Carroll Shelby Sued over Rights to Eleanor Mustang Name

The decision to release a limited number of replicas of the iconic Mustang known as Eleanor has sparked a furious war between Carroll Shelby and the wife of the director for the original Gone in 60 Seconds movie. Although the 2000 remake of the cult classic did have a Ford Mustang named Eleanor in it, this legal battle is focusing on the 1972 version and the replica that it spawned.

Denice Shakirian Halicki, the widow of HB Halicki who directed the 1972 version, recently partnered with an Oklahoma company to release her own line of Eleanor replicas is suing Shelby for the replicas that his company has been producing with a Texas based company. At stake is not the car, but rather the name. Halicki claims that Disney granted her exclusive rights to use the name Eleanor and her attorney states that even a bus named Eleanor would violate these rights.

"We believe there are many millions of dollars at stake here," says Beverly Hills attorney Allan Browne, who is representing Halicki, a 51-year-old Los Angeles resident. Not so mention Shelby’s representatives, who produced his 2002 trademark filing on the replica vehicles that he has been producing.

"From Shelby's point of view, all he did was use his legally recognized rights to license someone else to build these cars," says M. Neil Cummings, a Los Angeles attorney who represents Shelby. Shelby maintains that he is not guilty of any wrong doing in the matter.

The original Eleanor, a 1967 Mustang, jumped into fame with the release of the 1972 Gone in 60 Seconds movie. HB Halicki directed and did the stunt driving for that movie and was killed while making the sequel in 1989, three months after marrying Denice. The original was praised as a “work of art” and grossed the equivalent of $150 million in ticket sales.

In 2002, Shelby began working with a company called Unique Performance, to recreate the 1967 Mustang using parts from donor Mustangs. The refinished cars sell for $119 to $214k a piece. One of the cars was indeed a replica of the Eleanor used in the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. Halicki filed a lawsuit in 2004, but it was thrown out due to the fact that Disney still owned the rights. Halicki then pursued Disney to assign the rights to her. In the meantime, Shelby parted ways with Unique Performance and is no longer involved in the venture.

In the original ruling, the judge found that Shelby’s car differed greatly from the 1972 film version and that Shelby indeed filed a trademark long before Halicki did. She has since re-filed the suit and is alleging that Unique Performance’s business practices have created an issue where Eleanor is now associated with “potential criminals” in the eye of the public. Halicki is seeking damages and the revocation of Shelby’s trademark. Auto historian Wallace Wyss noted, "This whole lawsuit probably wouldn't exist, if they had just called the car Jane."