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Ford Mustang Bullitt | Test Drive
For any self-respecting enthusiast, the new Mustang Bullitt is not just a mumbling birthday cake, but a glimmer that shines that spark that must absolutely light our path for years to come.
Words by Alessandro Marrone / Photos by S. Lomax
1968, Peter Yates’ film “Bullitt” lands in theatres, an action-packed crime story supported by the iconic figure of Steve McQueen, the coolest actor of the century. 114 minutes of suspense, which soon became famous for the legendary chase featuring that green Ford Mustang GT390 Fastback, a succession of risky maneuvers up and down the streets of Frisco, wriggling through the low traffic of the time, a couple of trams and a soundtrack that leaves the stage to a long and frenetic scene that soon makes us forget the numerous errors and realistically improbable sequences. Bullitt is a perfect image of the era, a vintage poster in which late 60s’ absolutely normal aspects become a precious detail to which we sadly cling more and more as the years go by and we still mourn the premature death of the most reckless actor of all times, the one who did not need stuntmen and was always ready to jump in a car and leave in a clouds of burning rubber, never mind if this would have meant demolishing half of the cars parked on the roadside of the characteristic ups and downs of San Francisco, California.
Produced in a limited edition between 2019 and 2020, the Mustang Bullitt is the ultimate tribute to a movie that more than any other launched the Ford Mustang into the collective, as a cinematic car par excellence and as an ideal connection with those magical years that will never come back. Bullitt – the film – will not be remembered as a masterpiece in the history of cinema, but it is undoubtedly an important chapter that depicts the cross-section of America in the late sixties, in the heart of a period of good ones and bad ones, dangerous turns and legends ready to be consecrated, just like in the case of the Mustang. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of what became one of the most famous car chases ever, Ford underscores its devotion to those big, noisy and now unfairly politically incorrect defined engines. For any self-respecting enthusiast, the new Mustang Bullitt is not just a mumbling birthday cake, but a glimmer that shines that spark that must absolutely light our path for years to come.
Characterizing this model we have some aesthetic details that absolutely link it to its ancestor, starting therefore from a body color in Dark Highland Green, passing through the black 19-inch Torq Thrust wheels and the lack of the classic Mustang horse on the front grille and on the badge at the back, in this last case replaced by a viewfinder that reminds us how much Frank Bullitt knew how to handle a gun. But if aesthetically an everyday driver could also choose it in a different color than the “original” one, there is no doubt that the Bullitt intends to bring a bit of Frisco to today’s world with an updated and upgraded 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 with 10 extra horses – for a total of 460 hp – combined with a 6-speed manual gearbox with white knob. At first glance you might almost argue that they are not substantial differences compared to the traditional counterpart, but reality is that the experience once on board is something light years away from the already fun and performing GT V8 we all know.
The Bullitt turns a special car into something even more special than usual and radically transforms driving involvement thanks to an exhaust system that definitively frees the melodious and baritone voice of the 8-cylinder under the immense bonnet. There is rev-matching to emphasize the number of revs and simulate heel-toe every time you downshift, but it is the image as a whole that really makes you feel at the wheel of something magical. If in the city you become familiar with the dimensions of the Mustang in a short time, it is far from traffic that you have the opportunity to really understand the dynamic qualities of this object. And if it is a mountain road ready to enter the end-of-season hibernation and with the rock walls on the sides now almost completely bare echoing the decibels unleashed by the V8, rest assured that the last place that’ll come to mind will be San Francisco.
There are no absurd bumps ready to blow away the chrome cups of any sedan, but providential curves, fast and straight sections and a damp road surface that reminds us how much the Mustang likes to widen the rear every time I hit the throttle. Sitting on the comfortable leather seats with traditional extra-large dimensions, you get the perception of the real sizes of the car, of a weight that slightly exceeds 1,800 kg and an old school delivery that we could define as fully open/fully closed. Yeah, the Bullitt doesn’t like half measures and by that I don’t mean you can’t drive it with conscience, maybe for picking up your grandmother at the airport, but it would be like going out for dinner in the most luxurious restaurant in town and order a pizza Margherita. This is why we have come this far, on top of the Ligurian Alps and in that stretch that idealistically represents the best mountain road overlooking the sea.
Arriving on the Monte Fasce at the first light of day, with no soul around and with a still damp asphalt, I let the Bullitt dictate the conditions, significantly intensifying the pace as the thick tires increase in temperature and retracing a road I haven’t driven for a few years. In places like this, despite the fact that there is no mention of the most typical mountain pass lost on the top of a ridge, it is difficult for things to change. The vegetation, now strained by the imminent arrival of winter, gives way to a more melancholy landscape than usual, which however draws life from the roar of our V8, audible from miles away even during the simplest of maneuvers. On this road there are damn fast bends interspersed with a straight line that puts courage to the test once you tighten the crown of the large steering wheel, again showcasing a viewfinder and the Bullitt lettering, just in case you forget being at the helm of an absolute icon.
After all, the Mustang is just something you have to feel inside and the Bullitt is something you have to deserve and celebrate every kilometer you drive. It doesn’t matter its potential and almost certainly collector’s side, but rather the value of the moments it makes available with its 529 Nm of torque that once enter the game at 4,600 rpm push you to the seat and I would be a hypocrite if I said that at least in the first few moments with traction control turned off they are not responsible for that ferocious shiver that rises up your spine. The Bullitt is a continuous emotion, an incessant increase in the heartbeat that pushed by an increasingly intense volume fills the rib cage with a vibration that also shakes your brain and allows to tackle one curve after another with the maximum concentration necessary after the “Ready, Set, Go!” from the director.
These curves follow one another and while the Dodge Charger that I ideally follow has the appearance of a ghost that haunts this stretch of road, I arrive at the Passo del Faiallo, a mountain path in the Ligurian mountains that connects the Genoese side to that of the Savona hinterland, at about 1,044 meters above sea level, always in plain sight on my left. Just enough time to let down the adrenaline accumulated with through the last kilometers in which I had yet another confirmation of how much in 2020 Mustang also means going fast through corners, that it is time to break the silence by pressing the power button of the naturally aspirated V8, one of the last bastions of a world representing the maximum of motoring purity and that increasingly divides the new generations grown up with twin-turbos and driving simulators, to the team of purists, those who still feel a thrill when they see the needle of the tachometer climbing instead of instantly splashing towards the red line.
Never as in this case, numbers like the 0-100 kph (for the record, 4.6 seconds are enough – some claim 4.9 and others 4.3 – ed) and a top speed electronically limited to 250 per hour are totally superfluous. After all, a sports car is not a cold surgical tool with which to open a road in two bits, but it is the way that allows us to get in tune with it, become part of what is around us and define our own driving experience. This is why the Bullitt enjoys its own light, arriving in the spotlight of fans as the celebratory statuette of a movie from 50 years ago and ready to give another half a century of glory to those emotions that we cannot give up yet.
Another turn with the tires trying in every possible way to bite the asphalt now perfectly dry and rough to the point of giving me the necessary confidence for pressing the throttle hard and throw myself head down into a stars and stripes symphony. The progression is continuous and when you enter the maximum torque range you cross that boundary that opens up an unexplored scenario of the naturally aspirated engine, especially if you get used to managing gear changes as you would with any turbocharged pot. Keep the tachometer needle high and it becomes nervous, extremely responsive and certainly not willing to make your life easy, almost deafening you with the roar emitted as the tires smoke out of the hairpin bends, but with a smooth action on the steering wheel and pointing the nose in the opposite direction, just before managing a hint of a pendulum effect I am now ready to lighten the pressure on the gas. Just enough before increasing revs hunting for the next bend.
I could go on until the end of days, but in this way we soon reach the bottom of the tank (and the end of the tires’ life as well), after all, to realize how special the new Bullitt is, start the engine would be enough. Driving it is an ultra-dimensional experience and do not think I am exaggerating things. It is because it drags you into another era and not necessarily 1968, but one made up of those increasingly rare movements like engaging a gear with a good manual gearbox with a clutch pedal, or a controlled oversteer without the help of a thousand electronic devilry. And when you get back to the real world and you don’t want to give your grandma or any other passengers a heart attack – there are still two seats in the back – you can let Sport mode gives space to the more unsuspected grand tourer side that belongs to every Mustang since the sixties. Although in the case of the Bullitt, it will be really hard to resist and drive undercover.
The light becomes fainter, the shadows lengthen and the road surface becomes treacherous again as in the early morning hours. Constantly accompanied by the unmistakable hum of its 5-liter, I say goodbye to today’s madness and give way to some more relaxed kilometers, with the window open just enough to let in that outside world violated by the arrogance of the Mustang Bullitt. With the rock walls that bounce an increasingly indistinct echo as we move away from a chase that will never end, the one in search of emotions, the real ones, just like the loving expression on the face of a child that indicates us as we drive by in the main street of one of the many towns that leads us back to the chaos and uncertainty of 2020. The Ford Mustang Bullitt takes us back in time and makes us go home aware that for making present better it is not always necessary to look forward, but rather learn from the past. And in some cases it’s even way more (Mister) cool.
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