Steve McQueen’s Ford Mustang from ‘Bullitt’ heads for auction
The original Ford Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the film Bullitt is heading for auction next week, with estimates of up to £4 million.
Update: The Steve McQueen Bullitt Mustang may not have fetched quite as much as owner Sean Kiernan hoped (see below), but it sold for a hammer price of £2.6 million ($3.4 million) which, after fees, cost the new owner £2.86 million ($3.74 million). Unsurprisingly, that’s a new record for a Ford Mustang
In fact, there were two 1968 Ford Mustangs used for the filming of Bullitt – consecutively-numbered Highland Green Mustang Fastbacks – but one was used for mainly static shots and one was driven by McQueen in all the footage in the film. And it’s a car that pretty much disappeared back in the 1970s.
In fact, it disappeared in to quiet family ownership after being bought for a bit over £2k by farmer Bob Kiernan who used it as a daily driver until the clutch went in 1980, since when it’s been pretty much just a barn-stored old Mustang.
But this iconic movie car came out of the woodwork a couple of years ago when Bob’s son, Sean Kiernan, took the original Bullitt Mustang to Goodwood to tackle the Hillcimb along with Ford’s Mustang Bullitt tribute model. And now he’s decided the time has finally come for the Kiernan family to cash-in on the Mustang’s storied history and it will cross the block at Mecum Auctions in the US next week.
The auction, on January 10, will also be televised – which might help the price – but Sean Keirnan is selling the McQueen Bullitt Mustang without reserve, so anything could happen.
Mercum Auctions reckon the Mustang should fetch at least £2.25 million, classic car specialist Hagerty reckons more like £3 million, and Sean Kierney is hoping for up to £4 million.
But you can be pretty sure it’ll be more than the £2k or so Kiernan Snr paid for the Mustang back in 1974.
Rtfa Zeberdee says
What a vain mug. £2.6m just for a car owned by McQueen. Its just a f**king car