Topic: ELEANOR IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!
About 8 years ago, I sold the '67 Olds 442 clone that I had spent 4 years restoring from a total beater. It truly was an awesome ride (built 455 big block), but after seeing the remake of Gone In 60 Seconds, what I really wanted was Eleanor, the movie's fastback, body-kitted '67 Mustang GT500. My neighbor wanted to buy it, but decided not to. I sold it to a guy an hour away, and a couple of years later, my neighbor decided he still wanted it badly enough to pay that guy a lot more! Oh well, at least it's sort've back in the family (pic taken here a few weeks ago):
I took the money from the sale of the Olds, put a little more with it, and bought a '67 fastback bare rolling chassis in Rochester, NY. It came with a clear title, boxes of worn interior parts, and the authentic $5,400 Cinema Vehicle Services (makers of the original movie cars) fiberglass Eleanor body kit (not mounted). The body was decently straight and solid, but it needed doors, fenders, new floors, and a few small rust spots patched. It also needed to be media blasted inside and out, before the work could begin. Once that was done, it was trailered to the body shop, where's it's been sitting for the last several years.
They worked on it periodically, installing new floors, priming and undercoating, mounting the body kit, hood, and trunklid, hanging new doors and fenders. I was in no hurry, because I couldn't afford to pay for it all yet anyway. We worked out a pay-as-we-go arrangement, and I put what I could towards it every few months. Recently they hired a new painter, which was fortunate because the old guy had ben doing a terrible job, and much of his work had to be redone. I knew the time to get the rest of the money together was drawing near, and as usual, I was short on funds (stupid racing habit, crack would have been cheaper!). So, on Thanksgiving day, I sold my beloved '68 Fury III cop car (another junker I had completely restored):
This morning I opened an email from the shop owner, announcing that Eleanor was ready for pickup! When I went to get it, I found that, while it looked amazing from a few feet away, there are actually a lot of runs in the clearcoat. The shop owner and I discussed it, and decided that we would wait until I had the interior, glass, and drivetrain done before we worried about getting the paint perfect. It's bound to need a bit of touchup by then, no matter how careful I am. I brought it home and snapped some pics quickly, before the projected 70 MPH winds/thunderstorm/inch of rain hit (weird late January weather, huh?), then loaded it into my enclosed trailer for temporary storage.
Behold the awesomeness!
WOOT!
I'm in no big hurry to finish, but I would like to have it on the road by the end of this year. I have a totaled 2009 Bullitt Mustang that will be donating its interior, powertrain, and axle, for a totally streetable 315 HP Eleanor that can be driven anywhere reliably and still get decent MPG... :up:
Future Fleet: 1957 Ford Prefect 1942 Buick 1959 Bugeye Project GLCOAT
