Forgotten movie cars: The BMW 540i from "Gone in 60 seconds"
Everyone always talks about Eleanor. That gray Shelby GT 500, of which there are now so many replicas driving around that Mercedes-Benz 300 SLs and Porsche 356 Speedsters would turn green with envy. Of course, Eleanor is the four-wheeled protagonist; the twelve-and-a-half-minute chase after her is the climax of the movie. However, it is in the nature of things that a classic car chase involves at least two cars.
Enter "1-Baker-11" – the black BMW 540i that detectives Castlebeck and Drycoff use to stop car thief Memphis Raines from escaping. With its 286 HP, the eight-cylinder Five-series is certainly not the worst choice for this task; after all, the much more numerous 360 horses of the Mustang have still been determined according to the SAE gross standard. And if you can't keep up, there's always the helicopter.
But even after two interruptions, Castlebeck is able to pin his black sedan to the rear of the GT 500 again and again, not even letting a wrecking ball stop him. While Ford Crown Victorias are being dismantled all around him, the BMW is able to avoid every accident and even after the encounter with the swinging steel block only suffers moderate deformations to fenders and hood.
The rest of the plot is as simple as it is sufficient. Rains and his gang want to steal 50 cars in one night, while Castlebeck's team tries to stop them – until finally both sides of the law clash at the Shelby. Of course, "Gone in 60 seconds" has a whole lot of much more exciting cars to offer because of this. But none of them are in the picture for anywhere near as long as the BMW – apart from Eleanor, of course.
