Remember the biggest star in the film No, it wasn’t Angelina Jolie or Nicholas Cage, but a 1967 (Ford) Shelby Mustang GT500E dubbed Eleanor. This week, the reincarnation of the iconic muscle car showed up in New York.Gone in Sixty Seconds? No, it wasn’t Angelina Jolie or Nicholas Cage, but a 1967 (Ford) Shelby Mustang GT500E dubbed Eleanor. This week, the reincarnation of the iconic muscle car showed up in New York.content here
Remember the biggest star in the film No, it wasn’t Angelina Jolie or Nicholas Cage, but a 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 dubbed Eleanor. This week, the reincarnation of the iconic muscle car showed up in New York.
In the 2000 remake of H.B. Halicki’s 1974 classic, Cage’s character had to steal 50 exotic- and sports cars, the most important of which was a very rare gun-metal grey Shelby Mustang GT500, to save his brother from a gangster. “Hadrian Raines” called the car, which had eluded the car thief his entire career, Eleanor.
The film was no cinematic benchmark, yet the memorable car chase between the police and the fleeing Mustang, driving stunts, accidents, near misses, a huge leap et al wedged itself in automotive enthusiasts’ collective unconscious. In fact, the Shelby Mustang GT500 was rated 18th in CAR editors’ Fantasy Garage, a feature CAR published in its October 2004 edition.
You’ve guessed it… Eleanor is back. Ford has taken the wraps off the new 335 kW-plus Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 at the New York Auto Show. The car is claimed to be the most powerful factory-built Ford Mustang in history and was jointly developed by performance car legend Carroll Shelby and the Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT).
A production version of the GT500 will hit the American market in 2006. Its supercharged 5,4-litre, 32-valve V8 is mated with a six-speed manual transmission, has aluminium cylinder heads, piston rings and bearings sourced from the Ford GT program and is claimed to produce 610 N.m of torque.
SVT engineers retuned and upgrade key chassis components of the Mustang, such as shocks absorbers, spring rates and upgraded stabilizer bars and the GT500 has a MacPherson-strut independent front suspension with “Reverse L” lower control arms, and a solid-axle, three-link rear suspension with coil springs.
The GT500 can be distinguished by Le Mans-style white stripes (that run down the middle of the show car’s “SVT Red” paint finish and nomenclatures in the lower bodyside racing stripe.
The rear features strakes inspired by the Ford GT’s integrated rear airflow diffuser, and a rear spoiler reminiscent of the classic GT500. “GT500” is emblazoned inside the side rocker stripes, and the name “Shelby” is prominently featured across the rear deck. The SVT logo appears on the wheel centre caps and door-sill plates.
The interior is trimmed in ebony black leather, including the top of the dash, door panels, centre armrest, gear lever, and parking-brake handle. The black surfaces are contrasted by SVT Red leather inserts in the seats and door panels.
Chrome accessories inside the cabin have been replaced with a satin aluminium finish, including the aluminium gear lever knob.
