MEET ELEANOR. A 1967 MUSTANG FASTBACK BUILT TO DRIVE, NOT JUST DISPLAY.

Some cars need an introduction. This one doesn't. Pepper Gray Metallic, black Le Mans stripes, a fastback silhouette that's been burned into car-culture memory for a quarter century — a fresh, purpose-built 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback "Eleanor" Recreation just landed on BIDR, and bidding closes tonight at 3:30 PM ET .

This isn't a barn-find restomod or a tired tribute car coasting on decals. It's a ground-up build out of Pomona, California, running a purpose-built 408ci ATK V8 stroker with forged crank and pistons, a hydraulic roller cam, Dart cylinder heads, and a self-tuning FiTech Go EFI 4 fuel injection system feeding it all. Power routes through a Tremec T56 six-speed manual and a Hurst shifter — no torque converter softening the connection between right foot and rear tires. It shows just 1,029 miles , meaning the break-in period is done and the motor is ready to be driven the way Eleanor was always meant to be driven.

Underneath, it's built to match the attitude: Borgeson power steering, SPC control arms, and Wilwood four-piston disc brakes at all four corners, riding on staggered 17" Legendary Wheel Company HB45 wheels. Inside, black bucket seats, digital gauges, and Old Air Hurricane air conditioning bring the cabin into the present without losing the fastback's period-correct menace. The car carries a clean California title (duplicate), with build records and in-progress photos documenting the process from bare shell to finished machine.

THE LEGEND BEHIND THE STRIPES

"Eleanor" wasn't always a Mustang fastback in Pepper Gray. The name first appeared in H.B. Halicki's independently made 1974 film Gone in 60 Seconds , where Eleanor was a heavily modified 1971 Ford Mustang Sportsroof — blacked-out lower body, taillight panel, and hood, stripped of nearly all badging, and painted (according to Halicki himself) in plain "school bus yellow" to save budget. It became infamous less for its looks and more for what it survived: a 128-foot jump during filming that reportedly compressed Halicki's own spine, and a stunt car that's still around today.

The Eleanor most enthusiasts picture now came from the 2000 remake, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage as master thief Randall "Memphis" Raines, for whom Eleanor is the last and most personal car on a 50-vehicle heist list. For that version, designer Steve Stanford and builder Chip Foose reimagined the car as a Pepper Grey 1967 Shelby GT500-style fastback with the black stripes, driving lights, and side exhaust that now define the look. Cinema Vehicle Services built somewhere between 11 and 12 hero cars for production, but only a handful were fully functional — the rest were shells built purely for close-ups and stunt work.

The real film cars have gone on to become collector trophies in their own right: one sold for $216,700 at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale in 2009, and another brought a full $1,000,000 at Mecum's Indianapolis auction in 2013. That's the kind of demand this silhouette commands — and it's exactly why a well-built recreation, done right, still turns heads at every show and every stoplight.

UNDER THE SKIN: THE BUILD

This isn't a cosmetic package over a tired original — it's a full mechanical build, done with real parts and real intent. Here's what's actually underneath the stripes.

Engine & Fuel Delivery

At the heart of the car is a purpose-built 408 cubic-inch ATK stroker V8 , assembled with a forged crankshaft and forged pistons for durability under real load, plus a hydraulic roller camshaft for a healthy, driveable powerband. Airflow comes from Dart cylinder heads , and fueling is handled by a FiTech Go EFI 4 self-tuning electronic fuel injection system — modern, reliable induction that trades away carburetor fuss without giving up the character of a big-inch small-block. A modernized cooling system keeps the whole package in check, which matters on a car built to actually be driven rather than trailered to shows.

Drivetrain

Power gets to the ground through a Tremec T56 six-speed manual — the gold standard for a driver-focused build like this — rowed through a Hurst shifter for short, mechanical throws. This is a car set up for someone who wants to be part of the driving experience, not a passenger in their own restomod.

Chassis, Suspension & Brakes

Handling and stopping power were treated with the same seriousness as the motor. The car runs Borgeson power steering for modern feel at low speed, SPC control arms for improved geometry and adjustability, and Wilwood four-piston disc brakes at all four corners — a significant upgrade over anything the original 1967 Mustang left the factory with. It rolls on staggered 17" Legendary Wheel Company HB45 wheels , sized to fill the fenders without looking like an afterthought.

Interior & Livability

Inside, the cabin balances period-correct attitude with day-to-day usability: black bucket seats, a full set of digital gauges for keeping an eye on a freshly built engine, and an Old Air Hurricane air conditioning system — a detail that matters far more than it sounds once you're actually driving a fastback with a big-inch V8 up front. It's built to be lived with, not just looked at.

WHY ELEANOR STILL COMMANDS THE ROOM

Twenty-six years after the remake hit theaters, the Eleanor silhouette hasn't cooled off — if anything, it's become shorthand for what makes a fastback great in the first place: aggressive proportions, a purposeful stance, and a story that goes beyond spec sheets. A build like this one taps into that legacy while standing on its own as a genuinely capable driver, not a static tribute piece — engineered to be raced through gears on a back road as often as it's parked under a tent at a show.

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