A New Bullitt Mustang

Ford Motor Company is going to produce a special edition Mustang for 2008 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the classic Steve McQueen movie. The first "Bullitt" edition Mustang was offered in 2001, but the present body style is much closer to the '68 model driven by McQueen and a clear improvement on the theme. Besides the near-original Dark Highland Green, the car is also available in black, which might work in a stripper sort of way, but it won't have that "Bullitt" cool.

The new car gets 15 more horsepower than the standard GT version, plus suspension and handling upgrades, which probably means it will perform about the same as the Hertz Shelby, which by the way is an absolute gas of a rental car. Like the McQueen version, the '08 "Bullitt" will be mostly devoid of bright trim, including the "pony" emblem from the grill. The rear spoiler is also a delete.

Beyond the tuned 315hp 4.6-litre V8 with cold-air intake, the car will sport a five speed Tremec manual with a custom polished aluminum shift knob, a 3.73:1 rear end, a special interior and h-pipe dual exhaust. Here's a great touch: the exhaust system was tuned to match the sounds of the original car, as recorded on a digitally-mastered DVD.

I'm probably alone in the sentiment that I'd like to see the new car with more faithful reproductions of the American Torq-Thrust wheels used on the original, better yet in a smaller diameter to capture more of the "feel". I know, the handling wouldn't be nearly as good, but damn, McQueen didn't need twenty-inchers to slam around San Fran at grossly illegal speeds, and neither will I when I rent one there next summer.

With all that in mind, here's a clip from my future San Francisco trip "Bullitt":

Groovy.