Eliminator

Billy Gibbons is a fan and avid collector of custom cars and motorcycles. His custom vehicles were a mainstay of the earlier ZZ Top videos and were also used for promotion.

The red 1933 Ford 3-window coupé Hot Rod The Eliminator was customized by Don Thelen at Paramount. The car was featured in a video trilogy from the album Eliminator, consisting of "Sharp Dressed Man", "Gimme All Your Lovin,'" and "Legs." The car was also featured in various custom-car magazines around the globe.

The Eliminator gets eliminated by two wheel loaders in the video "Sleeping Bag" from the Afterburner album, while it saves a young couple from being captured by the "bad boys." The car gets reborn as a mix between the Hot Rod and the Space Shuttle, as shown on the cover of the album. When the Eliminator Shuttle rockets into space, controlled by the ZZ Top crew, a text appears "to be continued...". But in the next video, "Stages", the shuttle only has a very brief showing at the end with the text "Stay tuned...". In the following video, "Rough Boy," the shuttle plays a larger role as the sole customer in a car-wash space station. This video closes the "Afterburner" trilogy with the ominous text "Stay clean...". The Eliminator has one last (so far) and almost imperceptible appearance at the beginning of the video "Burger Man" from the Recycler album.

A 1/24-scale plastic model of the Eliminator was produced by Monogram under license. The car now resides in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.