Posted on 09/09/2020 11:37:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
There were a few movies in 1968 that prominently featured cars.
Two of them were family films: The Love Bug, a Disney comedy about a Volkswagen Beetle race car that had a mind of its own, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, featuring Dick Van Dyke and a Roald Dahl screenplay based on the Ian Fleming novel about a broken-down Grand Prix from the early 1900s that, given some TLC, is able to fly.
And then there was Bullitt. Rated M (equivalent to PG today), its about a car a 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback 2+2 in Highland Green with the 335 horsepower, 390 cubic-inch Thunderbird Special V8 and a four-speed manual transmission stock engine with a set of American Racing mag wheels and a white cue-ball shifter added (badges removed). It also flew, but only because Steve McQueen was at the wheel, chasing a couple of bad guys all over San Francisco.
How well does Bullitt resonate 52 years later? Well, the family of the man who bought one of the two identical Mustangs used in the movie the only one still fully intact for $3,500 in 1974 sold it at auction last January for $3.4 million. On a retail level, Ford has found Bullitt to be a profitable association twice before. The first time was 2001, when it took a Mustang GT and nudged the horsepower from 260 to 265, painted it dark green and gave it a cue-ball shifter and some wheels that looked kind of like the movie cars. I drove one at the time; it was OK. That generation of Mustang looked nothing like a 1968; the proportions were wrong, and the performance was not noticeably better than a regular Mustang GT.
SINISTER STYLE The 2005 redesign of the Mustang changed everything, and made the 2008-2009 Ford Mustang Bullitt a lot more convincing especially given that 315 horsepower was now on tap.
I think McQueen would approve of the current version, which debuted last year and will only be available through 2020. It is easily the meanest-looking since 1968, so the Dark Highland Green (it also comes in black) and the black wheels make it look positively sinister.
For the first time, this one also packs more horsepower than McQueen had to play with. The 5.0-liter V8 is good for 480 horsepower 20 more than a non-Bullitt Mustang GT. Thank the throttle bodies and intake manifold from the 526-horsepower Mustang Shelby GT 350 for that jump. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy average is fairly sobering: 14 mpg city, 23 highway. Your mileage may vary, and if you drive it like you really, deep down want to drive it, your mileage will be worse.
Other performance-enhancing standard equipment includes Brembo brakes, an active valve performance exhaust system with quad-tipped dual exhaust, a limited-slip rear axle and variable exhaust settings: Quiet (normal), Normal (really loud), Sport (was that an earthquake?) and Track (bring earplugs).
The base price of the 2020 Bullitt is $46,705. The standard equipment includes a 12-inch LCD digital instrument cluster, dual-zone automatic climate control, leather-trimmed seats, rear-view camera and reverse sensing system, and 8-inch SYNC3 infotainment system, as well as a dash plaque showing your cars number in this limited run of cars.
Our test vehicle also had extra-cost options that included the Bullitt Electronics Package (blind-spot information system with cross-traffic alert and upgraded 12-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system with subwoofer and navigation) for $2,100 and the MagneRide damping system for $1,695.
With those options, a $1,000 gas-guzzler tax and $1,095 destination and delivery charges, the as-tested price is $52,595.
For the level of performance and features, its a relative bargain. And on top of that, its a limited edition; maybe 5,000 will be made for the entire two-year run. (Its being replaced by a revival of the Mustang Mach 1 for 2021.) Just dont expect to get $3.4 million for yours 52 years from now.
Mike Hagerty is vice president of membership for Western Automotive Journalists (waj.org). He has been writing about cars since 1997. Read more of his reviews at MikeHagertyCars.com and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/mikehagertycars) and Facebook (facebook.com/mikehagertywritesaboutcars).
https://www.northtexascorvair.org/
I played around searching for T.G. but didn't get him.
I learned on a maroon '61 4dr Corvair Monza! It was rear-ended two times (I wasn't driving) and bad body work allowed it to rust too much in Ohio where we lived.
We had a lot of troubles after the second hit and my dad got tired of it and he gave it to my BIL. He got rid of after a while.
I loved it and it's light steering and fun suspension.
I almost bought one of the second versions that belonged to a guy was too old to drive. Too bad worked Nader worked to killed it off.
Interesting article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-23/why-you-should-buy-a-1960s-chevy-corvair-right-now
That’s a great story :-)
You told the right person. I think others would say you should have notified the insurance company that they gave too much
But this is planet Earth :-) they have enough money and I bet it was a rocking car. 3 years 100,000 mi of rocking and rolling. That’s awesome!!
Lol
I don’t know. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do at some point :-)
God I love that car!
But not nearly as much as you Lord and I understand I can enjoy things as long as they never come before you...
I’m going through some religious thing in middle age :-)
I am not going to commit the sin of pride. A guy I know who lives and dies for Dodge challengers made all of the adjustments and honest it was a rocket before but it just almost left the ground after he did what he did.
I know some but I am clearly not near your caliber so I will leave it at that :)
One more thing though it has taken me years to finally Park that damn thing easily. I had Camaros and mustangs and a firebird way back and they are small and easy to park. This thing’s kind of big
I have had a mustang and a Camaro and a challenger and a firebird and a Nissan 350z.
I agree with you.
my favorite car was my z28 Camaro convertible black in and out leather seats. :)
But I really enjoy this Challenger
UNDERSTOOD. - I also would buy one of the later turbo SPYDERS, IF I could find one that the owner doesn’t think is “a NATIONAL TREASURE”.
(I know where there is a PLUM/black interior late SPYDER convertible for sale in Corpus Christi, that needs a considerable amount of work. - Sadly, the owner is asking about what a CORVETTE in great shape would possibly sell for at HIGH RETAIL.)
Btw, the lady, who lives at the place where my aunt’s Corvair is supposed to be, claims that she’s never heard of the current owner.
(Fwiw, Mr. B. G. S___________, the Chevy dealer who sold the car to my aunt about 45 days before they were even “announced” got “YELLED AT” a LOT by GMC management for selling it to her.= PRETTY ladies tend to get what they ask for, when you or I would be simply told, “SORRY, but NO.”)
Yours, TMN78247
It's a blessed life and full of awesome sauce.
Welcome
I have a monster virus so I have been up all night. I have done a lot of posting LOL
I see threads with quotes from the Bible that make it sound like it is a sin to enjoy anything. Really anything at all even family.
I am not nearly as well read in the Bible as many here and I am trying to catch up.
The person who post threads hitting on that theme on a regular basis is a good person. And I enjoy their posts. and I understand we are supposed to be in this world and not of it.
And Jesus did tell that rich guy to sell everything. I don’t want to sell everything lol. But I certainly don’t want to go to hell.
I have thought for a very long time that there should be a running thread on this board for Christians weak and strong in their faith and those knowledgeable and those not so knowledgeable to exchange questions and answers.
I don’t expect someone to have an answer for every question but boy would it help my faith
As with anything else in life those who know a lot about a subject can help someone who doesn’t
It would be a beautiful thing to have here. Have a good one man
And by the way I won’t say I envy your faith. I do admire it.
Okay maybe I envy it a little bit :-) another sin.
“I should grow up!!!”
Fuq that.
He said “You don’t need no strength, you need to grow up, son”
I said “Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying
And dying to me don’t sound like all that much fun”...John Cougar
I began my church attendance with (and still ) independent Baptist churches .
Shortly after I was saved, I heard a preacher preach what I just recently learned how to meme .... and I've never forgotten it.
Hey, I was 23 and clueless - I had no idea what the insurance company owed me. I just told my Dad’s car-dealer friend what I had to spend, and without asking my thoughts, he got me that stunning gold/black top/black interior convertible Wildcat that was like new. All I told him was I needed a car to seat 6 for my work.
Owning that car for 3 months quickly changed my mind about 6 seats, and my heart always wanted a fastback Mustang instead of the coupe.
It is a cool story and what makes it so cool is it’s true. Then the movie came out a month after I got the car - and everywhere I went people commented on it.
I have a 1,000 more cool stories just like that one. Like how a major US newspaper named me and a friend “Gator Nappers” after we ‘borrowed’ a full-grown alligator for a prank that went astray, with the alligator (Alberta) making her way from where we left her in a remote pond into the largest lake in.......you’ll never guess it......Indiana.
Lol
You have to tell me more about that alligator story. :)
Wow that’s a great quote!
Wow. What an incredible book the Bible is
Well, obviously. I need to study it so much more.
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