Skip to main content

Up close and personal with a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500E



Go baby, go! Nicolas Cage hits the button on his shifter in 2000's Gone in 60 Seconds remake and flies away from the chasing police as nitrous kicks in. Watching this you can't help but wish you had a car half as cool as the hero GT500, nicknamed 'Eleanor' that stars in the film.




Some people, like Te Awamutu's Frazer McKenzie, don't sit about dreaming but front up and actually do something. The result is what has to be the best GT500E clone in the country, and it was built in Matamata.

It was certainly a zero-to-hero transformation for 'Eleanor', which arrived in NZ in pieces as a rolling body
Movie replica cars come in various shapes, sizes, and importantly, varying degrees of quality and this car was no exception. Arriving in country as a little more than a rolling body the team at Matamata Panelworks 2000 ltd set to work rebuilding the 1967 Mustang from the ground up.
10

The interior of the Mustang is completely custom made, including a hand crafted center console
"The only panel not touched was the roof" says owner of Matamata Panelworks Malcolm.
The build used nothing but the best materials and parts, from using 100% steel for the custom bodywork, to the RRS Suspension and brakes wrapped in custom made American Racing 17 inch wheels.
This wasn't one of your short sharp builds either, with over 2500 panel hours going into the car, with an extra 700 hours put into painting it the results simply must be seen to be believed.
Owner Frazer even put in his own blood sweat and tears into the build by taking on the complicated process of plumbing the Mustang's fuel and brake systems, which run inside the car and meet up under the dash.

Frazer McKenzie's GT500E clone has the side exit exhausts made famous by the 2000 film starring Nicholas Cage.
Not content with having the best looking 1967 GT500E in the country, Frazer chucked in a 351 Ford Windsor V8 stroked out to 401 cubic inches and hooked up to a five speed TKO 500 gearbox.
The result? 298 Kilowatts and over 1000 Nm of torque without the nitrous oxide turned on.

The tailights were originally from a Mercury Cougar
Photos simply can't do this incredible piece of automotive art justice. For an up close and personal look, head to this weekend's Speedshow at ASB showgrounds. You'll find Frazer's 1967 GT500E taking center place in the Hot Rod and Custom section in hall two.


As originally posted on www.nzherald.co.nz/driven on July 19th 2014
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maxxis Bravo AT 771 Review

Watch the 3-year ownership review on Youtube! I've owned a set of Maxxis' Bravo AT771 tyres for 3 years now, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on them. Firstly, I didn't buy these tyres after doing any research on them. Truth be told, I'd never even heard of Maxxis before buying these! But with the stipulation that I wanted a set of All Terrain tyres for my Forester in 215/65R16, and that I didn't want to pay over $1500 for them. I ended up paying $1000 fitted and balanced. I took a punt on the 'Mackies' as I've started to call them, and I've got to be honest, I've been pretty happy with them. Sure, they don't look as cool as other All Terrain models out there, but they've worn well and haven't given me any headaches in the 3 years I've had them. The Good Stuff The AT771s have proven to be a really good match for the Subaru in the sand, which is primarily where they've been used apart from highw
Post a Comment
Read more

#RoadTest: 2014 Yamaha SR400

Photos by Ted Baghurst A kick starter... when was the last time you HAD to use a kick starter? For me the answer is never. Sure I've ridden kick-started bikes, but the last time I did I was still under 10 and my cousin started it for me before I promptly crashed it into an electric fence. With the 2014 Yamaha SR400 you have no option; there is only a kick starter to get this 399cc thumper going. Don't worry though; it's a piece of cake and incredibly rewarding to kick the SR400 into life . Yamaha NZ have brought back the classic SR400 with modern touches like electronic fuel injection, but you won’t be thumbing an electric starter to get it running, no sir. Yamaha are putting the classic feel back into the segment by giving it a kick starter only. Better start warming up that right leg then. The soulful little thumper has been around since 1978 in one form or another. Displacing 399cc from its 17.1kW air-cooled single cylinder which; apart from
Post a Comment
Read more

#RoadTest: Yamaha XJ6NL

"Is your helmet sweaty?" he asked. Well now, this is an odd and quite private question for this early in the morning. Let me backtrack a bit here. I'm in our central Auckland photoshoot location with Driven's photographer shooting the newly learner legal Yamaha XJ6NL that I've been testing for the past week. Full size, leaner legal and more than enough power for any restricted class licence holder, the XJ6NL is quite a surprising package. The 2014 XJ6NL from Yamaha is a serious piece of kit, that you can't help but think only just manages to sneak it's way into the Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme (or LAMS) by virtue of having a restricted throttle movement compared to its full power siblings. The throttle moves just 1cm from fully closed to fully open - being restricted at the throttle body for LAMS specification. The bike itself is identical to the fully faired FZ6R too, just minus the fairing and thus a little bit cheaper in the outset.
Post a Comment
Read more