Easily one of the Top 10 car chase movies of all time… and that’s being conservative, the iconic detective thriller “Bullitt” is celebrating its 50th anniversary. A Dark Highland Green Mustang fastback was the runaway star of the show and Ford will produce a special Mustang Bullitt edition based on the all-new 2019 Mustang to pay tribute to the cinema phenom.
OCD Alert: There are some continuity hiccups in the chase scenes that have always bothered me. The omnipresent white Firebird that is one of the first cars dodged in the sequence and then passed four other times as the action unfolds… and the green VW Beetle that must be Herbie The Love Bug in disguise as it serves as “innocent” traffic on three different occasions. Getting past the visual semantics… the second of the two ’68 ‘Stangs used in the film was rediscovered a few months ago. 
It’s the hero car. The stunt car was rescued from a salvage yard in Mexico in early 2017 and restored. This close-up photo car has been left with its well-earned patina and is all the better for it.
Ford’s modern rendition is not a new undertaking as the automaker released Bullitt editions in 2001 and 2009. Motivation for the 2019 variant is provided by a specially tuned 5.0-liter V8 that packs 475 horsepower and 420 lb-ft. of torque and powers the Blue Oval to a top speed of 163 mph.
Due to hit the road this summer, the all-new Mustang Bullitt sports a six-speed manual transmission, and the gear shifter features a white cue ball shift knob as a nod to the original. Other features that pay tribute to the car McQueen dominated the streets of San Francisco with are subtle chrome accents around the front windows, and classic torque thrust aluminum wheels (these being 19 inchers), and a unique black front grille. Of course the car has other special touches like red painted Brembo brakes, green stitched Recaro seats and modern connectivity technology that the original couldn’t even dream of.
In the Warner Bros. movie, McQueen is chasing a couple of hitmen who are in a Dodge Charger. Ford put together a video depicting a 2019 Mustang Bullitt and a modern Dodge Charger duking it out for the last space in a parking structure. The second video shows the unveiling of the original Bullitt at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Enjoy.
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt
Original 1968 Mustang
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