{"id":100782,"date":"2025-01-13T12:24:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/?p=100782"},"modified":"2025-01-13T12:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:24:45","slug":"junkyard-mustang-is-missing-bullitt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/?p=100782","title":{"rendered":"Junkyard Mustang is missing Bullitt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bullitt is rightly regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time \u2013 not least for its iconic chase scene through the streets of San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The movie made the Mustang famous \u2013 and two were used in filming: a \u2018hero\u2019 car and a ‘stunt’ car. The latter had long been thought lost, a victim of the scrapheap \u2013 until a rusting white Mustang turned up in a Mexican junkyard.
\nSitting out in the sun and salty air had done the old Ford no good. Barely recognisable, it lacked an engine or transmission, and restorer Ralph Garcia almost made it over to resemble the Eleanor Mustang from Gone in 60 Seconds.<\/p>\n

A few tell-tale signs made him pause for thought, though: reinforced strut towers and holes drilled in the body \u2013 presumably for additional lights during filming \u2013 suggested there was more to the story.<\/p>\n

Its chassis number was sent to Ford specialist Kevin Marti and he was able to confirm its provenance as the long-lost Bullitt ‘stunt’ car. It\u2019s now undergoing restoration.
\nSecond Bullitt Mustang found by Ford<\/p>\n

The better-known \u2018hero\u2019 Mustang used in the filming of Bullitt fared better than the \u2018stunt\u2019 car.<\/p>\n

First sold to a Hollywood studio exec then to a New York detective, it was bought in \u201874 by Mustang fan Robert Kiernan for US$6000. Steve McQueen himself reportedly tried to buy it twice in the late-\u201970s but was rebutted.
\nGaraged in 1980 after a breakdown, it then stayed there for more than 30 years, until Kiernan\u2019s son inherited the fastback and began restoring it.<\/p>\n

Ford got wind of the plan and agreed to help, displaying the car alongside the new Mustang Bullitt at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show.
\nIt\u2019s since become something of an automotive celebrity, appearing at car shows and concours around the world as befits its status as one of the most famous movie cars ever.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now set for its next adventure \u2013 it\u2019ll be sold by Mecum at its massive Kissimmee auction in January 2020 and although it\u2019ll cross the block with no reserve, we suspect it\u2019ll go for big bucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bullitt is rightly regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time \u2013 not least for its iconic chase scene through the streets of San Francisco. The movie made the Mustang famous \u2013 and two were used in filming: a \u2018hero\u2019 car and a ‘stunt’ car. The latter had long been thought lost, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":100783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100786,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100782\/revisions\/100786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/100783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhotrods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}