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O.T. - The Car Chase From 'Bullitt'

avatar for farmerart
farmerart
I have heard about this movie scene for decades but I just saw it for the first time this evening while killing time in a departure lounge. Gotta admit....that was a thrilling chase through the hilly streets of San Francisco BUT........

Cool as it looked there is no way in hell that McQueen's Mustang Fastback could have kept up with that Dodge Charger that those bad guys were driving. Those Chrysler muscle cars from the late 1960s and early 1970s were the absolute shit. Ford had no power plant to equal the Hemi or 440 Magnum that would have been under the hood of the Dodge.

I always wanted to own one of those Chrysler muscle cars, never did and never will. I did get to drive a Plymouth Road Runner once........best driving experience ever from an American street car. And, the sound of that big Hemi under the hood?.............brrrrrrrr, sends chills up and down my spine!

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avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
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11 years ago
Two 1968 390 V8 Ford Mustang GT fastbacks (325 hp) with four-speed manual transmissions were used for the chase scene, both loaned by the Ford Motor Company to Warner Bros. as part of a promotional agreement. The Mustangs' engines, brakes and suspensions were heavily modified for the chase by veteran car racer Max Balchowsky. Ford also originally loaned two Galaxie sedans for the chase scenes, but the producers found the cars too heavy for the jumps over the hills of San Francisco. They were replaced with two 1968 375 hp 440 Magnum V8-powered Dodge Chargers. The engines in both Chargers were left largely unmodified, but the suspensions were mildly upgraded to cope with the demands of the stunt work.[

Here is the chase.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lbs_nYW3…
avatar for gawker
gawker
•
11 years ago
I owned a '65 Mustang convertible with the "high performance" 289 in 1967. I could walk the car sideways doing a smoke show, but it had no balls to speak of. I sold iit n '69 for $750. Probably worth $20,000 today.
A friend had a hemi Charger and we drag raced it in Thompson, CT and I got it at 13.0 seconds and 114 mph. Probably the fastest accelerating car I ever drove.
I bought a brand new Datsun 2000 sports car in 1969 and that 135 HP 4 banger could get up to 140 in 5th gear. I once drove over the Bourne Bridge from Cape Cod with the speedometer reading 140 (at 2:00 am) and it felt like all wheels left the ground when I crested the bridge.. If speed kills I should either be dead or named Walter White.
avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
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11 years ago
Just watched Bullit a month ago. McQueen is cool.
avatar for jestrite50
jestrite50
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11 years ago
I had a 1970 Dodge Dart 340 that had been modified with a McKenna Hemi transmission and differential. It would shit & git !
avatar for tumblingdice
tumblingdice
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11 years ago
73' Gold Duster with reptilian roof here.That 340 was tight,but couldn't beat the 318 off the line.
avatar for motorhead
motorhead
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11 years ago
Despite my nickname, I can't even change my oil.

And the only V-8 I can discuss comes in a bottle.
avatar for georgebailey
georgebailey
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11 years ago
@Motörhead: so this is your stage name?
avatar for Clubber
Clubber
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11 years ago
farmer,

My best friend growing up received as a graduation gift from his parents, one of the very few (about 1400) 1969 Plymouth Road Runners 440 Six Packs that came with the fiberglass hood and the blueprinted engine. DAMN, that car was fun to drive!!!
avatar for rockstar666
rockstar666
•
11 years ago
It's the driver more than the car in racing (or a car chase). I can beat a Vette in my Lotus on any road track (if the Vette driver is just some guy at least!) and I have less than half his HP.
avatar for farmerart
farmerart
•
11 years ago
I just watched shadow's link. Very interesting to see the editing mistakes. I caught one glimpse of McQueen's car with the dented driver's side clearly visible. The incident in the chase that caused that dent occurred long after the point in the chase where I noticed the dent. Didn't catch this while I was watching the movie in the departure lounge.

Does this mean that movies play around with reality?

Tell me it ain't so, motorhead.
avatar for deogol
deogol
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11 years ago
San Francisco is dirty, has more bums, and more street ridden drug addicts now.
avatar for crazyjoe
crazyjoe
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11 years ago
I'm going to be a stunt driver when I grow up
avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
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11 years ago
Hate to one up ya Joe, but I'm gonna be a cunt driver when I grow up.
avatar for georgmicrodong
georgmicrodong
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11 years ago
How many times did they pass that same VW? On the same stretch of street? :)
avatar for crazyjoe
crazyjoe
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11 years ago
Lol slick
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
•
11 years ago
Not the fastest ride but back around 1970, my best friend and I drove his 1955 VW dune buggy the Baja 1000 in 29 hours.
avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
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11 years ago
Probably one of the funnest rides. Did you stop for any Tecates in Tecate, Shadow?
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
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11 years ago
Slick - No. Tecate was out of the way but we did mange to drink a few along the way. We kept a bottle of Sauza Blanco chilled at all times in the ice chest. Only cantina we hit was in Santa Rosalia.
avatar for ATACdawg
ATACdawg
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11 years ago
I remember when my Dad and I were at the Mopar dealership while Dad negotiated our biannual station wagon purchase. I jokingly asked Dad if he was going for the He I option. The salesman laughed and said that he had sold a Hemi coronet about a month and a half before as a present from an indulgent father to his son.

The son blew the engine a week later - wait for it, drum roll - racing in REVERSE!

Who could have seen that coming!
avatar for minnow
minnow
•
11 years ago
Fellas, it isn't all about HP. Weight:HP ratio is the player here. According to my Yahoo search, Curb weight for 1968 Hemi Charger is 4300 lbs, for Mustang GT, 3300 lbs. That works out to a Wt.:HP ratio of 10.15 for the Mustang, 11.46 for the Charger. Like golf scores, the lower the better. Don't forget the extra weight of 2 bad guys in the Charger vs. just Steve McQueen in the Mustang. So, I could buy a Mustang catching a heavier Hemi.

Art, Hollywood could make a jackass catch a racehorse if it wanted to.
avatar for SlickSpic
SlickSpic
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11 years ago
Or the Miracle Mets can win the World Series.
avatar for farmerart
farmerart
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11 years ago
The rig pigs and I talked about cars at the dinner table tonight. Carroll Shelby's name came up and one of the guys championed the cars produced by Shelby. This rig pig maintains that Shelby's Cobras were the absolute best American cars of the 1960s.

My knowledge of Shelby is meagre. My impression is that the Shelbys were more like 'kit' cars with Carroll Shelby's real genius being in design rather than in manufacturing; picking chassis, transmissions, power plants off the rack from many different manufacturers. Am I wrong?

I have always thought the Chrysler muscle cars to be the ultimate in American speed machines of the 1960s.

avatar for farmerart
farmerart
•
10 years ago
Earlier today I read an article from an old 1980s magazine about this car chase and I remembered this old discussion topic.

The article was about the 'bad guy' driver of the Dodge Charger in the chase. The guy shown on film driving the Charger was a long time movie stunt driver, Bill Hickman. Hickman was quoted in the article that he had to 'dial back' the Charger's speed so that McQueen's Mustang could keep up during the chase.

Also according to the article, Hickman was responsible for choreographing (and driving in) another famous movie chase scene, The French Connection. I haven't seen that particular movie.
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