Bullitt Mustang 390GT / Steve Mqueen
Discussion
What an heirloom !!
I had heard the story re one of the Mustangs had been found in a New Mexico junk yard a couple of years ago, but knew nothing about this one !
Apparently, after filming of Bullitt had finished, the main car used in the film ( not the heavily damaged chase car ) was sold to a Warner Bros exec. He then moved the car on to a Police Officer, who after a couple of years advertised it for $6,000 dollars ( a Lot of money for a six years old Mustang ) in the October 1974 issue of Road and Track magazine. The current owners Father saw the advert and bought the car. In 1974, Mqueen had managed to track down the owner and wrote asking to buy it back. His letter wasn't answered and Mqueen wrote again in 1977 asking to buy it back. But sadly again, he got no reply.
The owners wife used it as her daily driver to the school where she taught.
In 1980, the Mustangs clutch went and it was garaged. It didn't move under its own power until last year, when Ford used it to promote its new 18 model Bullitt edition.
Edited by neutral 3 on Friday 17th May 11:15
Edited by neutral 3 on Friday 17th May 11:18
Edited by neutral 3 on Friday 17th May 12:18
neutral 3 said:
What an heirloom !!
I had heard the story re one of the Mustangs had been found in a New Mexico junk yard a couple of years ago, but knew nothing about this one !
It was known about, verified by a couple of Mustang experts it it was what it was, but no photos were allowed to be taken, or published etc.
I'm not sure about the other highly damaged stunt car being found in a junk yard though, that's a new one on me. It must have been there since after filming as by the accounts of Cary Loftin and Bud Ekins later on, that car was totally shagged after the yumps down Taylor Street. It must have also been used in other shots sequences in the chase, as the surviving car pictured hasn't got the tell tale dent on the front lip of the hood as seen in some of the close up shots taken from the back of the Charger.
aeropilot said:
The non-destroyed Charger is allegedly still around as well, 'discovered' about 5-6 years ago from an article I read a while back.
Not convinced though about it, as its a 4-speed car, and articles etc at the time, hint at it being a 727 car. Rumours are there was a 3rd, but according to the original data, the studio went to a Dodge dealer in Burbank and bought 2 cars off the lot. One was blue (the one destroyed at the end) which they repainted black. The 'discovered' 4-speed car was originally yellow though, so thus repainted black for the film, and returned to yellow when sold by the film company a year or so later. I think the jury is still out on this car, although, it was for sale a few years ago post restoration, for a cool $1m!!
I'm surprised there aren't more threads about this! The Kiernan car '559 was featured in a six page article in 'Classic American' mag back in December, writer Axel Catton met the owner Sean in San Francisco and they went for a short drive round some of the locations before too many people started to notice and packed the car back up in its transporter.
This'll be the other one '558 driven by Bed Ekins, when the car stops with the front end hanging over the ditch the offside front wheel is tucked right in...!
I think it's worth pointing out that had McQueen successfully bought the car back from the Kiernan family it may well have disappeared for good, or been snapped up and over restored. It's still one of my favourite films, I probably watch it more than any other from the period, and not just for the car chase, I think it stands up by itself as a really good thriller, tightly directed, well photographed with Lalo Schifrin's wonderful score being the icing on the cake. I've just bought a Japanese issued limited edition CD of the soundtrack on Amazon, it contains the rebooted version recorded by Schifrin about twenty years ago but more importantly the '68 recorded score from the film itself, which as far as I know has never been given a proper release before.
''Time starts now...''
This'll be the other one '558 driven by Bed Ekins, when the car stops with the front end hanging over the ditch the offside front wheel is tucked right in...!
I think it's worth pointing out that had McQueen successfully bought the car back from the Kiernan family it may well have disappeared for good, or been snapped up and over restored. It's still one of my favourite films, I probably watch it more than any other from the period, and not just for the car chase, I think it stands up by itself as a really good thriller, tightly directed, well photographed with Lalo Schifrin's wonderful score being the icing on the cake. I've just bought a Japanese issued limited edition CD of the soundtrack on Amazon, it contains the rebooted version recorded by Schifrin about twenty years ago but more importantly the '68 recorded score from the film itself, which as far as I know has never been given a proper release before.
''Time starts now...''
P5BNij said:
I've just bought a Japanese issued limited edition CD of the soundtrack on Amazon, it contains the rebooted version recorded by Schifrin about twenty years ago
The 'rebooted' version must be film score CD I have as I bought it about 20 years ago, as I know I put 'Shifting Gears' on repeat on the hire car audio for best part of an hour when driving around the chase filming locations back in 2004 (which annoyed the f
k out of the missus at the time 
)
aeropilot said:
Not convinced though about it, as its a 4-speed car, and articles etc at the time, hint at it being a 727 car. Rumours are there was a 3rd, but according to the original data, the studio went to a Dodge dealer in Burbank and bought 2 cars off the lot. One was blue (the one destroyed at the end) which they repainted black. The 'discovered' 4-speed car was originally yellow though, so thus repainted black for the film, and returned to yellow when sold by the film company a year or so later.
I think the jury is still out on this car, although, it was for sale a few years ago post restoration, for a cool $1m!!
It was a Dodge dealer in Glendale, not Burbank, as I've just re-found the link to the interview with Carey Loftin, Bud Ekins and Ron Riner about the filming and Riner, who was film transportation manager, says they bought two 4-speed cars of the lot for the filming. Doesn't mention colour though, so that yellow car could be the real deal.I think the jury is still out on this car, although, it was for sale a few years ago post restoration, for a cool $1m!!
aeropilot said:
P5BNij said:
I've just bought a Japanese issued limited edition CD of the soundtrack on Amazon, it contains the rebooted version recorded by Schifrin about twenty years ago
The 'rebooted' version must be film score CD I have as I bought it about 20 years ago, as I know I put 'Shifting Gears' on repeat on the hire car audio for best part of an hour when driving around the chase filming locations back in 2004 (which annoyed the fk out of the missus at the time )'Shifting gears' is one of the best track on it...
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