Original Bullitt Mustang Rediscovered

[Aaronw]

12 hours ago, afx said:

 

How bizarre that they would keep it as a daily driver. I'm sure Steve McQueen had the means to put them in a Bentley if they wanted. I could understand them not selling if they were like super fans or something, but it doesn't seem like they took very good care of it and to use it as their only daily driver?

[afx]

6 hours ago, Aaronw said:

 

How bizarre that they would keep it as a daily driver. I'm sure Steve McQueen had the means to put them in a Bentley if they wanted. I could understand them not selling if they were like super fans or something, but it doesn't seem like they took very good care of it and to use it as their only daily driver?

The value of cars was much different back then.  I've read a story that some time in the 70s Carroll Shelby owed a gentlemen some money.  In order to settle his debt he offered the man either a GT40 or a fishing boat.  The man chose the fishing boat, said he had no use for an old race car(!).

[GLMFAA1]

Guess I'm just skeptical. The letter is interesting, I googled the autograph's of Steve and it's close, and in the letter it states 'again' wonder what happened to the first letter?

greg

[Daddyfink]

34 minutes ago, GLMFAA1 said:

Guess I'm just skeptical. The letter is interesting, I googled the autograph's of Steve and it's close, and in the letter it states 'again' wonder what happened to the first letter?

greg

I don't think there was a first letter, I think it was Steve McQueen himself who was there to make an offer in person, and was turned down. 

[Mike999]

3 hours ago, afx said:

The value of cars was much different back then.  I've read a story that some time in the 70s Carroll Shelby owed a gentlemen some money.  In order to settle his debt he offered the man either a GT40 or a fishing boat.  The man chose the fishing boat, said he had no use for an old race car(!).

A few years ago, one of the car-porn TV channels ran a show about the 6 Shelby Daytona Coupes.  A guy interviewed on the show worked for Shelby, IIRC, and had a chance to buy a Daytona coupe for something like $4000.  He was young and broke, and asked his father for a loan.  His Dad said the same thing - it was just "an old race car" and would never be worth anything.

[Aaronw]

6 hours ago, afx said:

The value of cars was much different back then.  I've read a story that some time in the 70s Carroll Shelby owed a gentlemen some money.  In order to settle his debt he offered the man either a GT40 or a fishing boat.  The man chose the fishing boat, said he had no use for an old race car(!).

I just mean their refusal to sell, not buying it and driving it. It says they bought it for $6000 which would put it in the price range of a new Corvette or base model Cadillac in 1977, so it would have been well within the means for a movie star with a known fancy car habit to make them a more than fair offer if they bought it as investment, or to buy them an even faster car if they wanted performance. Doubling their purchase price to $12,000 would be nothing compared to the Porsches, Jaguars, and Ferraris he owned, but $8-12,000 could easily put them in another '68 Mustang, probably even a Shelby. It would definitely cover the cost of pretty much any 10 year old muscle car (not many desirable ones on the new car market in 1977), a new Corvette or Trans Am, Cadillac or Lincoln.  

Based on how they took care of it, and how they hid it from the public it just doesn't seem like they bought it to own a piece of movie history or as an investment. 

 

Just seems weird, or maybe McQueen just pissed them off and they kept it for spite. 

[57peppershaker]

Hey Ive got the ,000s its the few numbers before that Im trying to find........

[vamach1]

It is hard to get into the head of why someone buys a unique car and then holds onto it until they die.  I have owned my 72 Mach1 for 37 years.  Now if someone offered me twice what it as worth I might sell it only if I could find a better replacement.  People get attached to a car and most cars people hold onto do not end up being worth millions.  Most logical people wold have sold the car five or ten or twenty years ago but time has a way of slipping by.  The son is a complete fool if he does not sell it which would ensure his family an income for a few generations after the IRS or state tries to get a cut.

Edited January 27, 2018 by vamach1

[afx]

Soon, the son will finish the mission he started with his father. After that, who knows? Kiernan has no plans to sell, but he recognizes the car is worth multigenerational money. In the meantime, he hopes the movie project moves forward. He wants to build the Bullitt replicas for the film. “Who better to build them than the guy who owns the original?” he asks. Then he wants to auction the movie cars for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, a cause his father supported.

[Maindrian Pace]

Easily the most valuable Mustang in the world.