The bullit sells

[MikeGriese]

I would have to restore it too. But I would drop in a 428 since dimensionally same as the 390  (keep original engine in crate) and add some better braking, original-looking wheels in 17 or 18 inch, and straight body with Highland green paint and several coats of clear...among other things

And take a $3.5M car to about $20k.

 

[Don C]

I would have to restore it too. But I would drop in a 428 since dimensionally same as the 390  (keep original engine in crate) and add some better braking, original-looking wheels in 17 or 18 inch, and straight body with Highland green paint and several coats of clear...among other things

And take a $3.5M car to about $20k.

+1, be a lot cheaper to buy a plain '68 fastback for $20,000 and then work hard to screw it up, call it a Bullitt tribute, and then just loose $30 or $40K when you go to sell it.

 

[Stanglover]

It is what it is. Several bidders thought it worth the money and had the money to drop on it. Of course, there could have been some 'bump' bidders in there, who knows.

As the pictures I posted show, it looks to be all original from the movie set, but again was it? I have been within inches of it and I did not see any obvious signs of (recent) repairs. I suppose if repairs had been done many many years ago, it could have all blended together by now. The seller did disclose some damage to the front end.

If the buyer is happy, that's all that counts and I doubt he'll worry too much if he loses his shirt in years to come if and when he decides to sell.

Geoff.

 

[MeanMachine]

I would have to restore it too. But I would drop in a 428 since dimensionally same as the 390  (keep original engine in crate) and add some better braking, original-looking wheels in 17 or 18 inch, and straight body with Highland green paint and several coats of clear...among other things

And take a $3.5M car to about $20k.

Hardly, I wouldn't do anything to the car that couldn't be returned to stock. But if it were mine, I'd enjoy the car by building to look like the Bullitt in its heyday and enjoy driving it...with some subtle modern conveniences. It's not like I said I'd add a fiberglass  body kit, coyote engine and a wing from a top fuel dragster. LOL

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I shot 2 hours of video for them when it was at the Mustang Owner's Museum few months back. The mounts are still there and holes from where the generator was mounted to run the cameras. It was crashed several times during the shoot and lots of bondo slathered on to do quick repairs. His grandfather got mad once because his mom had parked in his drive and crashed into the front of the car. So he did replace front bumper and valance and grill. The gas tank was replaced and the engine rebuilt. The PO has a body shop but never painted the car. It just sat for years. He told me the only thing he was keeping off the car were the two misspelled Bullitt license plates.

  It was far from pristine for sure, dents all over it, so who knows how original from the movie set it really was.

  Like I mentioned, I did not see the mounts as it crossed so it was quite likely just the camera angle. I mean to have removed them would take away from the originality of the car. For those who have not seen the license plate, here it is. Maybe only 6 letters were allowed, hence the 'misspell' Bullitt is 7 letters.

From what the seller said......... His mother purchased the plates for his fathers Christmas present. They never put them on because they didnt want anyone to know this was the bullit. Your correct.......he also said this is all the letters allowed from the DMV.

What a story huh, His MOM drove the car daily to work as a teacher. Even took the car on vacations as this was the only car they owned. Turning down Steve McQueen because this was there transportation car. Why would McQueen offer like 200k to buy it? He obviously made enough to do so.

All McQueen ever offered them was to swap a similar car even and offered no money. When they built the car for the movie or cars, there were two. They took a piece of pipe and beat the car up they also used pot scrubber pads to give the finish some age. The other car that is just a body shell that BJ owns was one that did the jumps. 

Two cars for a chase scene is not much. I think the built 11 for the remake of gone in 60 seconds.

 

[Stanglover]

  It was far from pristine for sure, dents all over it, so who knows how original from the movie set it really was.

  Like I mentioned, I did not see the mounts as it crossed so it was quite likely just the camera angle. I mean to have removed them would take away from the originality of the car. For those who have not seen the license plate, here it is. Maybe only 6 letters were allowed, hence the 'misspell' Bullitt is 7 letters.

From what the seller said......... His mother purchased the plates for his fathers Christmas present. They never put them on because they didnt want anyone to know this was the bullit. Your correct.......he also said this is all the letters allowed from the DMV.

What a story huh, His MOM drove the car daily to work as a teacher. Even took the car on vacations as this was the only car they owned. Turning down Steve McQueen because this was there transportation car. Why would McQueen offer like 200k to buy it? He obviously made enough to do so.

All McQueen ever offered them was to swap a similar car even and offered no money. When they built the car for the movie or cars, there were two. They took a piece of pipe and beat the car up they also used pot scrubber pads to give the finish some age. The other car that is just a body shell that BJ owns was one that did the jumps. 

Two cars for a chase scene is not much. I think the built 11 for the remake of gone in 60 seconds.

 David, I think perhaps our friend machattack may have meant to say "Why would Steve McQueen NOT offer like 200K to buy it". Personally I have no idea what was or was not offered. I do know he apparently did try to buy it.

Like many "movie cars" there is much misinformation out there, so really who knows what the truth is after 40-50 years. While on the subject of Bullitt, what happened to the Charger(s)?

Geoff.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

From what the seller said......... His mother purchased the plates for his fathers Christmas present. They never put them on because they didnt want anyone to know this was the bullit. Your correct.......he also said this is all the letters allowed from the DMV.

What a story huh, His MOM drove the car daily to work as a teacher. Even took the car on vacations as this was the only car they owned. Turning down Steve McQueen because this was there transportation car. Why would McQueen offer like 200k to buy it? He obviously made enough to do so.

All McQueen ever offered them was to swap a similar car even and offered no money. When they built the car for the movie or cars, there were two. They took a piece of pipe and beat the car up they also used pot scrubber pads to give the finish some age. The other car that is just a body shell that BJ owns was one that did the jumps. 

Two cars for a chase scene is not much. I think the built 11 for the remake of gone in 60 seconds.

 David, I think perhaps our friend machattack may have meant to say "Why would Steve McQueen NOT offer like 200K to buy it". Personally I have no idea what was or was not offered. I do know he apparently did try to buy it.

Like many "movie cars" there is much misinformation out there, so really who knows what the truth is after 40-50 years. While on the subject of Bullitt, what happened to the Charger(s)?

Geoff.

When the owner was at the MOM I shot video of him telling the whole story of the car was over an hour. He is the one that stated that McQueen never offered any money just a swap of a similar car to get it back. It was just a car which is still is. Just some rich people want to say they have it, lol. They are suckers for lots of hype for sure.

 

[MikeGriese]

I would have to restore it too. But I would drop in a 428 since dimensionally same as the 390  (keep original engine in crate) and add some better braking, original-looking wheels in 17 or 18 inch, and straight body with Highland green paint and several coats of clear...among other things

And take a $3.5M car to about $20k.

Hardly, I wouldn't do anything to the car that couldn't be returned to stock. But if it were mine, I'd enjoy the car by building to look like the Bullitt in its heyday and enjoy driving it...with some subtle modern conveniences. It's not like I said I'd add a fiberglass  body kit, coyote engine and a wing from a top fuel dragster. LOL

Once you paint it, you can't return it to stock.  This car is valued so high because of it's condition as a surviving movie car.  If you paint it, you will diminish the value.

 

[Stanglover]

All McQueen ever offered them was to swap a similar car even and offered no money. When they built the car for the movie or cars, there were two. They took a piece of pipe and beat the car up they also used pot scrubber pads to give the finish some age. The other car that is just a body shell that BJ owns was one that did the jumps. 

Two cars for a chase scene is not much. I think the built 11 for the remake of gone in 60 seconds.

 David, I think perhaps our friend machattack may have meant to say "Why would Steve McQueen NOT offer like 200K to buy it". Personally I have no idea what was or was not offered. I do know he apparently did try to buy it.

Like many "movie cars" there is much misinformation out there, so really who knows what the truth is after 40-50 years. While on the subject of Bullitt, what happened to the Charger(s)?

Geoff.

When the owner was at the MOM I shot video of him telling the whole story of the car was over an hour. He is the one that stated that McQueen never offered any money just a swap of a similar car to get it back. It was just a car which is still is. Just some rich people want to say they have it, lol. They are suckers for lots of hype for sure.

My apologies, I should have said "He did try to ACQUIRE it" 

Nuff said. What's done is done. Let's move on.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I would have to restore it too. But I would drop in a 428 since dimensionally same as the 390  (keep original engine in crate) and add some better braking, original-looking wheels in 17 or 18 inch, and straight body with Highland green paint and several coats of clear...among other things

And take a $3.5M car to about $20k.

Hardly, I wouldn't do anything to the car that couldn't be returned to stock. But if it were mine, I'd enjoy the car by building to look like the Bullitt in its heyday and enjoy driving it...with some subtle modern conveniences. It's not like I said I'd add a fiberglass  body kit, coyote engine and a wing from a top fuel dragster. LOL

That's the basic theme of my car... however, the likelihood of it ever returning to 'stock' ["appearance only," in my case] diminishes as I get older.  Why would I ever want to swap the factory pizza-cutter tires for the awesome Cragars and Cobras or remove the louvers that make it look so much cooler?  That's pretty much all I gotta do to make it appear 'stock' again... but in all honesty the odds of it ever happening are "Slim & None," and Slim left town.

Taking a $3.4M piece of history and making changes to it for the purposes of putt-putting around doesn't seem like a sound investment strategy.  As MikeGriese mentioned, "And take a $3.5M car to about $20k."  Even just the act of rolling it around from place to place between garages, shops, auction line, etc., adds mileage to the odometer and can decrease the value, based on the recorded condition when it was found and declared a piece of history.  Granted, most car people understand that this happens, but I'm sure a picture of the odo was one of the first things that happened upon discovery - too much deviation from that will have an effect on a potential future sale.

 

[MeanMachine]

So no big-n-little tires, 6-71 blower and wheelie bars??? LOL

 

[Mister 4x4]

So no big-n-little tires, 6-71 blower and wheelie bars???    LOL

Wait... you didn't say THAT was the plan.   ::thumb:: ::thumb:: ::thumb::

lollerz

 

[midlife]

I'm sure that if you part out the car, you'll get more out of it than you paid...just saying...

 

[Spike Morelli]

I was excited to hear about, and watch the "Bullitt" car get auctioned. I think early estimates of sale were higher than bidding ended at. I think it's generally good for first generation Mustang owners, and muscle car fans as a whole, to have this '68 bring so much attention to the coolness factor of the era. More power to the 3.4M buyer as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not him.

I like to have things just as they were when they were new, proudly exhibiting the flash and virility of the marque. I mean, as an icon, even Marylin Monroe, had she lived, would still be more admired for her youthful beauty than an older, aging woman, and there's only one of her. Maybe not the best analogy...….