The popular actor Tom Cruise is one of the Hollywood actors who likes to perform part of the scenes considered risky himself. Therefore, he is often seen driving cars and motorcycles on screen. During his prolific career, he has had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of such special cars as the Bugatti Veyron, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350H or the Porsche 928.
However, perhaps the most iconic car that has ever appeared in a movie is the Ferrari 250 GTO, one of the most attractive, exclusive and valued sports cars in history. Cruise leads him while he wanders through the streets of New York in the memorable opening scene of the 2001 feature film called ‘Vanilla Sky’ (which is the American version of the Spanish ‘Abre los ojos’, by Amenábar) and in which he shares the bill with Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.
If you saw the movie, you probably thought it was a real Ferrari, with its large Prancing Horse badges on the sides, its Lexan windows and its characteristic air intakes at the front. In reality, the car that Tom Cruise’s character, David Aames, drives in his disturbing dream at the beginning of the film is just a replica of the iconic Ferrari 250 GTO.
Cruise’s meticulously crafted vehicle is based on a 1976 Datsun 280Z that received a fiberglass Alpha 1 GTO body and a robust Chevrolet V8 engine before being purchased by the film’s production company.
If you’re wondering why the film production company didn’t use a real 250 GTO, you should keep in mind that only 36 units of the legendary Italian model were produced, so it couldn’t be found easily and, furthermore, its price was really high.
The impeccable replica was originally conceived by the Californian specialists at Eagle Engineering and maintains almost identical proportions, with minimal differences in length, width, height and wheelbase compared to the original Ferrari 250 GTO. For this reason, except to expert eyes, the replica hits the mark without a deep examination of the details.
It should not be overlooked that Ferrari is not exactly fond of replicas of its cars by third parties, so legal pressure from the Maranello company determined that it was sold to an Italian company that modified it and renamed it Alpha. One GTO. With this name, a kit was even put on sale available to any customer.
Returning to the Hollywood film unit, it’s worth noting that it received a major makeover in the years following its film debut. In any case, its current resemblance to a 250 GTO remains more than considerable. If you want to remember that opening scene of ‘Vanilla Sky’ through the streets of New York mentioned above, you just have to take a look at the video that accompanies this article starting at minute 1:55.
