Bullitt - The Movie
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I think
we don't need to explain,
what this movie is about.
For those who never heard of it, the movie has indeed a story, but there is no doubt about it that this is second to the
most famous car chase scene with a Highland green 68 Mustang Fastback powered by a 390/4V big block engine and
a black Dodge Charger 440 R/T.
This webpage was not set up for a summary of the movie plot, but to let you have a look from behind the steering wheel,
smell the burning rubber, slip beind the Arriflex cameras and to experience the real sentiments of being back then in 1968
...bouncing down the hill through Potreiro district of San Francisco.
Plus you can get information about our long journey with that mystery car
hidden in the Kentucky barn, status of the real
and surviving BULLITT Mustangs and maybe a Charger survivor, if you
trust in the claiming owners.
Hang on and have a seat in the copilots
bucket seat, buckle up, grip the mouse a little bit tighter and scroll
through the streets of San Francisco on this site.
Watch out for the
"ramps" to lift off. Steve for sure has enjoyed it like his
stuntman and so do we. |
Bullitt - The Mustang
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One of the two 390 GT BULLITT Mustangs minutes before the jumping
was filmed. Actually only one had a roll bar installed.
Typically you judge a movie by its actors.
Although Steve McQueen attracted a big audience, there was one Dark Highland
Green car in the trailers and preview action shots, that caused people to raise their eyebrows. After leaving the cinemas, most people agreed, that the main starring actor of this famous movie was - The
1968 Mustang Fastback GT.
Simply painted Highland green and mean in
its perception. Without any major chrome items. Brute, yet subtle.
The modifications done by Max Balchowsky, a friend of Steve and originator of the famous "Ol Yeller" took about 5 weeks.
You can read more details about these modifications in the report of BULLITT expert David Kunz later on.
Dave bought his GT390 in 1992 and so did I with my presidential blue
Fastback. We just happened to be meet each other in the early stages of the
Internet, while I was browsing for other 1968 Fastbacks. Of course I knew
McQueen and Bullitt before. At that time there was only one Bullitt website
on the web, which disappeared soon after in the late 90ies. Our ponysite.de
is still around. Anthony Bologna, the eye witness of the movie joined the
team soon after and feeded the News through all those years up to today.
Now let's talk about the cars.
2 Mustang 390 GT were
built and sponsored by FORD, both of them with exactly the same equipment acc. to Kevin Martis (Marti Auto Works)
VIN research in the Ford production data files. Both reports can be obtained
for a fee from Kevin since about 15 years.
The two BULLITT Mustangs had consecutive VINs and the same equipment
from Ford ex-factory.
According to an interview with Steve McQueen, the jump car Mustang was almost disintegrating during the jumps and had to be worked on a lot. It
was for almost 25 years believed to have been wrecked afterwards due to structural problems and liability
concerns.
We were in contact over the years with somebody who saw both cars at the studios
after the movie, one being ready to go to the wrecker. This had been
confirmed by other insiders previously.
BULLITT enthusiasts thought for decades that only one car survived. In 2017
however 8R02S125558 was found or what was left of it in Southern California
and brought to Mexico. While planning an Eleanor mod, the owner (Ralph
Garcia) sent in the
VIN to Kevin Marti and learned that he found one of the two Bullitt Mustang.
The
other more intact surviving car with VIN 8R02S125559 had been unearthed by a
Mustang maniac in a barn about 29-30 years ago after lots of stories embraced the myth of the original car.
There was little known in the Bullitt world about the last owner, but we
had some hints on
the name and his profession for quite a while.
Somebody even said, he once
sat behind him in an airplane and heard him talking about his Bullitt
Mustang ownership, being a police detective. True or not, all those stories
had some facts of truth. Brad Bowling finally found in April 2010 the
last owner.
In that article in Mustang Enthusiast he writes about the
ownership and documents he had been shown at his home.
As we know today it was
Robb Kiernan. I had got hints on the family name over the years from some - who
wanted to remain anonymous - and a relative
about the families background. Still all of us (3 founders) kept the promise
not to reveal the owners name.
As of 2014 the car was still in the hands of its third owner. Unfortunately he
died soon after and inherited the car to his family.
It had been stored for a long time
in a barn in Kentucky, where a "spy" spotted it and took photographs, which
ended up in the hands of David Kunz, but they were not published for obvious
reasons and in respect for the owners and and the "spys" family.
When there was too much noise the owner moved the car to his home garage
around 1996 and
let it sit next to his Porsche, covered up, as we knew soon after the move.
The main problem that seems to exist for many BULLITT enthusiasts is that the owner did not want to let it be
shown to the public as well as his son for a while, but arrangements were
made in 2017 for a public viewing for the 50th Anniversary.
It is said that
the owner gave his family a promise to keep it, so we all had to wait. As we
knew, it
was a true father-son very private issue. In fact it added a lot to the mystery.
No movie car has ever grown to that fame, if it was displayed in a museum. And
I personally had hopes, it remained hidden for a much longer time, though only a few
might understand my viewpoint.
However it changed as of January 14th,
2018, which we predicted as of November 2017 with a mystery youtube video, I
created with friends in the UK and a Ford dealership and it worked out that day indeed.
For me personally it would
have made more sense to store it somewhere in a fake barn, where you
can just glimpse through a small hole into the darkness. Pulling it into
the light has certainly destroyed some of the previous mystery, yet we have to be thankful to the owner family for keeping it hidden for so long. I hope it
won't be restored or changed in any way other than refitting a few missing
parts.
With the HVA having registered it now as vehicle no 21, it will
certainly stay like it is, until the owner decides in a different way.
Since the two survivors are out,
there is certainly no more risk of being offered a fraud, which was a pain
for some who spent quite some money on it. We know of at least 2 cases.
Replicas and look-alikes should be
considered as the owners late realization of their childhood dream car. We
are proud to have accumulated in 30 years over 71 cars worldwide and have
presented them on this site.
There is still occasionally coming up a fake story of a Bullitt Shelby and a
3rd car being used in the movie. Truest us, there is no 3rd car around.
The late Mr. Max Balchowski*, who modified the cars for the film, once said that there are a lot of phony Bullitt Mustangs out there running
around." We have also word of several cars that have been auctioned or
sold by WB employees as the real deal soon after the movie ended. That's
where the myth about the many fallacies started.
*Max
Balchowski btw. died in 1999 acc. to a UK
magazine.
The Prediction of the 2018 Bullitt
Mustang exclusive on Ponysite.de
Our update December 8th, 2017
was the one and only source on the web predicting the Detroit January 2018
event: Here is the text from then:
Stay tuned for January 14th, 2018 at the Detroit Auto Show press
conference from Ford. Exciting news coming on.
In addition we had made a
hairrising video with my mates David Redhead and Chris How,
while I was in the UK. We traded in the 1968 Bullitt Mustang for a 2018
Bullitt Mustang, well ok, they did not have a green one, so we took a red
2017 as a test car drive.
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The Movie
& the Mustang 
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