Scottsdale, Arizona - The very first 2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt off the production line has been auctioned for charity at the annual Barrett-Jackson classic car auction in Scottsdale.
The limited-edition
commemorates the 50th anniversary of the iconic action movie of the same name, starring the King of Cool, Steve McQueen and a highland green Ford Mustang GT390 in a 10-minute car chase up and down the hills of San Francisco that is still regarded as the gold standard of the genre.
Presented for auction by Ford North America president Raj Nair and the Steve McQueen estate, the car hasn’t even been built yet, so McQueen’s son Chad drove the pre-production prototype that was shown at the recent world launch of the model at the Detroit Motor Show up onto the block for the sale.
It went for a massive $300 000 (R3.63 million), every cent of which went to the Boys Republic school, a private, non-profit, non-denominational school and treatment community for troubled youngsters based in Chino Hills, California.
Steve McQueen, with cigarette, on a visit to Boys Republic in the 1960s. File photo: Boys Republic
It’s well known that Steve McQueen was remanded there by his stepfather at age 14 for being ‘incorrigible’ after being caught by police stealing hubcaps, and stayed at Boys Republic until he was 16, eventually becoming a member of the Boys Council.
What’s not so well known is that McQueen often demanded large numbers of electric razors and pairs of jeans in the studio contracts for his films, to be delivered to Boys Republic, and regularly went back there to talk to the boys, hang out and play pool.