Description
This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the BRDC Classic 2026 - Collectors' Cars on Saturday the 25th of July, The Wing, Silverstone Circuit, NN12 8TN. When the factory introduced a 390ci 'big-block' V8 option on the Mustang for 1967, Carroll Shelby went one better, installing Ford's 428ci (7. 0-litre) Cobra Jet V8 to create the GT500, one of the great, iconic muscle cars of the 1960s. The Shelby Mustang continued to be based on the stock version, receiving the latter's styling changes and mechanical improvements while retaining its own distinctive special features until production ended in 1970. One of the most famous of all Mustangs is that known as 'Eleanor', the Shelby GT500 that starred in the 1974 movie Gone in Sixty Seconds, which was remade in 2000 with Nicholas Cage starring as the car thief main character. Indeed, such is the continuing level of interest in this type of car that production of the GT500E resumed in the US with Carroll Shelby's blessing, using utilising original Mustang bodyshells.
If ever you had a Mustang Fastback itch that maybe only an Eleanor can scratch, then this example is without doubt one of the finest available. Using a 1967 390GT as the starting point, the car offered here is a painstaking recreation of the famous Shelby Mustang 'Eleanor' GT500 made famous in the modern remake of the film. Unlike other GT500 Eleanor builds, this example was hand-built in the US in 2016 from an original 1967 Mustang Fastback. Powered by a well-developed 390ci V8 engine fitted with a Holley carburettor (10569) and attached to a modern Tremec five-speed manual gearbox, this car really means business. Keeping the power in-check is a front-end sway bar with coil-over shocks, four-link rear suspension and a rear Panhard Rod, plus powerful brakes. The bodywork is finished in the correct Pepper Grey paint with metallic black stripes and the interior is replicated to a very high standard, using premium products (Procar rally seats, AutoMeter gauges, a Grant steering wheel, Flaming River tilt steering column) to be both highly functional whilst also getting the aesthetic details spot-on, with all the looks and feel of 'Eleanor'. The car has been UK registered since December 2016, having covered just 1, 892 miles since the conversion, and now wears (and will retain) the evocative registration 60 5ECS. Offered from a private Collection of very special cars that are fastidiously cared for and stored, no expense has been spared in sourcing the very best components, with incredible attention to detail, to create one of the finest 'Eleanor' Mustangs we have offered.
