The BULLITT Page

"The hood was very hard to do. I measured where the vents should be cut to clear the engine components. I cut the vents in the stock hood and fiberglassed them in. I cut about an inch off the front of the flaps to make the air hole bigger. 
I removed the squirter nozzles from the hood and filled in the holes. I put new squirter nozzles in the cowl just above the wiper arm. 
Then I cut mesh to make the screens to cover the holes in the scoops. I cut and glued new felt underneath to match the stock hood insulation. This took about 3 weeks to complete."

The Front End:

"I put on a Shelby front bumper, grilles, and headlights. I used after market fog lights and blue xenon bulbs for the headlights. To keep it smooth and understated, I did not want a front spoiler like the GT 500, so I had to make a metal front skid plate to go underneath and hold the bumper on. Shelby bumpers have brake cooling hose fittings molded in behind the lower grille. I used these to run a cold air induction system to the air filter. I cut the lower grille from behind not disturbing the X pattern to allow air to flow through the hose. I put on after market black blinker lenses with orange bulbs. This took about 2 weeks."

 

The Front Fenders:

"I took off the GT emblems and the radio antenna from the front fenders and filled in the holes. This took a couple of days."

The Interior:

The Wheels:

"The wheels are 18x8.5 Ford Racing Bullitt wheels. I painted them texture black and scuffed the rim to look like brushed aluminum. 
I wanted a wheel cap that stood out away from the wheel. I couldn't find anything like this, so I made my own out of a hardware store item. (I'll never tell which item) 
I made the valve stem caps from actual .44 magnum shells. This took about a week."

The Rear End:

"The rear bumper is from a V-6 Mustang. I used it because it has the smoothest look of all the Mustang rear bumpers. I cut the lip off of the factory exhaust hole. I cut a second exhaust hole to match the factory one. I had to lower the exhaust pipes half an inch to clear the bumper. This took about 2 days."

The Louvers:

"I tried to caste a set of louvers from actual 1968 mustang louvers, that didn't work. I tried several other methods, they didn't work either. 
So I had to modify a set of louvers that I bought. I made a fiberglass mold of the quarter windows, I cut the center out of it, leaving a quarter of an inch all around the edge. 

I cut the lip off of the louvers I bought and attached them to the fiberglass ring. I smoothed the edges with body filler. To make it look like there was a grille over the window, I used silver pinstriping tape before I attached the louvers to the window. 
This took about 2 weeks.

K.L. found a new Charger and a similar street scene to compose his todays version of the  most thrilling staging sequence in car movie history. 

The following is a totally true story. 

I was having a really really bad day. A worse one than usual. Before gas had gotten so expensive, taking long drives down the highway would be my therapy. But I hadn't done that in a long time. And I was needing it on this day. 

I asked my girlfriend if she would like to ride in my newly completed car for a test drive. After we maneuvered our way out of traffic land, the highway lay before us. The sun was hanging low in the sky, and there were only a few cars on the road. And what did one of those cars in front of us happen to be? Yes indeed, a black Charger SRT8 HEMI! 

I couldn't resist, I had to pull in behind it. The whole time I was working on my car, I would joke to my girlfriend every time we saw a black Charger..."If my car was done, he'd be in big trouble". We got a laugh out of it. But now here it was, the moment was upon me. He was only going 60 in a 65 mph zone, but I didn't care, I was having fun. 

We idled down the highway for a few miles, when my girlfriend said "this is fun, but I wish he was going faster". Just as I was about to agree, as if on cue, the Charger's exhaust pipes bellowed as he floored it and took off down the road! I don't know if he was a Bullitt fan too just waiting for a green Mustang to chase him, a complete maniac, or just looking for a little fun. 

Whatever the reason, he was off. My girlfriend said "put the song on quick!" (the song being the chase theme on the Bullitt soundtrack in the cd player). I was already loading it when she said it. As soon as the music started, the chase was on. He had gotten about a quarter mile ahead of me, but I caught up with ease. 

Before I knew it, we were doing 85 mph, down the four lane divided slice of heaven. The sun was setting low behind us, lighting up the clouds ahead, the music was blasting, we were cat and mouse lane switching, it was beautiful, my day was much much better now. I let him stay about 5 or 10 car lengths ahead of me, just in case there were any police waiting in the weeds. This went on for at least fifteen minutes until we got to the next town. 

There wasn't any smashing into each other, or exploding gas stations, we slowed down, he went his way and I went mine. But it was good fun none the less. I hope he was a Bullitt fan too, so he could appreciate the magnitude of the moment, and tell tales of the time the green Mustang chased him down the highway. I just wished I had a video camera, it would have been some great footage. Oh well, maybe next time...I'll see him again.