1967 Ford Mustang 390GT 'Bullitt' Homage

15-year restoration and $150,000 of invoices excluding labour

575 bhp 410 ci balanced Windsor engine Ford Racing TKO 600 5-Speed manual

Front and rear coil over suspension Rack and pinion steering

Finished with a two-stage PPG Urethane paint in Dark Highland Green

An engineering masterpiece underneath

Whenever filmmakers tried to create an exciting car chase action scene, they were hampered by technical limitations like rear-screen projectors that took you out of the scene at the crucial moment. But then 'Bullitt' was released in 1968 with the most realistic depiction of a car chase movie-goers had ever seen. Bullitt essentially did for movie car chases what Star Wars did for science fiction films. That's because, unlike other movies at the time, the stunt driving was all real. There were no cheap rear-screen projections used for the close-up shots of the actors, and none of the scenes were sped up in post-production to heighten the sense of speed. They didn't need to be, because those cars really were barreling through the streets of San Francisco at over 110 mph.There was a sense of danger unlike any movie chase before it as the two muscle cars weaved through traffic and jumped over the hills of San Francisco, while the camera literally put you in the driving seat. The soundtrack is glorious, too - and we don't mean the music soundtrack. Not a word of dialogue is spoken during the 11-minute long sequence. Apart from the scene setting jazz score that does a great job of building tension before the chase erupts in a cloud of tire smoke, there's no music either, allowing you to appreciate the sound of two thunderous V8 muscle cars and their screaming tortured tyres battling it out. Bullitt set the standard for all movie car chases to follow, making it the most iconic and influential chase scene of all time despite the last twenty years of CGI, mainly because it's real and you can go to San Francisco and wonder 'how in the hell did they do that'.Many enthusiasts have dreamed of owning a Mustang just like Steve McQueen's in the movie and worldwide a good number have sourced a '67 or '68, 390GT Fastback Mustang, painted it Highland Green, popped on some Torque-Thrust wheels, and have had a lot of fun.One such young man was Bradley Hunt who, with his brother Jack L Hunt III, are the third generation of the family to run Jack L Hunt Automotive-Sales-Service in San Rafael, California, a large car sales, service and restoration business that had been started by 'Granpappy' back in 1927. He decided it would be fun to create a Bullitt 'homage' and set about the task around 16 years ago and the result is here.

This specific car is an original 1967, C-Code, 1967 San Jose produced, 390GT fastback Mustang that has been subject to a long-term, bare metal rotisserie restoration. Preparation of the shell took an age but the benefit of the rotisserie is that it's possible to achieve the same level of finish underneath as on top. When ready, it was finished with a two-stage PPG Urethane paint in Dark Highland Green.

Power is delivered by a balanced and blueprinted, 410 ci Windsor 'stroker' with a nett 575hp and 550 ft-lbs of torque mated to a 5-speed Ford Racing TKO gearbox which is rated to 600hp and 600 lbs torque. A Fab-9 posi-trac 9" Ford 3.9-1 differential does a good job of transferring that prodigious output cleanly to the 17" American Racing Wheels 'Torque-Thrust D with custom offset', which are absolutely the right wheels for a modified '67 Mustang.

To keep the car going in the right direction, be it sideways or straight, front and rear coil-over suspension has been engineered and rack and pinion steering installed using Total Control Products.

Uprated front and rear disc brakes with 6-pot calipers and a 'Willwood 'master cylinder with piggyback proportioning valves and steel brake hoses deal with the retardation and, we understand, cope well with the large (occasionally very large) numbers involved.Any inspection underneath will reveal, not only the cleanest, shiniest set of mechanicals you have ever seen on a used car but some serious engineering solutions to steering, braking and geometry. Whoever built this car knew what they were doing

Custom leather sports seats, a Shelby roll-bar, and Auto Motor Sport-Comp gauges finish the interior to an excellent standard.

Full build details can be found in the history file along with an invoice for in excess of $150,000 for parts and components alone without a charge for labour, a frightening prospect considering the whole project took a reported 15 years. Supplied with a NOVA number and a valid MoT, this engineering masterpiece is ready for UK registration.

Whether this was supposed to be an inch-perfect recreation of McQueen's film car or a superb homage to the Bullitt car using more modern tech is not clear, but one thing is for sure - this is one heck of a lot of shiny Highland Green, 575bhp, big-wheeled, ballistic Mustang.