The side exhaust posed its own set of problems. Borla's side-exhaust mufflers, with the inlet and outlet at the same end, were a perfect fit, but because the openings in the CVS rocker panels were positioned so close to the car's actual rocker panels, snaking the exhaust tips under, up, and through proved to be a tough assignment. The dual tips provided with the CVS kit differed from the movie cars' oval tips anyway, so Glenn convinced Classic Design Concepts to sell him just the tips from its late-model Mustang side-exhaust kit. The tips were then modified by a local exhaust shop to fit the '67.
From there, the Mustang's standard interior was converted to Shelby-like Deluxe, including the GT500 emblem above the glovebox door and a wood-rim steering wheel from Tony Branda. Two prominently featured items from the movie include the Total Control aluminum pedal covers and nitrous switch. Although not part of the movie cars, Glenn built a tranny tunnel-mounted box to provide a mounting location for three Auto Meter gauges (voltage, oil pressure, and water temperature), and five toggle switches to operate the PIAA lights.
Although he left the 289 engine untouched, it's not a slouch by any means. The rebuilt small-block has been enhanced with ported and polished heads, Edelbrock intake, 750-cfm Holley four-barrel, mild street cam, and Hooker headers.
While Glenn's look-alike Eleanor doesn't necessarily fall into the budget category, so to speak, it's definitely a low-buck approach for getting the Eleanor look. Anyone can use the car as a blueprint for building their own, with the option of adding the Total Control suspension, high-performance engine, and four-speed to make the car perform as good as it looks.
Many people have dreamed about owning an Eleanor Mustang. Through research, diligence, and a modest out-lay of cash, Glenn Gatley made good on his promise.
Homebuilt Eleanor Parts List'67-'68 Mustang Fastback* CVS Eleanor body kit (headlight bezels, billet aluminum upper and lower grilles, front lower valance, hood, front fender flares, rear fender flares, side-exhaust skirts, exhaust tips, upper side scoops, lower side scoops, taillamp panel)* Shelby-style trunk lid and rear quarter extensions* '67 Cougar taillamp lenses and buckets* Shelby-style bullet side mirrors* '71-'73 Mach 1 pop-open gas cap* PS Engineering 17x8 wheels* 245/40x17 Falken tires* '67 Deluxe Interior* Wood steering wheel* PIAA lights PIAA 4060 (headlights) PIAA 959, PN 9593 (small lights in head-lamp panel) PIAA PK 348E, PN 8360 (large lights in center of valance) PIAA PN 1252 clear driving (small lights in lower valance and backup lights)* Paint Pepper Grey Metallic,Dupont Fleet 44490 (body) Black Metallic,DuPont Fleet 44435 (stripes)* Shelby GT500 emblems for glovebox, front fenders, and rear panel* Total Control aluminum pedal covers* Nitrous switch* Borla side-exhaust mufflers and modified Classic Design Concepts tips
The Original Eleanor(s)Originally, Eleanor was going to be a GT40. But when it was determined that GT40s would be too expensive, the plan switched to the Shelby GT500 Mustang. Gone in 60 Seconds production designer Jeff Mann told Mustang Monthly, "In the context of the other cars (in the movie, like Ferraris), it wasn't going to be the hottest thing. That's when producer Jerry Bruckheimer opened the door for me to come up with a variation."
Mann enlisted illustrator Steve Stanford to create the bold concept for Eleanor, and former Boyd Coddington designer Chip Foose was called in to turn the drawing into reality. Once the prototype pieces were completed and molds made, the project was turned over to Ray Claridge at Cinema Vehicle Services for construction.