Back when the ‘Bullitt’ movie was playing, I drove a ‘68 Dodge Charger R/T. It had a 440CID V8, a huge 4-bbl carb, was sky blue and could easily reach 140 mph (lots of places in West Texas to prove that). One Saturday evening I had a date to see the movie and enjoyed it. After the show we
went cruising the strip. For the next 3-4 hours just about every Mustang in town pulled up alongside and wanted to get it on. A few had money to put up for a chance at proving their car was superior. I took about 5 of them up on their offer - $50 minimum on the table.
Unfortunately for all the Mustang pilots that actually raced, none seemed to know how quick almost 400 HP in a car just slightly larger than the Mustang could be. Most of the Mustangs were powered by the 289CID V8. They had no chance. It was a very profitable evening.
So while the movie chase was exciting it was also a bit unrealistic to me. In real life on any of the relatively long roads the Charger R/T would have left the Green Pony way behind.
‘Twas fun tho ...