Movie actor Steve McQueen may have died in 1980, but his legend keeps on, fueled by a dark Highland green Ford Mustang. The Mustang was a 390 GT and the car was de-badged to give it a mean look.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the movie Bullitt, Ford are releasing a Mustang as a tribute to McQueen and his 390 GT Mustang.
Ford will roll out a new 475 horsepower Mustang Bullitt this year in honor of the eponymous movie.
The limited-edition, de-badged, manual Mustang is powered by a 5.0 liter V8 Ford that can crank out at least 475 horsepower and 420 pound feet of torque. Top speed is claimed to be 260 kph.
Ford released the first Bullitt Mustang in 2001, offering the vehicle in a dark shade of green that was used in the movie. Ford also released a Bullitt edition in 2008.
Ford turned to Molly McQueen, McQueen’s granddaughter, to introduce the new model.
“It’s bad-ass,” she said. “I love that he wanted the car to be accessible to a lot of people. He wanted in real life for people to capture the thrill of driving it on the street.”
The original 1968 Mustang GT 390 boasted a 0-60 time of 7.8 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 15.2 seconds at 94.0 mph, according to Motor Trend. Motor Trend clocked the 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt at 5 seconds even for 0-60, with a quarter-mile time of 13.7 seconds at 160 kmh.
“This new Bullitt is, as Steve McQueen was, effortlessly cool,” said Darrell Behmer, Mustang chief designer. “It’s my favorite Mustang – devoid of stripes, spoilers and badges. It doesn’t need to scream about anything – it’s just cool.”
