BangShift’s Celebrity Car Death Match series has taken the world by storm. Water cooler talk at offices has centered around it, relationships have been driven apart because of it, and we’re just getting warmed up. Last week we through some hardcore fights at you and frankly you seemed to have gotten just about every one of them right in terms of your voting. Let’s recap the action from Friday:
[box_dark]Friday Battle: The 9C1 cop car from To Live and Die In LA VS The 1971 LeMans From The French Connection
9C1 cop car DEFEATS 1971 LeMans[/box_dark]
Today’s match up is an interesting one. We’re pitting the 1973 Mustang Mach 1 from the original 1974 movie Gone In 60 Seconds against the 1967 Mustang from the movie of the same name which was made in 2000. Both of these ponies have their positives and negatives and since they both share the same name, one of them has to go to the glue factory and now it is your job to decide.
The original Gone In 60 Seconds was one of the great triumphs of independent, guerilla style film making. HB Halicki wrote, shot, directed, and financed the film himself. He built the 1973 Mach 1 into a virtual tank and drove it as such. The car was one of the most battered machines to ever live through the filming of a movie. There was one high speed wreck that was just that, an actual accident where Halicki lost the handle on the car and wiped out a light pole at over 90mph. Amazingly he wasn’t killed and the car was hit in such a way that it could be patched back up and put into battle. Most of the stunts in the movie were filmed on public streets with no permits, permission, or professional stunt people on hand. That was Halicki’s department. The 1973 Mach 1 became world famous and Halicki literally towed it all over North America and Europe selling the movie to theaters and promoting it to audiences. It is one of the largest grossing independently made films of all time with total revenues of over $40-million on a $100,000 investment and that money was virtually all Halicki’s. We’re not sure what was done to warm up the 351 in the Mach 1 but that car seemed to haul some pretty good ass during the movie and it sure smoked the tires and power-slid with authority. One of the things you simply have to take into account when voting is the sheer amount of freaking damage this car sustained and still managed to finish the film with its boots on!
In the other corner stands a 1967 Mustang that has been “enhanced” with various lights, body pieces, wheels, and doo-dads to star in the 2000 remake of Gone In 60 Seconds that featured Nick Cage in the leading role. Once again, it was a Mustang that served as the lynch pin in the film, the final car that was to be stolen by the gang at the center of the story, and ultimately it was the Mustang that became the biggest star of the movie. This was probably the single most cloned modern movie car ever. There was some shady legal dealings with at least one of the companies pumping repops of the car you see below you out and that was but one of several outfits making these things. Undoubtedly more powerful, advanced, better handling, and faster than the star of the original movie, does it have the suds to kill the Mach 1 in a battle to the death? Is it too pretty? Too reliant on CGI for fame and glory? Can it take a shot to the mouth? A light pole wreck at 90mph and still continue on? That’s what you need to tell us!
TELL US BY COMMENTING BELOW, WHO WOULD WIN THIS DEATH MATCH? WOULD IT BE THE ORIGINAL 1973 MACH 1 FROM THE 1974 MOVIE OR THE 1967 MUSTANG FASTBACK FEATURED IN THE 2000 REMAKE? VOTE NOW WITH A COMMENT BELOW!
I’ll have to call a tie on this one. Call it any other way and Chad wins.
sorry this isn’t even a debate. Original film, hands down. The archtypal car chase movie – if you don’t prefer the first film then you probably enjoyed Fart and the Furious.
By contrast the second one is a bit stupid, very cheesy and showy – just like the plastic mustang in it (and the plastic Nic Cage in the Mustang…)
The yellow stang all the way no competition
The original without a doubt!
The original “Eleanor” no question! Remake repli-cars reek! Does anyone really think that “Toby” would use anything other than a ‘real’ muscle car in his movie?! Nick who?….oh he’s down at the bar!
Gotta say tie too. Which means that all of the “New car movies suck, too CGI/Don’t hurt the classics!” backers are probably gonna take this one.
73 Mach 1 wins, dents and all.
The original proved a winner by the “battle scars”. The new version flies with the aid of a computer (CGI).
the ’73 for sure!!
Original all the way………..easy win for the mach 1!!!!!
The 71-73 fast back has long been my favorite Mustang body style. Add in that the original car did its own stunts, while the remake had stunt double cars and CGI help, I have to vote for the original.
the new eleanor is a piece of crap show car that would fall apart if took half the beating the original car did Im with the original mustang that car took beating and kept going Im also obsessed with hb halickis movies and have then all 🙂
The 1973 Mustang win this one. It proved it’s the toughest of the two Eleanor’s. The 67 is pretty but relied too much movie fakery. The original movie car was the real deal.
the remake was good but , are you kidding ? the original gone in 60 seconds was a real movie , REAL !!!!! not CG ,, and the whole premiss of the movie was ,,, Eleanor .. the LAST OF THE MUSTANGS ,, so why did the remake not use a 73 ? hhhmmm ,,, so do i need to say how i am voting ? OK ,, i will spell it out ,, 1973 Mustang ,, H.B. RULES ,,
This is effectively a “pro-tourer” vs. “original muscle” debate.
Seeing that Haliki’s wife still has the original Elenor and shows it off every now and again, the tip of the hat goes to the original ’73 Mach 1.
But it is near to a draw on this.
My vote goes to the original Elenor. That thing took a beating like no other.
Original Eleanor for sure
How could you even ask such a silly question… seriously? But since Brian must be president of the Nic Cage fan club I guess he had to ask this. Toby and Eleanor hands down
the 73 still runs to this day; after the beating it took. the other is as fake and plastic as mic cage’s acting. plus the remake totally missed the point of the original movie entirely. 1973 all the way.
73 all the way,not even 1 vote for the 67.
The original, no constest. The ’67 is a nice car, but the movie was a remake catering to people who probably never saw or heard of the original. The remake utilized CGI, some of the stunts in the original were absolutely outrageous on top of being actually performed.
I have a strong bias to the original Eleanor. I live just a few miles where Halicki grew up. His family’s junk yard still has a few wrecked cars from the ill fated sequel to Gone in 60 seconds. I remember as a kid watching chase scenes from Gone in 60 seconds 2 being filmed on my hometown. Sadly, a freak accident during shooting claimed the life of Toby Halicki and the film was never finished. It was a big deal at the time.
Puke on the remake, way to much CG bs. 73 Mach1 all the way!!!
The original eleanor for sure. the stunts were real and the car kept on going with only minor repairs , the fact that the car and toby survived that nonscripted hit on the light post is freakin amazing. get ready all you internet haters here it comes, this car even beats out the general lee!
the 73, without a doubt…
I could have sworn there was a released sequel.. called The Junkman. Correct me if I’m wrong…politely.
I seem to remember seeing pics of one of the later movie’s Elanors crushed wasp-waisted, from the wrecking ball scene. Like someone missed the que.. and got it instead.
Oh, and I vote for the original but don’t hate the sequel.. just wish that Hollywierd would quit crushing the coolest cars in their movies…..the older ones.
The 1973 Mustang is the real “Eleanor” not the ’67.
However Angeline Jolie can work my pistol grip any day.
The Remake by far. Look I like the original too but let’s be honest. That Mach 1 was a slow piece of shit plus it didn’t look pretty at all. No of you in your right mind would pick a 351 over the 427. HB did a phenomenal job on
Chase don’t get me wrong at all I loved it. But he was working with an ugly POS slow car. Sorry its the truth . You show somebody in Europe a picture of the original eleanor no one knows what the heck it is. Show them the remake GT500E and they’ll recognise it instantly. Don’t believe me look on YouTube over half if the eleanor videos come from over seas. Sorry but that big yellow turf from the original is a nostalgic piece nothing more. But Rest in Piece Halicki and tell your wife to release the rights to eleanor so it can be in GT5 and Forza 4