Heena Sharma Blog

The 1968 Ford Mustang GT driven by Steve McQueen in the legendary chase scene in the movie “Bullitt” sold on Friday for $3.74 million. “ It’s a record auction price for any Mustang ever sold,” said Dana Mecum, the principal of the auction house, Mecum Auctions, that sold the car. “It is the Mona Lisa of Mustangs.” The price was about 25 percent higher than even his pre-sale estimate, Mr. Mecum said, which he had considered somewhat optimistic. The reply from the seller, Sean Kiernan, a Kentucky horse farmer, was even more succinct: “Holy smokes!” His family bought the car in 1974 for $3,500 in response to a classified ad in Road & Track magazine. “This has been in my family for 45 years. It’s only been sold twice before — for $3,500 each time it’s sold. That’s what my dad bought it for, so that’s what we started the auction off at. And it went from there.” At the auction event, in Kissimmee, Fla., Mr. Kiernan was offering the all original, rusty, banged-up Highland G...

Iacocca arguably ushered in the era of the celebrity auto executive, with others such as Sergio Marchionne, Elon Musk and Carlos Ghosn following in his footsteps. Lee Iacocca , the U.S. auto official and TV pitchman whose vibe for buyers’ changing tastes helped produce the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler minivan and made him one of the first celebrity CEOs, has died.. He was 94. His death was caused by complications from Parkinson’s disease, the Washington Post said, citing his daughter Lia Iacocca Assad. Born Lido Anthony Iacocca in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 15, 1924, to Italian immigrant parents, he would go on to lead two major American car companies. After being fired in a dispute with company heir Henry Ford II, Iacocca joined the then-struggling Chrysler. Using both his business skills and ability to turn a phrase, he won federal loan guarantees that helped the automaker avoid a potential 1980 bankruptcy. In the 1970s and ’80s, with Detr...