The famous green Mustang that Steve McQueen drove in the 1968 Warner Bros. film “Bullitt” is headed to auction in January, in Kissimmee, Fla., and if Mecum Auctions gets what they are expecting, the car could sell for more than $3.5 million— that would be a record price for an American muscle car. According to Hagerty, an insurer and valuator of classic vehicles, the “Bullitt” Mustang could end up the most expensive Mustang ever sold at auction, surpassing a 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake that Mecum sold for $2.2 million at the 2019 Kissimmee auction.
Could it be yours? Well, you can dream.
The story behind the most famous mustang ever.
The Hero Car driven by Steve McQueen in the 1968 Warner Bros film, “Bullitt” was featured in the majority of scenes from the legendary car chase through San Francisco.
To achieve a realistic chase scene for the film, Warner Bros. sourced two Highland Green 1968 Mustang GT 390 Fastbacks from Ford with back-to-back serial numbers, both with 390/325 HP big-block V-8s and 4-speed transmissions. Following the film debut, this car was sold to Warner Bros employee Robert Ross, and subsequently acquired by a New Jersey detective in 1970, who sold it to Robert Kiernan.
It was once thought lost to the passage of time, and its reemergence has underscored its cultural significance as a piece of pop-culture art and an important remnant of movie and automotive history. The car is the 21st vehicle entered into the National Historic Vehicle Register.
As the story goes, the late Robert Kiernan of Madison, N.J., had always wanted a 1968 Mustang fastback, and after seeing an ad, he picked up the hero car for $6,000, according to the Mecum auction house. McQueen himself made numerous attempts to reacquire the vehicle from Kiernan, even offering to help him find a similar Mustang, but Kiernan had already fallen in love with it and declined all offers.
In 2001, Kiernan and his son, Sean, started putting some work into the car to make it drivable once again. However, after work began on the Mustang, Robert Kiernan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and work stalled. The Mustang GT has a 4-barrel carburetor and a 4-speed manual transmission. The engine was modified for speed and sound for the film.
The Kiernans’ goal was to keep the Mustang in as untouched condition as possible. The completed engine rebuild is factory-faithful, Mecum says, featuring as many original parts as Sean and his father could conceivably use. They replaced the carpet, front bumper and front valance.