O.t. Bullitt mustang sells for record $3.4 milliom at mecum

[RonW87]

Originally Posted by Seramount

google says there were two movie cars...one for stunts and one for close-ups with SM at the wheel.

the stunt car was reportedly trashed and scrapped.

the 'hero' car is the one that just sold at auction.

The stunt car was found in a Mexican garbage dump and subsequently restored.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/long...-found-mexico/

[saab2000]

I think transactions like this rhyme strongly with 'funny squandering'.

[2LeftCleats]

I know nothing about owning these show cars but most other exotic/expensive cars are carefully maintained, garaged, etc. Given that this car is showing it’s age and rusting, how does the new owner protect this investment? Does it remain untouched or is it refurbished?

[Tickdoc]

Originally Posted by 2LeftCleats

I know nothing about owning these show cars but most other exotic/expensive cars are carefully maintained, garaged, etc. Given that this car is showing it’s age and rusting, how does the new owner protect this investment? Does it remain untouched or is it refurbished?

It was functionally refurbished prior to its big reveal a couple of years ago. It may look rough, but it is solid and any major components were refurbished and essential parts replaced to be as close to “barn condition” but roadworthy as possible.

I love the story of how the guy found the car from a small classifieds ad, and how he turned McQueen down to repurchase. 1000x profit is icing on the cake for the family.

[parris]

I think if a full on restoration happened the car would loose much of what it is. Several years ago I saw one of the Jay Leno videos where he talked about this kind of thing. What he and some other collectors do with a number of their cars with a history is to do what they call a "sympathetic restoration". They stop further rust etc, properly fix any mechanical issues, and then call it good.

This car due to what it is would sound like a good candidate for that kind of action.

[alancw3]

Originally Posted by 2LeftCleats

I know nothing about owning these show cars but most other exotic/expensive cars are carefully maintained, garaged, etc. Given that this car is showing it’s age and rusting, how does the new owner protect this investment? Does it remain untouched or is it refurbished?

funny you ask that question. recently I watched a show that addressed this very topic. so currently the wisdom is to keep the "patina" and just clear coat the car to protect it from further deterioration.

[Seramount]

Originally Posted by parris

There are scenes in the movie where you can see the square tubing they used for camera mounting. It's STILL one of the greatest chase scenes to this day.

word.

when the guy driving the black Charger buckles his seat belt, you know it's about to get real...

[parris]

Sera TRUTH!!! I first saw the movie about 35 years ago with a close friend that's several years older than I am and he'd seen it at the theaters when he was a teenager. About the only thing he did spoilerish was to point out Bud Ekiens (sp) buckling the seat belt.

On a side note, that sound track's one of the coolest around.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by RonW87

The stunt car was found in a Mexican garbage dump and subsequently restored.

Originally Posted by saab2000

I think transactions like this rhyme strongly with 'funny squandering'.

That picture and Saab's comment remind me of a scene from "No Country for Old Men."

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by parris

There are scenes in the movie where you can see the square tubing they used for camera mounting. It's STILL one of the greatest chase scenes to this day.

Yep, just don't count how many hubcaps come off the Dodge, LOL!!

[paredown]

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say--but seeing that movie inspired my brother and me to talk a local Ford dealership into letting us test drive the closest we could get to that car (probably the 390, definitely the fastback, but I can't remember) and take it over the New Westminster version of the San Francisco hills..

We got airborne alright--which is a thing in itself to be flying in a car--but it was the landing that was horrifying, we bottomed out, went sideways, almost rolled--but props to my crazy older brother, he kept it shiny side up.

I'm not sure what they beefed up to do those stunts, but from our experience, I doubt that was a stock suspension!

(We kind of slunk back to the dealership, caught the sales guy when he was busy and handed him the keys and took off. Never heard anything about it, but I'm pretty sure we potato chipped at least one wheel, and it definitely was not the car we took out...)

[Mr. Pink]

Jay Leno found this car and owner, and actually drove it. The owner was the son of the guy who bought it after the filming, and it was used as a daily driver. Great story.

https://youtu.be/iZG4LOnMIjM

[parris]

James... Or how many times they passed the same VW or Pontiac .

Pare I read a bunch of years ago about the mods they did to the cars. I'm fuzzy on the details but here it goes. The Mustang and Charger both had the stock suspensions augmented with pieces from both companies racing programs at the time. The Mustang got heavy springs, Koni shocks, sway bars, bigger brakes, heavy duty front spindles, suspension bracing under the hood, the wheels and tires. The 390 had to have the heads milled, I believe a bigger camshaft, and headers.

The Charger got torsion bars and rear springs from Dodge's Nascar program, heavy duty brakes, nascar spindles, sway bars, chassis bracing. The engine was left stock.

The filming for the chase took around 2 weeks and I believe the camera car was a modified Lola T 70. Both cars were inspected at the end of each days shoot for suspension damage. That included Magnafluxing critical components.

McQueen and Ekins spent a lot of time training at speed in the movie cars together before the scene was shot. If I remember correctly that's when they realized that they needed to work on the 390 in the Mustang in order to have the power and speed they wanted to be effective compared to the Charger where the 440 was enough for what they wanted.

Like I said I read this years ago so some details could be wrong but there it is.

[eddief]

saw one on the street. definitely caught my eyes. really nicely done exterior with not much gee gaw. sounded really solid too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUHlSfPadHs

about the same color as the Dodge Coronet R/T I had when I was a boy.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/DA0913-16...ge-coronet-rt/

[tbike4]

I worked with Bud Ekins daughter, Donna in the late 80's and she really just spoke about his jump in The Great Escape, never mentioned his work in Bullitt. Would have liked to hear any stories she had about that.

https://www.budanddaveekins.com/the-great-escape-jump/