This legit “Eleanor” Mustang from “Gone in 60 Seconds” could bring big bucks

One of the most recognizable movie Mustangs is going up for sale at Mecum’s Kissimmee event in January 2020.

The 2000 film Gone in 60 Seconds is an over-the-top action movie with some quotable lines, fantastic four-wheeled cameos, and an all-star cast of actors, including Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall, Timothy Olyphant, and Giovanni Ribisi. It’s a remake of the low-buck 1974 H.B. Halicki film of the same name. The plot involves the protagonists of the film, led by Cage as Memphis Raines, stealing a dream-garage-worth of cars in a single night, followed of course by gratuitous car chases and crashes.

Among the luxury and exotic labels that make their way on screen are some gorgeous customs, but a one-off “Shelby” Mustang steals the show. The 1967 Mustang GT500 lookalike named “Eleanor” is the star of the film’s most epic car chase, as it races through the L.A. River and uses a car hauler as a ramp to jump traffic on Long Beach’s Vincent Thomas Bridge. Eleven Eleanor Mustangs were built with body kits inspired by the Shelby GT500, but only three used in filming have survived.

Starting with 1967 Mustang fastbacks, the team at Cinema Vehicle Services in North Hollywood, California, completed the Eleanor transformation with parts designed with input from Chip Foose. The parts unique to the movie cars include fender flares, a new fascia, headlight bezels with additional driving lights, and rocker panels with a side-exit exhaust. This version is the one used in many of the chase scenes and close-up shots and has recently been restored to its camera-ready state. It’s powered by a 351-cubic-inch small-block V-8 with aluminum heads and a roller cam. While some of the cars used for action shots were equipped with a three-speed manual, this one uses a Tremec five-speed manual, as Memphis Raines would have wanted.

A three-speed automatic Eleanor Mustang sold at Scottsdale for $216,700 in 2009 and again last year for $385,000. The former price matches an actual 1967 Shelby GT500 in #1 (concours) condition, when you take its automatic transmission into consideration, and the latter vastly exceeds that benchmark.

Should you find yourself with a spare $300K and a craving for a legendary ’60s Mustang, we ask, do you take this one-of-three Eleanor Mustang survivors used in Gone in 60 Seconds or an authentic, concours-condition 1967 GT500—no body kit magic necessary?