 | |
Steve McQueen stars as Detective Lieutenant Frank Bullitt in this 1968 film simply titled 'Bullitt', based on Robert L. Pike's novel Mute Witness. He's assigned by his bosses to guard a star mob witness, Johnny Ross, because of the influence of an ambitious politician, Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn). Vaughn does an excellent job portraying the conniving Chalmers against McQueen's low-keyed Bullitt character. Ross is hiding in a hotel room, and while Bullitt is away, two professional hit men enter Ross' room and shoot him with a shotgun. |
What follows is probably filmdom's first spectacular car chase scene. Practice for the chase scene took place at a race track in Cotate California. The chase scene lasted about 10 minutes and took two weeks to film. It was shown without camera tricks, such as film speed-up, to make it look as if the cars were going faster than they really were. The drivers reached speeds of over a hundred miles an hour on the streets of San Francisco, with Bullitt in his Dark Highland Green 1968 GT Ford Mustang chasing the hit men in their Black 1968 Dodge Charger 440 R/T. The two professional hit men die in a spectacular fiery crash at the end of the scene.
For the filming of the movie "Bullitt," two consecutive VIN number (8R02S125558 & 8R02S125559) 1968 Mustang GT, Dark Highland Green Fastbacks were used from the Warner Brothers fleet for actor Steve McQueen's movie character. Veteran race driver and builder Max Balchowski was enlisted to modify the cars for the rigors of the high-speed pursuit scenes. Balchowski added GR70 size tires on 15x8 American Racing Torque Thrusts, heavy duty springs, Koni racing shocks, and fabricated reinforcing braces for the inner fenders. He also did some minor tuning to the 390-cubic-inch 4V engine for a little more top-end power. Steve McQueen did most of the actual driving in the sequence, but Bud Elkins a professional stunt driver performed all of the jumps in the chase.
 |
After filming was completed, the primary car was in sad shape. Two weeks of stunt driving had taken its toll on the Mustang, so it was sent to the crusher due to liability concerns. The remaining car, the less-damaged backup with 40,000 miles, was sold to an employee, Robert M. Ross of Warner Brothers' editing department. In the early 1970s, the car was advertised in a classified ad in The Los Angeles Times for the then princely sum of $6,000. A buyer was found and the car eventually made its way to the East Coast.
The Mustang went up for sale again in 1977, this time in an ad in Road & Track. It is reported that Steve McQueen himself wrote a letter with a desire to purchase the car for his own collection. He was told the car had been sold, but was given the name and number of the buyer. McQueen tried to persuade the new owner to resell it, but to no avail. The new owner did promise to contact him if he ever did decide to sell.
Steve McQueen's letter attempting to buy back the Mustang is dated Dec. 14, 1977, one month after McQueen and his second wife Ali MacGraw divorced. Steve McQueen died of cancer in 1980 and his collection of cars, motorcycles and antique toys was sold off. Whenever contacted by prospective buyers or media, the owner has refused offers of purchase or publicity. The car has been in non-running condition for some time.
The car remained in New Jersey until the mid-1990s, when it was moved to a farm in the Ohio River Valley. Parked in a hay barn, the original Bullitt Mustang remained inoperable, still wearing New Jersey tags. A film company recently made an offer to the owner for its use in a motion picture. The current owner declined.
Source: Ford Motor Company
