Steve McQueens Mustang sold at auction

[crossboss]

Boys,
I hope this topic does not violate the forum rules. If it does, please remove. Anyways, Steve McQueen's Mustang (the hero car) from the movie 'Bullitt' just sold for a whopping 3.4 million! Your thoughts...

[maroman]

I sure hope they show the movie this weekend, I need a fix. As far as what I think, good for the seller and buyer. If I could I would Just to look at it.

[KurtS]

I don't know the presale estimate, but that's about double what I thought.

[169INDY]

I saw the Car at Chicago, Well thru a Glass (Lexan?) Box.
In some ways I understand the FIND another one mentality but fail to see that level of CASH value in it.
My mental est was crazy at 1.4-1.7mil in my mind.

Would be neat if it is avail for public to enjoy ala Peterson or Lemay etc.

JIM

[BULLITT65]

Neat car, I have a 65 Fastback, and have been a fan of the Movie since I was a kid. (hence my screen name) I followed the Bullitt Mustang lore for many years. I was glad to see the car finally surface, (in fact both the hero car, and stunt car surfaced in 2019). While the car is significant especially in that condition, The only person I thought that would go that high would have been Leno. And to me that may have ben the best person to get it, since he showcases so many of the cars he has, and just seems like a nice guy. While I am a lifelong fan of the movie, the car itself is only worth slightly more than a 68 fastback GT390 car. So maybe 50k to me, AND I would drive it around!
Plus, You can recreate the BULLITT Mustang, many fastback bodies out there to do so, and not that pricey to do so. For a large chunk of change, I would rather have had one of Steve's Ferrari's, those are artwork to me. Just my 2 cents 😁

[crossboss]

No denying, its the Steve McQueen lore that drove the price so high. I agree with BULLITT65 assessment on the 'value' of said car. Btw, I posted this exact comment on another car site: "Most overpriced Mustang in history" For 3.4 million bucks, there would be 'other' cars on my radar…(IF I had that kind of dough to spend!  lol).  Again, just my opinion.

[Vince]

About double what I expected it to sell for.   I get the exclusiveness of the Bullitt Mustang and that it was driven by Steve McQueen in probably the greatest car chase in any movie ever, but I would never spend that amount of money on it.  Just my opinion, but I would much prefer the Ferrari that Christie Brinkley drove in the Chevy Chase Vacation movie.   

[BULLITT65]

Vince that made me laugh. I think that was about a 83 308, not sure how much people would covet that specific car, but I always liked the 308 for watching magnum PI. A good used one is in the 50-70k range, and depends on if you prefer the euro bumpers which looked better IMO. The James Bond DB5 was a cool looking ride. even non movie cars fetch some coin on those.

[z28z11]

Pre-auction estimate was $3-5M. I honestly thought for a while it might bust 5, but it went down to (3) phone bidders fairly fast. Whole auction with all the hoopla lasted about 12-13 minutes.

Regardless of how rabid a Chevrolet (or any other brand) fan you are, this car was a game changer for car movies (and action movies in general). I was so fascinated with the 'Stang and the movie when I saw it (sometime in '69) that I nearly got involved with a '65 fastback hi-po 289 4spd car, red with black interior, on a local car lot. Thank goodness my ardor cooled enough to buy my '57 Belair 2dr HDTP, which was a lot less expensive, and firmly kept me on the Chevy track for life. I still watch Bullitt every chance I get, saved the wonderful article about the coming out of the car in Nashville in Hemmings, and waited on yesterday for a long while. Just wonder who bought it - time will tell, hopefully.

Regards,
Steve

[69Z28-RS]

... wondering what the Bullitt charger would go for..   

[BULLITT65]

Sorry, from everything I have read, no BULLITT chargers survived. Obviously the one in the gas station scene was beyond repair, I have never read anything that the other one was ever sold by the studio. I would guess it got crushed as well. BUT the other stunt 68 Fastback will likely find its way to auction in the coming year(s) and likely go for some big money.

[z28z11]

... wondering what the Bullitt charger would go for..   

Carlyle Motors could probably tell us. Sold, out there somewhere.

In the text, they note the "camera car", supposedly this one, was originally yellow and painted black for the movie. The other stunt car (I assume the one that wrecked and burned) I remember must have been blue, and painted black: during the chase, after a few bangs on the driver's side, you could see blue paint showing through the damaged black paint.

I also remember the Charger losing a lot of hubcaps - more than four on the car -

https://www.carlylemotors.com/vehicle-details/1968-dodge-charger-r-t-440--bullitt-charger--coupe-eb9cd4a309244e4193d64ac1ba3ee3ec

Nonetheless, the Charger sold a lot of Dodges after the movie debuted -

Regards,
Steve

[BULLITT65]

Nice Charger. I had read that story, but that the car could not be documented with the plates by the DMV, or old registration, and could not be authenticated by other means, seemed sketchy. If you ever read all the stories about guys who thought they had the original Bullitt mustang, good thing Kevin Marti knew the 2 vin numbers, or there would probably be half a dozen of them floating around now IMO. I love the 68 chargers, and that car is special with the 4spd.

[z28z11]

Nice article, mentions the lack of documentation from the studio. Piercings for the camera mounts could be duplicated, of course, but the holes do have the appearance of being there (particularly interior) of being there for a good while.

Remember what the ex-owner said of the Mustang - it was sold twice in it's career, both times for $3500.00. And used as a daily driver for a number of years, before mechanical issues forced it into retirement. At the early 70's period, they were just used cars, not cult status at that point -

Hope it stays as it is forever - IMO, restoring the "jumper" ruined it, or at the least really dumped the value. But you guys are correct - I can think of several dozen 67-69 Camaros i would buy with $3.7M (3,4 with buyer's premium) to spend.

Regards,
Steve

[BULLITT65]

You mean restoring the stunt Mustang, ruined it? or restoring the black charger?