So what made Eleanor so popular? Most would agree that it was the blend of legendary classic Shelby styling mixed with some modern touches. In the movie the car was a 1967 Shelby GT500, but of course the studio wasn't going to trash real Shelby's for the movie. So instead all the film cars were modified 1967 fastback Mustangs.

As with most movie cars, there were several Eleanors for filming. Eleven in total and 2 were completely destroyed in the final stunt sequence....and junk yard crusher scene...OUCH! Also typical for movie cars, each looked the same outside, but was fitted differently depending on what was needed for that shot. Some were built for handling the curves in the chase scenes. Others for the jumps (and subsequent hard landings). Some were mostly eye candy with perfect bodies and paint for those close up scenes.

In 2009 Barrett-Jackson offered up the GT500 Eleanor for sale from the movie. This was one of the well cared for cars used in closeups that survived the filming without damage. Final price was just over $216,000.00