1968 Ford Mustang Eleanor

This 1968 Ford Mustang fastback wears the Eleanor look, the pewter gray body and black twin stripes made famous by the modified Shelby GT500 tribute cars, and by the time it reached Crown it already looked the part. A team review in February found the car handsome from a distance and full of small, honest problems up close: overspray in more places than one, cracking around the fastback scoops, spider cracks near the hood latches, sanding scratches through the window trim, and a rear seat latch that never worked right. None of it was dramatic. All of it added up.

Its owner agreed with Crown’s assessment that spot repairs would not get this car where it needed to be. The only honest path was to detrim the car, strip it to bare metal, and correct the underlying bodywork before a single coat of color went back on, roughly 700 to 1,000 hours of work by the time paint, interior, and final assembly are done. That process is well underway. The quarter panels have been patched and fitted, door gaps reworked and welded true, and much of the trim, glass, and lighting removed for replacement or refinishing.

The plan ahead is just as thorough as the teardown behind it: a full two-stage repaint with the GT500-style stripes laid down fresh rather than patched over, a blacked-out and de-chromed engine bay with the wiring tucked and looped, polished Ring Brothers billet hinges on the hood and deck lid, new door glass and vent windows, and an interior detail pass down to factory-location power window cranks and a retro-style radio with a hidden antenna.

This is not a car that needed to be built. It needed to be built right. Crown’s job is making sure the Eleanor its owner already loved is finally as good underneath the paint as it looks on top.