Time to begin a new project!!
After doing the Aston Martin DBR9 and the Peugeot 405T16GR, I want to build a car with a mix of old and new schools, and the Eleanor 1967 Mustang is a great example of that kind of vehicle.
I loved this car since the first day I saw the "Gone in Sixty Seconds" movie (the 2000 version), and, like many modelers, I patiently waited for someone to do the scale model kit.
For some reason (licensing ?) nobody did the kit, until Scale Productions surprised us last year with a beautiful transkit to transform AMTīs 1967 Shelby Mustang into the mighty Eleanor.
A little background of the real car:
Originally, Eleanor was going to be a GT40, but, due to cost issues, the movie producers decided to go with a custom 1969 Shelby GT500. Famed Hot Rod illustrator Steve Stanford did the design, and Chip Foose was hired
to turn Stanfords work into a reality.
When the prototype was completed and approved, Cinema Vehicle Services produced 7 different Eleanors for use in the production of the film. None of them were actual Shelby Mustangs but converted standard 1967 Mustang fastbacks. Five of them were totaled during stunt sequences. Nicolas Cage and Jerry Bruckheimer kept the remaining two.
After the movie, was released, Eleanor became an automotive icon, and Unique Performance got the license to build and sell the car.
In 2007, Unique Performance filed for bankruptcy, and the license went to Classic Recreations.
My scale model project:
Eleanor is supposed to be a standard, NOS powered Shelby GT500, but there has been a long debate about the "right" Eleanor configuration: Standard or automatic transmission...NOS bottle in the cockpit or in the trunk,
stock or custom dash, etc.
So, I plan to build MY version of Eleanor (hence the title of this WIP). Thereīs no doubt about how the body should look like, but the interior, engine and suspension will be built with my personal preferences.
These are the elements I will use in this project:
This is THE kit you need for the Scale Productions transkit. It is AMT 1967 Shelby GT 350 (Stock number 384929).
The parts of the kit are very good. Some pieces are oversimplified, but the overall appearance of the model is very good.
Hereīs the Scale Productions Transkit. It is expensive ($115.00), but itīs quality is superb. Everything from the body to the photoetched pieces is top notch.
The instructions of the transkit are very good, illustrated with color photos. The AMT instructions are a little bit on the simple side...the union points of the parts should be clearer, and AMT could be more specific with the
paint colors to be used.
Talking about colors...I was lucky enough to find the codes to mix the paint used in the original car
Body - Pepper Grey Metallic - Dupont Fleet 44490
Stripes - Black Metallic - Dupont Fleet 44435
I was a little concerned about the size of the metal "flake" of the paint looking too big in 1:24, but I sprayed a test card and it looks very good!
I am convinced that a very important (and fun) part of our hobby is research. I spent the last couple months looking for information and images of this car in the Internet. I burned a reference cd with more than 300 photos of the car and itīs components.
Of course, I already had the movie!!
I also recommend the RIDES episode about Eleanor. This is included in the second season dvd set.
So, everything is ready to go!! I am sorry for such a long opening post. I hope someone finds this information as interesting as I do!