Bullitt Mustang, Thomas Crown Manx to be auctioned
While auctions of cars and motorcycles connected to Steve McQueen have become commonplace these days, two cars with genuine McQueen connections going to auction next year are sure to grab global attention.
The two are the 1968 Ford Mustang GT from Bullitt and the modified Meyers Manx dune buggy from The Thomas Crown Affair. Both are genuine, verified, movie-used examples driven by ‘The King of Cool’ himself. The vehicles resurfaced last year as each film was marking its 50th Anniversary.
Bullitt
It may not be a great movie in its own right, but Bullitt has undoubtedly one of the best car chases of all time. The 1968 movie covers the attempts of Detective Frank Bullitt (McQueen) and his colleagues to protect a witness in a high-profile organised crime case.
When the witness is wounded in an attempted hit, Bullitt battles misinformation and corruption in his attempts to find the culprit and ultimately becomes a target himself, leading to the iconic scene that sees Bullitt thrashing his Highland Green ‘68 Mustang 390 through the streets of San Francisco as he pursues hitmen in a black ‘68 Dodge Charger.
McQueen famously did much (but not all) of the driving in the chase scene, while the car was deemed famous enough for Ford to release Bullitt tribute Mustangs in 2001, 2008 and, most recently, 2018.
The original Bulllitt Mustang was revealed at the North American International Auto Show in January, 2018, alongside the latest Bullitt Mustang tribute produced by Ford.
Thought to be lost, the Mustang (one of two used in the film) had been in the possession of a family who had bought it from a Warner Bros. employee in 1974. Used regularly by that family, the car had been mechanically refurbished but carried five decades of patina when it came back into the spotlight.
In August, Mecum Auctions announced the Bullitt Mustang had been consigned for their Kissimmee auction on 2 – 12 January, 2020. No pre-sale estimate has been given, but the car’s history, provenance and iconic status should see it comfortably eclipse the million-dollar mark, possibly even selling for a multi-million dollar amount.
The Thomas Crown Affair
Part heist film, part romance, part psychological thriller, The Thomas Crown Affair tells the story of millionaire businessman Thomas Crown (McQueen) who may or may not have masterminded a major robbery. When insurance investigator Vicki Anderson’s (Faye Dunaway) digging leads her to Crown, a cat-and-mouse game ensues as the two try and outwit each other, including a scene where Crown drives Anderson at high speed over the dunes of a Massachusetts beach.
In a similar tale to the Bullitt Mustang, the Thomas Crown Meyers Manx, also known as ‘Queen Manx’, was sold soon after filming was completed, but its history has been much better known. Purchased by McQueen himself after filming, the buggy passed to a Manx dealer in Europe soon after, but has spent most of the past four decades in Hawaii. Purchased by an anonymous owner on the island in 1997, the buggy was hidden away for more than two decades before it resurfaced in June, 2018, and has since been fully restored to its movie appearance.
A Meyers Manx buggy was allegedly used in the film at McQueen’s insistence, as the producers had wanted to use a Jeep instead. Under McQueen’s instructions, the Manx carried a number of modifications, including repositioned headlights, a wraparound windscreen, custom fuel tank, custom dash, modified wheels and tyres, Datsun seats and a six-cylinder engine out of a Chevy Corvair, instead of the flat 4 VW engine these buggies usually carried. This addition alone increased power by more than 60 per cent, which McQueen exploited in the beach driving scene.
With Queen Manx losing many of its unique features over the years, the restoration required the remanufacture of several parts to return it to its movie appearance.
This past August, Bonhams announced the Thomas Crown Manx had been consigned for their Amelia Island Auction in Florida on 5 March, 2020. While no pre-auction estimate has yet been provided, it’s highly unlikely to match the demand for the Bullitt Mustang. Regardless, the buggy should still sell in the six-figure range.
