1968 Ford Mustang GT Bullitt: McQueen in Highland Green (Pt 1)
The 1964 Ford Mustang entered the automotive world and became an
instant success, offering a fairly inexpensive and fun 210hp V8 engine
inside something brand new. The Mustang found its way onto television,
magazine covers, and even the head of the field at the Indianapolis 500
in its first few years. Few of those appearances would have as long
lasting an impact as its cameo in the 1968 movie, Bullitt, about San
Francisco cop Lieutenant Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) who kept the
city under his thumb with the aid of his Highland Green 1968 Ford
Mustang GT 390. This movie is popular due to its use of the dark green
fastback as well as a late-movie chase scene throughout the extreme
topography of San Francisco streets, pitting the 1968 Mustang GT
against a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T driven by a pair of suspected
murderers.
Even with the tremendous popularity of
Bullitt, Ford offered no specific “Bullitt Edition” Mustang GT;
although you could order one that was basically the same. The Mustang
in the movie was actually a pair of cars; fictionally a run-of-the-mill
1968 GT 390, the two cars were actually modified for easier filming and
better stunt driving. Bullitt was one of the first movies to feature
high speed driving scenes from inside of the vehicle, so the inner
trunk had a generator mounted to power the camera and lighting
equipment without drawing from the vehicle’s battery. The producers
wanted a stunt driver who was experienced at both driving and modifying
a vehicle, so they employed race car driver and builder Max Balchowski
to handle the two Bullitt Mustangs.
Modifications to the Bullitt
Mustang: heavy duty shocks and springs, fender braces to handle the
frequent jumps during the chase scenes, a louder exhaust, and some
carburetor tuning to give the car a little more power and a lot more
rumble. Though the two Mustangs were both modified, one was used more
frequently for close-up shots, while the other one was the unit seen
flying through the California air. The “stunt car” was basically
destroyed during filming; although there was a great deal of interest
in buying this car, Warner Brothers decided that it would be best to
destroy the Bullitt and avoid any liability. The “close-up car” was
left in fairly good condition and officially sold to an employee of
Warner Brothers Studios sometime in 1970. This Bullitt Mustang is
rumored to have then been up for sale in the Los Angeles Times for six
thousand dollars and shipped off to New Jersey upon purchase. The GT
later resurfaced in a 1974 issue of Road & Track, and consequently
Steve McQueen himself supposedly contacted the seller in hopes of
buying it but was too late. After that, the fate of the Bullitt Mustang
became hazy, allegedly moved away from the New Jersey area and located
some time later by a film company that offered the owner a handsome sum
of money only to be rebuffed. Since the mid-1990’s attempt to purchase
the car, information about the famous Mustang has dwindled to a handful
of rumors.
Mustangs would continue to appear in movies such as
1974’s Gone in Sixty Seconds, which tried to topple Bullitt‘s famous
chase scene with an almost 40 minute long chase of its own featuring a
Medium Bright Yellow 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1. But it is Bullitt that
remains one of the most legendary “Car guy” movies of all time and the
special Mustang GT that lies at the heart of it. It is likely that the
longevity of the Bullitt popularity caused the Ford Motor Company to
pay homage with a 2001 trim line devoted to the legendary Mustang.