Mike Akers builds his own Eleanor Shelby GT500
By far the best part of the Gone in 60 Seconds remake is Eleanor, the 1967 Shelby GT500 that has a love-hate relationship with Nicholas Cage. In the midst of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Mercedes, Eleanor sets itself apart as the most desirable and coveted car in the movie. Everything from the gorgeous body kit on the car to the ?Go-Baby-Go!? nitrous system left every car nut who watched the movie lusting after the car. Mike Akers of Lebanon, Virginia was one of those guys. Akers is a hardcore classic Mustang enthusiast to begin with ? he currently has nine ponies in his stable including an original 1968 GT500 KR, three Mach 1?s, 1966 and 1968 convertibles, and a few others. After watching Gone in 60 Seconds, he couldn?t get Eleanor off his mind. ?I thought about building the Eleanor clone for about two years after I saw the movie,? he said. ?I really loved the car, and to this day it is still my favorite.?
While complete Eleanor Mustangs are available to buy, Mike decided to build his own so he could add his own custom touches as well as save some money. He began by purchasing a 1967 Fastback donor car that had been stripped of most of its parts but had a body in good shape that was free of rust ? a ?perfect car to build a clone out of? as he describes it. From there Mike did nearly all of the work on the car, barring paint and what was required from the machine shop. This included dropping in a supercharged 5.4-liter 32-valve V8 that can be custom tuned from a laptop inside the car using an Accel DFI Gen7 engine management system. ?I wanted to do something a little different than just dropping a push rod motor in. It?s often mistaken for a 4.6 but when I tell them it?s a 5.4, they really start looking close.? The motor definitely turns heads, but it took a lot of work actually make it work. Some moving around of the oil filter and alternator, and some custom fabrication to the intercooler, radiator, and throttle body finally provided enough room for the motor to fit inside the engine bay and clear the underside of the hood. Besides the uniqueness factor, Mike is glad he installed a modern engine. ?It?s nice to sit in the seat and tune the cat without raising the hood.?
The inside of Mike?s Eleanor also received his personal touch. ?I always thought the heat and A/C controls on the 67′s were in a bad location. So I decided to move them to the center at fingertip reach. This section of the dash I built from an old refrigerator door. I just liked the radius of the corners and thought it would blend well with the existing dash. It worked out pretty good.? To fit his 6?2? frame, Mike moved the seats back about 6 inches to allow for more legroom. This leaves the rear seats useless, but the back is taken up with a pair of Kicker 10-inch subs in a custom cabinet that are mated to Pioneer touch screen DVD stereo and a Pioneer 1000 watt amp in the trunk. Mike also tried to stick with the movie theme and added a nitrous system in the trunk that can be activated by a red button on top of the shifter.
To complete the look of his Eleanor, Mike turned to the Mustang Depot of Las Vegas. Their 1967-1968 E Body Kit provides the body panels to allow anyone to convert their car and includes headlight buckets, front lower valence, upper nose section, hood, front and rear fender flares, side scoops, taillight panel, and more. Additional components used to complete the car include an Aeromotive fuel system, Rod and Custom Motorsports Mustang II front suspension, SSBC brakes, Flowmaster 80 Series mufflers, Tremec TKO 600 transmission, Centerforce dual friction clutch, Ford 9-inch rear end with 3.73 gears, and a Flaming River steering column. Overall, Mike estimates that it took him around 600 hours to complete the car. Was it worth it? ?The time I invested in this car was well worth the effort. Everyone knows ?Eleanor? and I especially enjoy seeing the kids faces light up when they see it. That?s what makes it worth it to me.?
