H. B. Halicki was a used car salesman who wanted to make a movie. With a little money, one big idea, and a 1971 Mustang Mach 1, he made Gone in 60 Seconds. And in that particular way that movies, especially '70s movies, can be, it wasn't all that good, but it was awesome. Fast forward to Michael Bay's remake in 2000, and the Mach 1 was replaced by a 1967 Shelby GT500. When we got a call offering us the actual car from that movie for the weekend, we felt obliged to say yes... and then drive it like we stole it. The verdict: Eleanor is the hottest piece of car we've spent a weekend with in quite some time.
Remember Unique Performance? Of course, how could we forget the sordid tale of a company building licensed replicas of the Shelby GT500 Eleanor featured in Gone in 60 Seconds, only to be shut down by the police after its shady business practices were uncovered before most cars were delivered. More than a few ex-customers that lost out on their prized vehicles surely haven't forgotten about the deposits they put down on the cars, and last year, a group sued Carroll Shelby in an attempt to recoup their investments. To help smooth things over, Carroll Shelby Licensing Inc. has agreed to a new licensing agreement with two auto shops in Texas so that the series of continuation GT500SE and GT350SR cars can be completed. Each finished vehicle will get an official serial number from Shelby along with inclusion into the Shelby Worldwide Registry. While the offer is being made royalty free, customers will still be required to pay for the completion of the cars.
We've seen some crazy automotive rebody attempts in our time, but the GTR350 from Ride Cars in the UK has got to take the cake as the oddest. If you wanted a "Gone in 60 Seconds" Eleanor replica, why would you go to the trouble of (poorly) recreating the Mustang shape when there are literally thousands of the original pony cars still available and in good shape? It's true that the GTR features a mid-engine design, but it's based on a Toyota MR2, – a fine car in its own right, but hardly the pinnacle of supercar performance. In any case, here we are with a kit that consists of a new front and rear body section, new door sills and skins, various lights and hinges, plus a supremely awesome set of rear window louvers. Get yours now in either a ready-to-assemble package for £3,995 (about $5,800) or partially assembled for £7,995 (nearly $12K).
What's the price of fame? When the subject turns towards famous movie cars, a vehicle's presence on the silver screen invariably adds some intrinsic value to the vehicle's worth, and there are few movie cars in recent memory more recognizable as Eleanor, the 1967 Ford Mustang fastback from Gone in 60 Seconds. According to the studio, a total of eleven Eleanors were created for the flick, and only three of those machines made it through filming unscathed. The car you see here is one of those machines, used for close-ups with Nicholas Cage. In this case, the car's sundry list of components isn't all that important, but for those that care, there's a 351 cubic-inch Ford V8 underhood, mated to an automatic transmission. The gavel fell, fees were tallied and the car's new owner was exactly $216,700 poorer after Saturday night's bidding was finished.
We've covered the scandal involving Unique Performance from the very beginning, and it now looks as if this sordid tale finally might get a bookend. If the idea of scraping off 13 gallons of bondo doesn't scare you, maybe you'd be interested in bidding on one (or more) of the 44 leftover Mustang body shells that are available for viewing here. Mustang not your thing? Prefer the Camaro? How 'bout the Chevelle? Even if you're not interested in any of its cars, Unique Performance owned plenty of other stuff, too. Take a look at these automotive lifts, for instance. There is some good stuff here, and you'll be helping to pay off the company's assorted debts in the process.
If you find yourself interested in anything on the Unique Performance fire sale auction list, you can inspect the works on Tuesday, March 25 from 9AM to 4PM. Lets hope that these classics end up in better hands than they were in at this company.
Honestly, who among us hasn't talked to his car and pretended, just for a moment, that he was Nicholas Cage taking to Eleanor in the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds? Well, you can stop talking to your Camry, because now you can order your very own licensed Eleanor Mustang... if you've got the six figures to drop on it, that is.
Although the lawsuit presented over two years ago by the film's producer Denice Halicki against Unique Motorcars was ultimately rejected by the courts, Halicki's studio has licensed Classic Recreations to build these special-edition Eleanor Mustangs. Buyers can choose the fuel-injected version with 535hp for $139,900, or the bonkers 770hp supercharged and fuel-injected (SFI) version for $189,900. Built on a "classic muscle-car frame" – which includes available Ford-authorized '67 Mustang underpinnings, but not a Smart ForTwo – Eleanor gets a 410-cubic-inch Keith Craft Racing engine with sequential fuel injection, riding on a coil-over suspension with slotted and cross-drilled Baer brakes and a Tremec TKO manual or (perish the thought) automatic gearbox. Classic Recreations also throws keyless entry, in-dash DVD, Simpson five-point racing harnesses and custom leather interior into the mix, complete with special badging and even a go-baby-go button on the shifter. Delivery takes four months (considerably longer than the advertised sixty seconds) during which time the deposit is put into escrow. Buyers can try to outrun the cops, but will only get away with it if Angelina Jolie is riding shotgun. No exceptions.
