McQueen beloved driving, within the phrases of Harvey Keitel’s The Wolf, “actual f***ing quick.” He was a talented off-road bike racer, and famously confirmed off his using experience in “The Nice Escape” (although it was his stunt double Bud Ekins who carried out the legendary soar over the barbed-wire barrier). He was equally adept behind the wheel of a automobile, falling 21.1 seconds quick (in a Porsche 908/02) of Mario Andretti (pushing a Ferrari 512S) within the 1970 Home of Sebring endurance race.
McQueen absolutely understood the fun of piloting a souped-up automobile round tight corners whereas navigating steep metropolis streets. For those who take an incline at a excessive fee of velocity in a Ford Mustang GT Fastback, you’ll catch an abundance of air. Because the star informed Pat Hustis, who constructed the fleet digicam automobile used within the “Bullitt” chase, “”I would like the viewers to know what it is like to do that.”
As to who initially conceived of the chase, all of it is determined by who’s telling the story. Screenwriter Alan R. Trustman, who’d beforehand labored with McQueen on “The Thomas Crown Affair,” informed Motor Development he was impressed by his personal vehicular experimentation.
“‘I informed them that, should you drive a light-weight automobile like a Ford Mustang downhill quick it can take off on the intersections and fly by way of the air.’ Trustman says he tried the stunt himself throughout a 1954 summer time break from Harvard regulation faculty, launching a brand new Ford Fairlane off the streets.”
