Jim's World and Welcome To It

For those who think a gee-whiz car is one running on a massive array of nine-volt batteries, move on. There’s nothing for you here. Personally, I got over electric cars when Mom threw away my slot-car set. If they ever develop an electric passenger plane, I’ll look up to see that.

But for those of us who got our driver’s licenses in the mid-1960s, this is for you. It’s also for those who weren’t lucky enough to live in the days of the American muscle car and 19-cent-a-gallon gas! You missed it, Grasshopper!!!

The 1968 movie Bullitt starred Steve McQueen as a rogue cop. At least, that’s what the marquee on the Naples theater said. But the real stars of the show were a dark-green ’68 Mustang GT 390 and a shiny-black Dodge Charger R/T 440. The chase is shown here in three parts. Please view them full-screen with the volume way up. I want you to hear every double-clutching sound and see it all.

I’ve seen websites that show the San Francisco locations of this chase, and some of them are miles apart from what the movie shows. But it’s a movie, okay?!?!? And did this thing MOVE! Parts of this movie were a drag; I didn’t like seeing the Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s Robert Vaughan as a bad guy, for one thing. But the chase made up for it. Enjoy, my little motor-heads!

We start with the prelude, and the chase begins in the second YouTube clip. Sorry about the ads before the scenes, so stop your whining.

Several years after this movie, not being a Ford fan, I bought a brand-new Charger with a 440. As I’ve mentioned here before, it was a dog; a real bow-wow. So it goes. I wasn’t in San Francisco anyway.

BONUS!  In 2006, Ford created a wonderful Mustang commercial, riffing off Field of Dreams, starring Steve McQueen, who had died in 1980. McQueen’s wearing what he wore in the Bullet chase and it’s just a brilliant ad.