, earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals has ruled that Eleanor is a movie prop and not a copyrightable character, effectively freeing the design for licensed recreations. This ruling has allowed Cinema Muscle Recreations to go ahead and release their 25th anniversary Eleanor build, and opens the door for more customizers to create their own tributes to the famous GT500
Resurrecting Eleanor in 2025
The Cinema Muscle Recreations project is called Eleanor: Gone Again. The build takes its foundation from the 1967 Ford Mustang fastback, but its transformation is more than cosmetic. While staying faithful to the original design, Eleanor: Gone Again will also incorporate modern updates to better appeal to a new generation of enthusiasts. With bodywork, paint, trim, lighting, hood design and interior touches tuned to echo the high-performance, movie-star aura of the original, each car is both a tribute and a high-performance Mustang in its own right. Expect quality parts, attention to detail, and authenticity in every aspect of the build.
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