Mona Lisa of Mustangs,' raced in 'Bullitt,' sets auction record

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 Green fastback for sale with no reserve. If that seemed like a gamble, the concerns were soon dispelled. Bidding quickly climbed to $2.5 million, then slowly after that to its final “hammer” price of $3.4 million. Sales commissions and other fees brought the final total to $3.74 million — the official sale price, Mr. Mecum said. Read More