Steve McQueen’s famous San Francisco car chase scene in the 1968 movie Bullitt turned the Mustang GT fastback into a Hollywood icon.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of that film, Ford showcased the original car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit—the original car used in the film hasn’t been seen by the public in 40 years—as well as unveiled a new limited-edition 2019 Mustang Bullitt.
The new, special-edition model has an upgraded 5.0-liter V8 engine that provides 475 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. The upshot? A faster Mustang GT. The new Bullitt will have a top speed of 163 miles per hour, an 8 m.p.h. Increase from the latest Mustang GT.
The Mustang GT fastback played a prominent role in Bullitt, notably the nearly 10-minute-long sequence that followed McQueen chasing down two hitmen in his Mustang through the streets of San Francisco. Two 1968 Mustang GT fastbacks were used in the film. The hero vehicle was sold by Warner Bros to a private buyer. The other vehicle, which was used in many chase scenes, went to a salvage yard. That jumper vehicle resurfaced in Baja, Calif., in early 2017—but the other was lost to history, according to Ford.
Sean Kiernan, owner of the hero vehicle, inherited the car in 2014 from his late father, Robert, who had purchased the vehicle in 1974. Kiernan contacted Ford and the two parties worked together to reveal the car alongside the all-new 2019 Mustang Bullitt at NAIAS.
As part of the unveiling, Ford showed a short movie, starring a third-generation member of the McQueen family, Molly, to introduce the new third-generation Bullitt at NAIAS. In the film, Molly races a new Mustang Bullitt through a parking structure battling a Dodge Charger for the final free space.
[Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s-64GmXB2E&w=560&h=315]
“This new Bullitt is, as Steve McQueen was, effortlessly cool,” Darrell Behmer, chief designer of the Mustang, said in a statement. “As a designer, it’s my favorite Mustang—devoid of stripes, spoilers and badges. It doesn’t need to scream about anything—it’s just cool.”
The 2019 Mustang Bullitt, which features dark highland green exterior paint and chrome accents, is expected to be available this summer. The vehicle will come equipped with a manual transmission and a gear shifter that features a white cue ball shift knob in a nod to the original.
The car’s signature burble will be there, thanks to a retuning of the active value performance exhaust system, which comes standard with black “nitroplate” exhaust tips.
Other standard equipment includes a heated leather steering wheel and a 12-inch all-digital LCD instrument cluster, identical in function to the cluster introduced on 2018 Mustang, with one difference. This version will have a Bullitt welcome screen that starts in green with an image of the car rather than the pony.