Parker’s favorite movie car is the 1968 Bullitt Ford Mustang GT
Not only is the 1968 Ford Bullitt Mustang GT 390 Fastback a bad-assed ride for Steve McQueen in the 1968 Bullitt, this movie delivered a memorable, perhaps top-5 car chases ever.
McQueen played San Francisco Police investigator Lt. Frank Bullitt, an alter-ego role for an actor with tough veneer skin.
The heartthrob actor produced and starred in this film that held up a genre of tough talking and acting police officers, followed by Clint Eastwood and his Dirty Harry movies.
Anyway, McQueen and the Mustang represented a hot combination of flesh and steel, joined at the hip for one of the most outrageous car chases ever with the Ford product in hot pursuit of a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T driven by mob hitmen.
Actually, Bullitt flipped the switch in this chase going from racing away from the killers to chasing them until the Charger runs off the road into a gas station and explodes.
The movie production employed two Mustangs, one modified with extra welding, bracing and engine construction to take the pounding delivered with incredible chase scenes through the ups and downs of San Francisco’s well-known streets.
Producers removed from the cars, driving lights and other noticeable items from the car while stock wheels were replaced by custom made rims. McQueen had an identifiable car for a lifetime as Bullitt revved his career and popular films like Getaway, The Thomas Crown Affair, Getaway. Papillon and the Great Escape.
In fact, McQueen delivered another fantastic chase scene as Virgil Hilts, a USAAF officer captured and housed by Germans along with other prisoners of war. Hilts, nicknamed the “Cooler King” for numerous stays in solitary confinement, escapes via a tunnel, then commandeers a German motorcycle.
McQueen and stuntmen used several TT Special 650 Triumphs for their roles in this 1963 World War II epic. Still, this Hollywood honcho made his mark behind the wheel of that green 1968 Mustang GT.
Just how popular is this car? Ford Motor Company will produce limited editions in 2019 and 2020. The new, special-edition model has an upgraded 5.0-liter V8 engine that provides 475 horsepower and 420 poundfeet of torque. It’s faster with a top speed of 163 miles per hour.
Except for these limited editions, they don’t make cars or actors like McQueen.