Famous movie cars + chase scenes + replicas + Danbury Mint. You do the math: = BULLITT! DM tooled up a new ’68 Mustang to replicate one of the most memorable movie cars to date. Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, (Steve McQueen) of the San Francisco PD, pushes his 390 V8-powered Mustang GT to the limits to catch the bad guys in their suitably-sinister black '68 Dodge Charger. I can recall watching the heads of the theater-goers in the seats in front of me go up and down as the chase scene unfolded in the hilled streets of the city. You were onboard during the in-car camera scenes and almost felt like you were part of the action. That was 1968. Thanks to Danbury, I’m reliving those moments; this time on DVD and by carefully inspecting their superb diecast that carries the movie’s name.

Danbury put immeasurable work into the crafting of the car model itself and by doing exhausting research to get the car just the way it looked on film. Not an easy task, since there were two car-star ’68 Mustangs sharing cinema duty. At given points during filming, they displayed different bangs, bumps and badges of courage. Then if that weren’t enough, the Warner Brothers Pictures® production crew altered the otherwise stock appearing Mustang GT in many subtle ways. DM nailed them all. Bullitt’s car received body-color-matching rocker panels in that gorgeous understated Highland Green Metallic. Standard GT’s came with chrome trim. You saw no chrome tail light bezels on the movie car; DM’s is also devoid of them. The ‘Stang’s reverse lights were taken off, the grille emblem, a wild Mustang, surrounded by chrome trim and the twin inboard headlamps were also removed.

The film crew replaced the chrome outside rearview mirror on a tall stalk, with a matte black shorty unit so as not to detract from certain actor close-up scenes. Other small changes were made including painting differences to the gas filler cap, removal of badges and the inclusion of hot-for-the-day mag wheels. Yes, you guessed it; Danbury made all the appropriate changes. But do not overlook the model’s build itself, DM did a marvelous job in crafting a functional, quality and detail rich 1968 Mustang for us. All new-tech, it exhibits grand detail everywhere you look. We’ve been spoiled by the hood scissors hinges that work so realistically and the inboard door hinges as well. Both are present and accounted for. The chassis detailing is abundant and suspension fully functional. The steering assembly rods and dampening shock must be seen in person to be appreciated.

The trunk has incredible detail. The hinges are scaled correctly. A jacking sticker is in place and the usual treatment of spare and floor matting is excellent. We also see attention given to the inner fuel filler neck, trunk latch detail, and great detail on the jack and tire tools but also an accurate depiction of the forward trunk spring mechanism. Internally, the interior is awesome. The dash, floorboard and console detail is spot on and the folding seats, belts and flip down visors are terrific, but the rear seat steals the interior show. Like the 1:1, it transforms itself for double duty. DM supplies a tool just for this function. You may display the seat upright and enjoy the look with the fabric belts in place or you can opt to stow it down. The rear shelf folds forward along with the seatback, forming a flat floor cargo space.

I love the separately fashioned chrome trim around the windshield and window frames. The delicate chrome work is also seen in the door lock buttons, seatback releases, inside door panel latches and window cranks. The door sills are photo-etched metal. Under the hood we find another amazing DM masterpiece of detail engineering. The hinges never fail to impress me, they are exquisite. Underhood features include wiring to the outer indented signal lighting and a vacuum line. The big 390 is wired and plumbed to perfection. Brake and fuel lines snake downward and rearward to their final destinations and battery cables, smog controls and fluid lines are all in their proper places. The stance and ‘look’ of the Bullitt model is so representative of the movie car it will get you excited to see it all over again.

But this time when you see it, you’ll have the scale version of your own, and in one piece!

-Tony F Perrone