This press release was originally sent out by the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance on February 8, 2018.
Revealed at the 2018 North American International Auto Show, the recently-discovered 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback, serial #8Ro2S125559 from the movie Bullitt (1968) will be featured in the Hagerty booth at the 23rd Annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
All photos by Casey Maxon courtesy of the Historic Vehicle Association
Few vehicles achieve the legendary status of the 1968 Ford Mustang GT fastback driven by Steve McQueen in the movie Bullitt (1968). An avid motorcyclist and racing enthusiast, McQueen set a new bar for action films. Working with director Peter Yates, the gritty crime thriller broke movie-making barriers. The film’s eleven-minute scene featuring McQueen’s Highland Green Fastback running down Bill Hickman’s 1968 Dodge Charger R/T is widely regarded as the most influential car chase in movie history.
The movie hit theaters in 1968 and went on to be selected in 2007 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The fate of the Mustang was less documented. Sold off the Warner Brothers lot to a private owner the vehicle quickly disappeared. Rumors would circulate and with each passing year the missing Ford’s reputation became more of the holy grail of the car-collector hobby. As years passed the ’68 Mustang seemed forever lost.
Fast forward to the 2018 North American International Auto Show where the Bullitt Mustang would make its first public appearance in decades. Ford would assemble a group of media in Detroit to unveil a modern recreation of the iconic car built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film. The Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) announced that the verified Bullitt Mustang became the twenty-first automobile on the National Historic Vehicle Register, insuring that both the film and the car will live on in the archives of the Library of Congress.
The new car turned heads, but the triumphant return of the original fastback from Bullitt (1968) stole the show.
Thanks to Sean Kiernan, the owner, the team at Hagerty and the Historic Vehicle Association will have the original Bullitt on display at the 23rd Annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
Tickets for the 23rd annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance on March 9-11, 2018 at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island are available now. Click Here for Tickets
About The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance
Now in its third decade, the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is among the top automotive events in the world. Always held the second full weekend in March, “The Amelia” draws over 300 rare vehicles from collections around the world to The Golf Club of Amelia Island and The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island for a celebration of the automobile like no other. Since 1996, the show’s Foundation has donated over $3.2 million to Community Hospice & Palliative Care, Spina Bifida of Jacksonville, The Navy – Marine Corps Relief Society, Shop with Cops, and other deserving charities. In 2013 and 2016 the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance won Octane Magazine’s EFG International Historic Motoring Event of the Year award.The 23rd annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is scheduled for March 9-11, 2018. For more information, visit www.ameliaconcours.org.
