02 Jun 09
Ford Mustang
The Bullitt Ford Mustang
According to Brad Bowling, former Editor of Mustang Magazine, tracking down the Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the most famous movie car chase of all time is like trying to find Lord Lucan.
In 1990 he was 'elated' to finally locate the surviving Mustang that appeared in the film, but over the next 10 years he was disappointed to read numerous articles from other magazines claiming the car had been destroyed.
Two cars were used on the film, but one was so damaged after shooting that it was sent to a junkyard. Bowling says he saw the other, surviving car.
Bowling said he has seen paperwork from Warner Bros studios to prove the car he discovered was authentic and that he has spoken to another source at Columbia Pictures who had seen the same car.
The car Bowling tracked down was a 1968 Mustang 390 GT. It was bought by Robert M. Ross after the film was completed but he only kept it for about year. Bowling traced the second owner (unidentified) and the third and final owner - a man called 'Joe'.
Joe told him the car had been stored in his father's garage, then it spent a few years in a barn in Kentucky. It was then moved to a garage in Tennessee.
Actress Drew Barrymore had also enquired about the car because she wanted her character to drive it in the film Charlie's Angels. Joe, who wanted to keep a low profile, added that he wanted to keep the car's existence secret because his son wanted to 'clean it up and start driving it' after he had got his driving licence.
Joe then promised he would consider showing the Bullitt car to the public if and when an official Mustang museum was built.
In the meantime he would be keeping it locked away in his garage in Tennessee.
