06-21-2026, 09:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-21-2026, 09:46 AM by Gone in 60.)
Yes, David, she is a beautiful bike, and I'll never sell her.
Rode to the museum, and first thing I noticed was a huge pillar of yellow/grey smoke right next to the 5 freeway just east of Downtown L.A. I thought "Huh, that's a coincidence", I noticed a huge plume of black smoke in the distance on Thursday late afternoon as I was transitioning from the 405 South to the 105 East to get home from my marathon delivery day. At the top of the 105 interchange, you're a few hundred feet up, and have a commanding view of most of the L.A. area. Turns out it's the same fire... a frozen food warehouse caught fire on Thursday, and apparently the insulation in the freezers is what was still burning on Saturday. This is why I ride in the L.A. area - a massive fire next to the freeway is a spectacle that will cause a mile-long traffic jam, and I can slide through without any trouble. There's always something causing a jam like that.
The closer I got to the museum, the more excited I started to get about that "Dark Green Mustang". Nothing came through official channels on my emails, which I thought was weird. But, I had seen a few teasers on Facebook about "The only way to see the most iconic movie car in history was to take a Petersen shop tour on Father's Day weekend".
To preface, I'm a movie car chase nerd. Ronin, Seven-Ups, French Connection, Italian Job, you name it, but Bullitt... that's the king. I've studied it, even wrote an article about it in 2013 for the 45th anniversary, when I was working as a Ford drag racing promoter (hence the NMRA racing references): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bullitt-4...opat-r7urc
I got to the museum, headed down to the Vault (the underground collection and storage area, and where I change out of my riding gear and into my museum uniform), scoured the work shop, but didn't see a green Mustang. Hmm... asked the security guys, and was told it was up on the second floor.
Went up, and saw a large group on the second floor parking area. The Petersen was hosting "Detail Fest", a show and gathering for professional detailers, and plans had changed for the Dark Highland Green fastback.
I saw her under a cover.
If you know your Bullitt lore, there were two cars used for the iconic chase scene. After filming, one of the Mustangs was deemed too far gone to save, and was sent to be crushed. It was thought to have been lost forever, but was found about ten years ago, rusting away in a Mexican junk yard. This sounded weird, and although VIN numbers had been verified, Marti reports had been issued to confirm, some people still question the validity of this car being used in the movie. Nevertheless it had been undergoing an extensive restoration, and the thought was that there was no better place and time to unveil the restored car at the Petersen on Father's Day Weekend. They had decided to do the honors at Detail Fest, and to have professional detailers do their magic on it.
I had to miss the actual unveiling... I was there to give a tour after all, not stand by like a spectator. But, after my tour, I darted back up and admire the green beauty. Hard to tell what might still be original, but looking in the trunk, the main thing that pegged this Mustang as the "Jump Car" is still there. Several holes, and a large one, used to mount a generator and run its exhaust and cables out of the trunk to run the onboard cameras. Not much of this car can possibly be original, as most of it had rotted away, but no matter, it was still awesome to be in its presence. The only other time I felt that way was during the premier of Ford vs Ferrari, when some of the original LeMans winning GT40s and a Cobra Daytona that had been driven by Ken Miles were being stored in the work shop, waiting to be shown at a movie premier. Being among them was truly biblical for me.
Just thought of something kind of cool. Right about where the Bullitt Mustang was parked is where I took photos of my CB1100 right after I bought her in 2019, the first time I rode her to the museum.
Rode to the museum, and first thing I noticed was a huge pillar of yellow/grey smoke right next to the 5 freeway just east of Downtown L.A. I thought "Huh, that's a coincidence", I noticed a huge plume of black smoke in the distance on Thursday late afternoon as I was transitioning from the 405 South to the 105 East to get home from my marathon delivery day. At the top of the 105 interchange, you're a few hundred feet up, and have a commanding view of most of the L.A. area. Turns out it's the same fire... a frozen food warehouse caught fire on Thursday, and apparently the insulation in the freezers is what was still burning on Saturday. This is why I ride in the L.A. area - a massive fire next to the freeway is a spectacle that will cause a mile-long traffic jam, and I can slide through without any trouble. There's always something causing a jam like that.
The closer I got to the museum, the more excited I started to get about that "Dark Green Mustang". Nothing came through official channels on my emails, which I thought was weird. But, I had seen a few teasers on Facebook about "The only way to see the most iconic movie car in history was to take a Petersen shop tour on Father's Day weekend".
To preface, I'm a movie car chase nerd. Ronin, Seven-Ups, French Connection, Italian Job, you name it, but Bullitt... that's the king. I've studied it, even wrote an article about it in 2013 for the 45th anniversary, when I was working as a Ford drag racing promoter (hence the NMRA racing references): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bullitt-4...opat-r7urc
I got to the museum, headed down to the Vault (the underground collection and storage area, and where I change out of my riding gear and into my museum uniform), scoured the work shop, but didn't see a green Mustang. Hmm... asked the security guys, and was told it was up on the second floor.
Went up, and saw a large group on the second floor parking area. The Petersen was hosting "Detail Fest", a show and gathering for professional detailers, and plans had changed for the Dark Highland Green fastback.
I saw her under a cover.
If you know your Bullitt lore, there were two cars used for the iconic chase scene. After filming, one of the Mustangs was deemed too far gone to save, and was sent to be crushed. It was thought to have been lost forever, but was found about ten years ago, rusting away in a Mexican junk yard. This sounded weird, and although VIN numbers had been verified, Marti reports had been issued to confirm, some people still question the validity of this car being used in the movie. Nevertheless it had been undergoing an extensive restoration, and the thought was that there was no better place and time to unveil the restored car at the Petersen on Father's Day Weekend. They had decided to do the honors at Detail Fest, and to have professional detailers do their magic on it.
I had to miss the actual unveiling... I was there to give a tour after all, not stand by like a spectator. But, after my tour, I darted back up and admire the green beauty. Hard to tell what might still be original, but looking in the trunk, the main thing that pegged this Mustang as the "Jump Car" is still there. Several holes, and a large one, used to mount a generator and run its exhaust and cables out of the trunk to run the onboard cameras. Not much of this car can possibly be original, as most of it had rotted away, but no matter, it was still awesome to be in its presence. The only other time I felt that way was during the premier of Ford vs Ferrari, when some of the original LeMans winning GT40s and a Cobra Daytona that had been driven by Ken Miles were being stored in the work shop, waiting to be shown at a movie premier. Being among them was truly biblical for me.
Just thought of something kind of cool. Right about where the Bullitt Mustang was parked is where I took photos of my CB1100 right after I bought her in 2019, the first time I rode her to the museum.
You know what? I actually would like a pickle.