About Eleanor








Was the car a real Shelby Mustang GT 500




        

Was the car a real Shelby Mustang GT 500?

A: Yes and No, an original 1967 GT 500 was used for the motor sound affects, but not as a model for the movie car. The actual cars used were just 67 Mustangs, all customized to look like Eleanor in this movie. Most of the cars were 289 Mustangs with automatic transmissions. Originally the production designer, Jeff Mann who is also a professed car fanatic, proposed this car be a GT 40 then when that didn't fly he suggested a Shelby Series I Cobra. Eventually they settled on a 67 GT 500. According to SAAC, the 11 Mustangs were each chosen for specific duty. Some had highly modified suspensions for the high speed slides. Some were cosmetic models used for close ups and PR shots. Others, the ones crashed and crushed didn't even have engines. In Shelby American issue #70, the latest copy, the article explains that the car used for the close-ups of Cage actually had two steering wheels. Someone else was driving the car allowing Cage to focus "acting" rather than driving. The car used to record the sound affects is a 500 horsepower 428 1967 GT 500 with a great lumpy cam sound. The car is Brittany blue with wnt o LeMans stripes. Corvette side exhaust pipes were temporarily added for taping the sounds of the car. The movie car had side pipes and side pipes produce a different sound than rear exhaust. George Watters, a long time SAAC member and top sound editor for Hollywood, obtained the GT 500 and took it to Willow Springs.  He and his sound people spent six hours doing different things with the car, recording the sound of it for the movie soundtrack. So the only original GT 500 used in the movie produced the sounds you hear.

To make the "67 GT 500" more unique, modifications were made from the original, stock 67 GT500. Among the modifications: custom "Corvette" side pipes were added, a front air dam, similar to the one on the 1965 GT 350R, replaced the front end, the gas cap was located behind the top scoop instead of the rear of the car, the hood was replaced with one that has a definitely non-stock hood scoop, and nitrous was featured. Oh and least I forget to mention those huge mag rims and sports tires. I understand the producer took one of cars home after the movie, and that he is afraid to drive it. Those were not options in 1967. 

So what is a Shelby Mustang? The web site this page is part of has a lot of information on the Shelby Cars. Simply put, Ford asked Carroll Shelby, whose firm Shelby American, had been having some great success with the Cobra roadster, to campaign the Mustang and give it a performance image.  In 1965 Shelby American offered a very limited production, highly modified Mustang GT he called a GT 350. The 350 had little meaning except it sounded like a larger number than the competition offered. To race that car, the rules said the street car, and there had to be 100 of them, either had to have the same suspension or the same engine. Shelby opted for selling the GT 350's with the racing suspension and the hot stock Ford 289 Hi-Po. Things legends are made of. Shelby American offered Shelby Mustangs into 1970. The cars changed as Ford and the buyers dictated what they wanted. By 1968, the hi-po engine was gone, power steering was standard, air was an option. The cars were more cruisers than race cars. 1965 was the only year, except with some left over 65's that became 1966 GT 350's, that the Shelby Mustangs were all out sports cars. But all the Shelby Mustangs were and are very unique and rare. Less than 15,000 Shelby Mustangs were built in total. Compare that to the fact that Ford built over 3,000,000 Mustangs. Yes, very rare. By 1970 Ford was offering its own competition to the Shelby Mustang GT's,  Boss Mustangs & the Mach 1's.  Plus other car manufacturers were also trying to get a piece of the market. The 1970 Shelby Mustangs were left over 1969's. 

On this site is a large amount of information on the Ford powered cars of Carroll Shelby. Each year has its own section and stories. The Carroll Shelby story is more than just interesting. And his Shelby Mustangs and Cobras changed the way we think of sports cars in this country.

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