Ford Recreates a Movie Icon

Los Angeles Times  reviewer Dan Neal gets behind the wheel of the 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt, a special edition of the Mustang GT named for a car of automotive lore - the 1968 Mustang 390 GT fastback that Steve McQueen drove in cinema's most famous chase scene at the climax of the 1968 move Bullitt.  Ford's new car is "a slightly tweaked, de-badged Mustang GT, painted Dark Highland Green and dipped with shameless McQueen nostalgia," and sold for thousands of dollars more than a standard GT.  "To say I wanted to despise this car is putting it mildly," Neal writes.  "So I was pleasantly surprised when I drove the car and found that I really, really liked it. Stunned, actually"  Neal finds the Bullitt's 4.6-liter, 315-hp V8 to be "way better than the axle-winding lunatic I drove a few months ago, the 500-hp Shelby GT500," adding, "Sometimes more horsepower is not the answer."  In order to replicate the tires of the movie's Mustang, Ford engineers added "relatively tall 50-series performance tires," creating "a smoother, more compliant ride."  Overall, the car is "well matched and balanced. The clutch and shift work flawlessly together, the engine is smooth and tractable. And it's got an amazing sound," which Ford tuned to match the "bleak, resonant cackle of the original Bullitt

Over at Jalopnik, meanwhile, the editors are conducting a "Star Car Shootout," looking for the coolest cars in film history.  The original Bullitt Mustang itself is currently leading the voting over the 1970 Porsche 911 S that McQueen drove in Le Mans, with the winner set to take on James Bond's Lotus Esprit submarine from The Spy Who Loved  Me.