This is a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback that has been professionally rebuilt into an officially-licensed Eleanor® – the modified Mustang from the 2000 film Gone In 60 Seconds starring Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie.
This car is powered by a high-performance Ford FE Big Block 429 cubic inch V8, it has a 4-speed Toploader manual transmission, and of course, it has the “Go-Baby-Go” switch and nitrous bottle.
Fast Facts – A Licensed “Gone In 60 Seconds” Eleanor®
- “Gone in 60 Seconds” was released in the year 2000 starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Christopher Eccleston, Robert Duvall, and Vinnie Jones. The film was a commercial success, raking in almost a quarter of a billion dollars at the box office.
- The film was a modern remake of the 1974 film “Gone in 60 Seconds” by H. B. Halicki, and the rights to it were licensed from his widow Denice Shakarian Halicki in 1995.
- In the 2000 version of the film, the plot requires Nicolas Cage as Randall “Memphis” Raines to steal 50 very specific cars in exchange for his brother’s life. One of them is a Shelby Mustang GT500 nicknamed “Eleanor.”
- The car you see here is one of the modern officially licensed Eleanors built with the approval of Gone in 60 Seconds® LLC and the Halicki estate.
H. B. Halicki’s First Eleanor
There have been two films called Gone in 60 Seconds, the first was written, produced, and directed by H. B. Halicki and released in 1974. The second film was produced by his wife Denice Halicki and Jerry Bruckheimer and released in the year 2000 – it’s this later film that most are familiar with.
It isn’t widely known that “Gone in 60 Seconds” is actually a sequel, outside of the car world anyway. The first film was written, produced, and directed by H. B. Halicki and it featured a 40 minute car chase scene that wrecked 93 cars – it’s still one of the longest car chases in cinema history. Halicki was tragically killed while filming “Gone in 60 Seconds 2,” it would be his widow Denice Halicki that co-produced the 2000 remake of the film with Jerry Bruckheimer.
Both Gone in 60 Seconds films featured modified Mustangs called “Eleanor,” the first film used a 1971 Mustang Sportsroof that had been facelifted with a 1973 grille. In actual fact, two cars were bought and prepared for the first film, one was set up for stunt driving and the other was kept intact for the “beauty shots.”
The stunt car would be destroyed in the film and even though it survived filming unscathed the second car would later be crushed for reasons lost to history – according to a 1974 interview with Halicki.
The Nicolas Cage Eleanor
The Eleanor car used in the more famous second Gone in 60 Seconds film starring Nicolas Cage was said to be a 1967 Ford Shelby GT500, though of course it wasn’t, it would have been far too costly to use an original as a stunt car.
Either 11 or 12 replicas were built by Cinema Vehicle Services for the film, just three of these were fully-functioning vehicles however. There was one additional fully-functioning Eleanor built with a Ford 428 V8 however this was never used in the film, it was made specifically for Jerry Bruckheimer’s personal collection.
Of the original film cars that were made, seven are said to have survived filming and made it back to Cinema Vehicle Services in one piece (more or less). Since that time three cars have been offered for public sale, the main hero car from the film was sold by Mecum in 2013 for $1,000,000 USD.
Above Video: This is the original trailer for the 200 film “Gone in 60 Seconds” with its all star cast including Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Christopher Eccleston, Robert Duvall, and Vinnie Jones.
The Officially Licensed “Gone In 60 Seconds” Eleanor®
In the years after the release of the second Gone In 60 Seconds film, limited runs of officially licensed examples of Eleanor® have been released, all signed off on by H. B. Halicki’s widow Denice.
The car you see in this article is one of these licensed examples, it started life as a standard 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback that was stripped back to its bare metal unibody frame and placed in a rotisserie.
The restoration was extensive and included the fitment of many new and upgraded parts, not the least of which was the Ford FE Big Block V8, a 429 cubic inch (7.0 liter) motor that was rebuilt by Waynes Engines of Riverside, California.
This rebuild included aluminum heads, a Fast 2.0 EFI self-learning computer controlled fuel-injection system, a downdraft 8-stack short intake, PerTronix electronics with an MSD control box, a custom March pulley system, and a NOS system linked to the “Go-Baby-Go” button on top of the shifter.
This engine is mated to a 4-speed Toploader manual transmission which sends power back to a 9 inch rear end that has been upgraded with a 4-link suspension coupled with modern front and rear adjustable coilover shock absorbers.
The vehicle now rides on correct Eleanor®-style wheels with performance tires, it’s also been upgraded with 4-wheel disc brakes, a modern air conditioning system, and a custom painted roll bar with seat belt harnesses.
Just like the Eleanor in the film, this car has a “Go-Baby-Go” nitrous button on the shifter for when you need a little boost.
The engine feeds out into side-exit dual exhausts with headers, 2.5 inch exhaust piping and electric controlled cut-outs. The car has been professionally refinished in Pepper Gray Metallic 2-stage PPG paint with Black rally stripes and multiple layers of clear coat.
As you would expect the car comes with Eleanor® certification paperwork, Eleanor® body VIN plate, emblems issued by Gone in 60 Seconds LLC, and a certificate of authenticity issued by Eleanor® Licensing LLC.
This car is now due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in Las Vegas in early November, it doesn’t have a price guide at the moment, but it’ll most likely sell in the low six figure range if other recent sales are anything to go by. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
