When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one is in the bag - thereby, the police precipitate in a desperate car chase against Pace and his Eleanor across Southern California.
Insurance investigator Maindrian Pace and his team lead double-lives as unstoppable car thieves. When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one, a 1973 Ford Mustang, are in the bag. As Pace prepares to rip-off the fastback, codenamed "Eleanor", in Long Beach, he is unaware that his boss has tipped off the police after a business dispute. Detectives are waiting and pursue Pace through five cities as he desperately tries to get away.—Paul Morris
Insurance company investigator Maindrian Pace arrives at the scene of a train wreck and an indemnity agent asks him to examine the truck that provoked the collision. Sometime later, at Chase Laboratory Insurance Research & Investigation Service, Pace's office and garage in Carson, California, mechanic Atlee Jackson explains Pace's illicit switch-over business to Stanley Chase, as they dissemble a junked Dodge Challenger. Atlee says that the company removes the serial number, engine, license plates and transmission from wrecked vehicles, then steals another car exactly like it. To cover their tracks, Pace's men embed the serial number, engine and other salvaged gear from the junked vehicle into the stolen car.
Later that day, Villas, a foreign gangster, offers Pace $400,000 to procure a list of 48 luxury vehicles by the end of the week. Villas gives Pace $200,000 upfront and warns about dire consequences if he fails to deliver. After explaining his plan to Atlee, Pace flies to Dunkirk, New York, where he and his girlfriend and Stanley's younger sister, Pumpkin, attend the German-themed wedding of their older brother, Eugene. Pace heads the Chase family's covert business, but when Atlee calls to warn that stealing forty-eight cars, including nine Rolls Royces, seven limousines and race car driver Parnelli Jones's custom Ford Bronco all in four days, is impossible, Pace insists that Eugene postpone his honeymoon to help their operation, much to his disappointment.
Returning to his office in Carson, Pace gives his team, whom include, Stanley, Eugene, Pumpkin, Atlee as well as Pace's brother, Corlis, a list of cars, along with the addresses of their owners. Pace makes sure the cars are insured so the owners will be compensated for their losses. Outfitting the men with disguises and briefcases stocked with the car theft tools, Pace sends the men out for the evening, hoping to procure a number of the requested vehicles. At a car race, Corlis goes after driver Bill Englehart's Rolls Royce while Pace steals a mustard yellow 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 code-named Eleanor. Although the Mustang's drunken owner gives chase in his second car, the police soon follow the man. The owner claims to the police the vehicle was stolen and the officers drive him home, only to discover the Mustang in his garage.
Back at the office, Eugene is irate about the situation, but Pace explains that he returned the car because he found the owner's business card in the sun shade, as the car belongs to the head of a corrupt insurance company and Pace relishes the chance to make the man look foolish. Meanwhile, Pumpkin calls limousines to different locations around town so Pace's men can steal them. The next day, Eugene complains that the Dodge Challenger Pace recently turned over was spotted at a used car lot, and when Pace retrieves the vehicle with a tow truck, he is chased away by security officer. However, Pace gets away after a wild chase and drops the car off at a wrecking yard. Back in his role as an insurance investigator, Pace meets with an indemnity broker, who reports the recent string of car thefts. Aquino takes Pace to Parnelli Jones, who hires Pace to find his stolen Bronco, but Pace advises the race car driver to cash in on his $350,000 insurance policy.
As Pace's team continues to collect cars, they inadvertently steal a Cadillac filled with $1 million of heroin and sets the car and its contents on fire at a remote location. Soon thereafter, Pace acquires all of the cars on Villas's list, but Pumpkin informs him that the "Eleanor" Mustang is uninsured, and Pace promises to return it so the owner will not be harmed. As Pace recoups the Mustang, Eugene seeks revenge on Pace by anonymously calling the police and revealing the location of the replacement "Eleanor." When Pace steals the new "Eleanor," he is chased by a squadron of police cars through Long Beach, California, inciting a media frenzy in a long and climatic car chase sequence.
As the chase continues through Los Angeles, dozens of police and civilian vehicles are destroyed and police helicopters and fire trucks are deployed. Although a trap is established at a Cadillac dealership and roads are closed, Pace again foils the police. After the chase has gone on for nearly forty minutes, Pace encounters a traffic collision obstructing the road, but the Mustang propels over the wrecked cars and Pace gets away. Though, Eleanor is destroyed, but Pace spots a matching one at a nearby car wash and steals it from an unsuspecting young woman. The police find the wrecked Eleanor and falsely arrest the car wash's owner, while Pace passes undetected through a police roadblock and speeds away.
