Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), an American independent action film, features writer, director, producer, and star H.B. Halicki. The protagonist, Maindrian Pace, is both a respectable insurance investigator and the head of an automobile chop shop in Long Beach, California. Together with his professional car theft ring, Pace steals and resells cars using legitimate parts and details (such as vehicle identification numbers and bumper stickers) from purchased wrecks. Despite his insider knowledge in the insurance industry, Pace has one peculiar rule: all stolen cars must be insured. During a chance encounter with a South American drug lord, Pace is offered $200,000 upfront and an additional $200,000 upon completion of delivery to steal 48 specific vehicles within five days and deliver them to the Long Beach docks.

With a range including limousines, semi-trailer trucks, vintage cars, and exotics, fulfilling this order within the allotted time proves challenging. However, Pace remains confident that the deadline can be met. To start, the thieves select their targets and assign female code names to each vehicle. The initial stages go smoothly and even some of the more unique cars are obtained with ease. Yet, they soon encounter obstacles. One in particular stands out: a yellow 1973 Ford Mustang known as ‘Eleanor’. Unfortunately, the first Eleanor is already occupied by its driver. Undeterred, Pace takes matters into his own hands and steals it from its owner’s house under cover of darkness. To his surprise, he discovers that the car actually belongs to Harold Dwight Smith, a corrupt senior manager at a major insurance company.