The famous Bullitt Mustang went under the hammer just a few days. The iconic green Shelby Cobra GT500 features in one of the best car chase scenes ever recorded. Here are some of the most famous movie cars of all time.

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Movie trivia

The 1968 big-screen movie Bullitt starred Steve McQueen at the height of his acting career. McQueen plays the title character Lieutenant Frank Bullitt. While the movie may not be entirely memorable, it is famous for having a crazy car-chase scene that takes place on the hilly streets of San Francisco. The tyre-shredding sequence features a Dodge Charger chasing the Bullitt Mustang and unfolds when steely eyed Frank spots two Dodge-y (sorry, I couldn’t resist) characters tailing him. See the video at the bottom of this post.

Fast and Furious star Paul Walker’s car collection is also up for auction.

It is often said that the Bullitt car chase revolutionised such sequences for the movie industry. Both cars sped through the streets of the harbour city at speeds exceeding 180 km/h. McQueen, a racing driver at the time, famously drove the Shelby Mustang for some of the action footage.

Click here to watch another famous car-chase scene, this time with much smaller cars.

Record price

A few days ago the green Mustang (one of just two used in the movie) was auctioned off for U$3,4 million (close to R49m by today’s exchange rate). This is only marginally less than the $3,5m paid for a Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda convertible, which is the most expensive muscle car ever sold.

The famous GT40 from Ford vs Ferrari is up for sale.

The car pictured remains largely unrestored from the way it appeared in the movie both inside and out. It also has all its documentation in order so its authenticity is under no question. The car was sold off after the movie and hidden away from public view ever since. It remained in the care of one family for decades. When Ford announced a modern Mustang that would be badged Bullitt, the older namesake was brought out of storage for the unveiling of the new car.