“Need for Speed” may not be going up for any academy awards, but it certainly fulfills its promise to be a genuine car film. It has everything from muscle cars, to supercars, to helicopters dangling a vehicle over the Bonneville Salt Flats. However, if you remember only one thing from the 2014 movie, it is likely the widebody Shelby GT500 and the wild scenes of it sliding around corners with a howling supercharged V8. 

What Shelby was in Need for Speed?

The 2013 widebody Shelby Mustang is actually a series of S197 Ford Mustang GTs. However, unlike a Ford Mustang GT, the widebody Shelby GT500 from the film is anything but stock. According to Street Muscle Magazine, the glamor car was a 2013 Shelby GT500, and some of the hard-working cars were seven Mustang GTs. 

However, unlike the respectable Coyote V8 you get with a 2013 Ford Mustang GT, the Need for Speed Shelby packs a supercharged 5.8L Ford Racing V8. The result is a widebody screamer with 900 horsepower. Not even the production 2013 Shelby GT500 comes close to those numbers. 

Why is the Shelby GT500 special?

The narrative in the film is that the car was the project that Carroll Shelby and Ford were working on at the time of Shelby’s death. However, this car was designed and created specifically for the Need for Speed film. According to Street Muscle Magazine, Steeda and Technosports Creative LLC collaborated to build the film-ready Shelby. 

Can you buy a Shelby GT500 like the car in Need for Speed? 

Unfortunately, there was no production model bearing the angry widebody of the Need for Speed Mustang. Instead, you could purchase a 2013 or 2014 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and install a widebody kit. Although to make your 662-horsepower Shelby move like the movie car, you’ll need to up the power. 

If you wanted the actual car from “Need for Speed,” you would have had to buy it at auction. According to MotorTrend, the glamor car used in the film’s production sold at auction for $300,000. 

What other cars are in Need for Speed? 

The cars featured in “Need for Speed” prove that the film is a love letter to the car enthusiast. For example, the movie begins with a street race involving a Pontiac GTO, a Chevrolet Camaro, and a Ford Torino. Also, following the cross-country cannonball run in the Shelby, Aaron Paul’s character, Toby Marshall, takes part in the fictitious De Leon race with such supercars as a Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, a Saleen S7, and a Koenigsegg Agera. 

Even the then-new S550 generation Mustang appeared at the end of the film. A 2015 Ford Mustang GT with its six-speed automatic transmission might not seem like much compared to a Shelby GT500, but it was certainly something to be excited about. 

What other famous Shelby GT500s have been in Hollywood movies?

The Ford Mustang has a long tradition in film. For instance, the iconic Dark Highland Green 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 from “Bullitt” might be one of the most famous movie cars ever. Beyond the appeal of the Mustang on its own, the Shelby GT500 has Hollywood name recognition. The famous “Eleanor” car in the movie “Gone in Sixty Seconds” is a Shelby GT500. 

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