The classic car market briefly enjoyed an unprecedented run-up in prices prior to the 2008 economic collapse, with even plain-jane muscle cars fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars. These days collectors are a lot tighter with their wallets, and the number of million-dollar muscle cars are few and far between. When these rare cars appear on the auction block they draw obvious attention, and the crowd often goes wild.

At the Mecum Auction in Indianapolis this past weekend, the Shelby GT500 Mustang nicknamed “Eleanor” from the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds crossed the auction block. When the bidding closed, Eleanor sold for a cool million bucks.

The film remake of the original car chase sensation was a huge international hit, spawning an entire industry dedicated to marketing and building replicas of the movie’s star car. Everybody expected this legit Hollywood star car to bring a big crowd and big bucks at auction, but we doubt anyone thought it would go as high as a million.

This is THE hero car, the one used in close-ups, the one Nicholas Cage himself sat in. This is the car on all the posters, in all the magazines, and all over the internet, the one and only original Eleanor. Ray Claridge, owner of Cinema Vehicle Services, was on hand to provide a bit of authenticity to the sale, and say goodbye to a car that his company built thirteen years ago. Claridge notes that Eleanor is one of the rare cars in his line of work that really catches your eye. Drawing huge crowds and such a high price is proof that Eleanor is a special car indeed.

To us it’s not surprising that Eleanor sold for such a premium price, it’s the car that started a trend, and to own that car might be akin to living with a movie star. Hollywood still has star power when it comes to some cars it seems.