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Eleanor originated in the 1974 film: “Gone in 60 Seconds” made by H.B Toby Haliki. Eleanor is the only Ford Mustang to receive a star title credits in a movie. The original Eleanor was 1971 fastback cars restyled in 1973 for the film. This was painted on a pale yellow and the film gained cult status in the 70’s.
(Original 1971 Mustang used in 1974 film)
The 2000 remake of the film was made possible when Denise Maliki the widow of the original film maker licenced the rights to Disney to remake a film by the same name. This time Nicholas Cage has the starring role as the master thief Randall “Memphis “Raines tasked with stealing 50 cars in one night. Each car was given a female name. The last car to be stolen was “Eleanor”. On this occasion a 1967 Ford Mustang depicted as a GT500 Mustang in a modern Metallic Pepper Grey and with a customised body kit and styling. The design was created by Hot Rod illustrator Steve Stanford and made a reality by custom car designer Chip Foose.
(1967 GT500 Eleanor as used in the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 seconds)
Following the success of the movie several companies and individuals have rebuilt and customised 1967/8 Mustangs to resemble the film car. Although he had no directly involvement in the film the late Carroll Shelby started to licence the Shelby brand to certain companies producing what have been described as “continuation Shelby Gt500’s “.
The first company licenced by Shelby was called “Unique Performance “in Dallas. This company for while were producing a refurbished 67 car with new parts and the Carol Shelby signature on the dash. We visited this company with the intention of selling their vehicles in the EU and other parts of the world. However, something did not feel right, and we did not engage with them. They were shut down by the American authorities for fraud as they allegedly were “title ringing “. The practice of transferring Vin numbers from one vehicle to another!
Subsequently, we started to buy cars from an Oklahoma company who were originally selling “Eleanor’s “licenced by Haliki films. We imported some of these to find that the overall quality of the build was not fantastic, and we ended up doing a fair amount of further work in the UK. Even this company was raided by the American authorities and vehicles ceased for allegations of title and VIN irregularities. Today this same company sells their Eleanor’s branded as Shelby continuation cars.
We offer a complete turnkey package for buying a 1967 Mustang restored and upgraded to GT500 Eleanor style specification. We have learnt a lot from dealing with these builds and for some years now offer our own build with the best components and at a quality level that unlikely to be achieved elsewhere.
We can either build a car from an original 1967/68 body/ vehicle or we can supply a brand-new body and chassis with all new components. You can choose from original equipment or certain modern upgrades to improve the driving and ownership experience. We can deliver a robust, powerful build that is dependable and handles with a level of predictability you would expect in a modern car. Built to your own specification from either an original body or a new body shell, each GT500 CS take about 10 months to deliver from order. Costs from £180K to £300K depending on final specification. Take a look at one of our mustang restoration projects.
If you have bought or are contemplating buying a 1960’s Mustang let us check it out for you before you buy it. Where ever the vehicle is located we can arrange a thorough inspection to ensure you really know what you are buying and what essential and desirable repairs are needed.
