Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Eleanor 60 Seconds

The famous film production starring Nicolas Cage led to the popularity of this particular model; it is a preparation that was made for the filming of the film and then sold on the streets for a significant price

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Eleanor

If you are a lover of the motor world and you have not seen the movie 60 seconds, you have an appointment pending. Starring Nicolas Cage, it is about a large-scale luxury car heist in a very short period of time. The main car is a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Eleanor, a model that will break your heart, if it hasn’t already.

Along with Nicolas Cage, stars like Angelina Jolie and Robert Duvall appear, a cast and a network that will make you have a good time in front of the television, where you can enjoy the greatest automobile icons in history. But none of them detracts from our protagonist.

The car from the movie

The current price tag for a 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 is stratospheric and most have been fully restored. It is normal for them to exceed € 100,000 and it is a very limited market, with numbered series highly desired by the best collectors worldwide.

Obviously, no one with two fingers of a brain would tune a ’67 Shelby GT 500, and the film’s producers knew it. For this reason, for the filming of the numerous scenes , nine Ford Mustang Fastbacks from ’67 were bought and the GT 500 was made aesthetically with the characteristic details of Eleanor.

The famous Chip Foose workshop collaborated in its customization , which together with the Unique Performance preparer created nine jewels, several of which were seriously damaged after filming.

The Eleanor preparation was an invention for the film, as there never was a Ford Mustang with that ending. The Unique Performance company was aware of the success that the car caused and released a series of numbered and prepared copies like those of the recording, at a rather high price.

Currently we can still get one and they are available with various power levels. The Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 Eleanor Base with 325 hp of power and the Performance, with no less than 575 hp. All of them based on the Fastbacks models from ’67 and ’68, never with the Shelby GT 500.

Why Eleanor?

In the great robbery of the film, the protagonists decided to give each model they were going to steal a woman’s name to encrypt the information against possible wiretaps or police raids.

The Mustang that Nicolas Cage steals, which he leaves for last, gets the name Eleanor ‘by chance’ on the famous blackboard written on the wall of the ship, where they pondered their plans with invisible ink. From that moment, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 Eleanor was created.

Such was the acceptance of the name by the public that all units are signed by Carroll Shelby and included in the Shelby American World Registry, which considerably increases the value of the car.

Shelby GT500 from ’67, the original

Only 4,123 units of the 1967 Mustang Shelby GT 500 were made between that year and the next for the entire United States. It had an engine located in a longitudinal front position that gave power to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox.

It sported a massive 7,051 cubic centimeter (90º) V8 engine that emitted a breath- taking sound as soon as you turned the ignition key. With two valves per cylinder and naturally aspirated, it was capable of producing 355 hp of pure American power.

The simplest thing about this type of car is usually the suspension system, but this model boasted a special preparation, with arms and coil springs in the front suspension and multi-link with semi-elliptical springs in the rear. it was quite limited for a car with sporty pretensions, with disc brakes at the front and drum at the rear.

With all this, the GT 500 achieved great performance for a car of its decade. It went from 0 to 100 km / h in 4.8 seconds and reached a top speed of 215 km / h. Although it may not seem like much by today’s standards, remember that she is a mechanic with 50 years behind her.

The sound that the seven-liter was capable of producing was thunderous, with the finesse of a good V8 engine and the husky sound so sought after by American muscle cars. A delight that will continue to fall in love with future generations and that are just a reminder of the splendor of gasoline engines.